{"id":9773,"date":"2019-12-12T09:56:38","date_gmt":"2019-12-12T15:56:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.uwsp.edu\/cps\/?p=9773"},"modified":"2019-12-12T10:00:08","modified_gmt":"2019-12-12T16:00:08","slug":"uw-stevens-point-undergraduate-already-pursuing-his-mba","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.uwsp.edu\/cps\/2019\/12\/12\/uw-stevens-point-undergraduate-already-pursuing-his-mba\/","title":{"rendered":"UW-Stevens Point undergraduate already pursuing his MBA"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Tyler<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

While he will cross the commencement \nstage along with more than 600 graduates Saturday, University of \nWisconsin-Stevens Point senior and Stevens Point native Tyler Patoka is \nalready a few steps ahead of many. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over\n the past semester, Patoka has been taking classes for UW-Stevens \nPoint’s master’s degree in business administration (MBA), while \nfinishing his undergraduate degree in finance and management. He is one \nof 11 students in the 4+1 MBA program (four years undergraduate, one \nyear graduate). He is also one of five taking both graduate and \nundergraduate courses at the same time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“When the new MBA program \nwas announced, Assistant Professor Lyna Matesi persuaded me to get out \nof my comfort zone and sign up,” he said. “I felt this program was a \ngood fit for me because it would be both challenging and rewarding. I \nknew I would regret it later if I didn’t take advantage of the \nopportunity presented to me.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As an emerging leader, Patoka \nsecured an early career advantage by immediately adding an MBA to his \nundergraduate degree, said Matesi, director of the MBA program. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Tyler\n is an outstanding student who represents the best of us,” she said. “He\n excels in the classroom and community. I’ve seen Tyler encourage, \ndirect and support teams to succeed together.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

UW-Stevens Point’s \nMBA in Applied Leadership and Decision-Making is a flexible hybrid \nprogram, offering combined online and in-person evening courses that \nmake it easier for Patoka to arrange classes around his own schedule. \n“It is a one-year program with the same great professors, close to home.\n It also gives me a step up for hiring,” he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He’s already \ntaken that step. In January, Patoka will start working part-time in \nSentry Insurance’s finance department, while taking classes to complete \nhis MBA in December 2020. In addition, he will continue to help coach \nthe Stevens Point Area Senior High track team as he has for the last \nthree years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Patoka has found his graduate classes more focused on\n decision-making and collaboration, he said, which aligns closely to \nprofessional experiences that may offer unexpected issues, changing \ndeadlines, team projects and opportunities for leadership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Tyler<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

His \nundergraduate experiences also gave him relevant instruction for his \nfuture career, he said. Professor Kevin Neuman made economics relatable \nto the world, and Professor Kevin Bahr used real-world examples in \naddition to academic learning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“A benefit of being at a smaller \ncampus is having more opportunities to know your professors and fellow \ncolleagues,” he said. “They always have open doors, smaller class sizes \nand opportunities to strengthen your network of professionals.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One\n of those opportunities was a highly competitive internship in Sentry \nInsurance claims department’s special investigations unit, he said. It \ninvolved handling sensitive material, doing research, interpreting data \nand making judgment calls. It also helped him secure his new part-time \njob with the company, which may lead to additional opportunities in the \nfuture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Patoka’s hard work has been recognized with a Chancellor’s\n Leadership Award, given each semester to outstanding students who have \ncontributed significant leadership, demonstrated campus or community \nservice and shown a commitment to personal growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Patoka hopes to\n someday use his undergraduate and MBA degrees to become a financial \nadviser or investments analyst, helping a corporation or individuals \nbuild on their financial success. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Professor Matesi saw potential in me in that I could lead by example,” he said. “Having an MBA will help me do that.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To learn more about the UW-Stevens Point MBA program with classes in Wausau, Marshfield and Stevens Point, go to uwsp.edu\/MBA<\/a> or contact the School of Business and Economics at mbainfo@uwsp.edu<\/a> or 715-346-4988.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Courtesy of University Communications and Marketing<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While he will cross the commencement stage along with more than 600 graduates Saturday, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point senior and Stevens Point native Tyler Patoka is already a few steps ahead of many.  Over the past semester, Patoka has been taking classes for UW-Stevens Point’s master’s degree in business administration (MBA), while finishing his undergraduate […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":9778,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,12,509,448],"tags":[504,305,502,343,344],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uwsp.edu\/cps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9773"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uwsp.edu\/cps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uwsp.edu\/cps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uwsp.edu\/cps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uwsp.edu\/cps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9773"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uwsp.edu\/cps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9773\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9781,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uwsp.edu\/cps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9773\/revisions\/9781"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uwsp.edu\/cps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uwsp.edu\/cps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uwsp.edu\/cps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uwsp.edu\/cps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}