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When Peggy Coyne decided to pursue her lifelong dream of earning an MBA, she looked at several online programs including ����ֱ�� State University, Cleveland State University and Notre Dame College in South Euclid.

Mrs. Coyne chose ����ֱ�� State’s Online MBA program because she knew firsthand that the program would offer her an excellent education and give her the diverse skills and experiences to carry long beyond her May 2019 graduation.

“I knew that ����ֱ�� State traditionally had a very strong business program,” said Mrs. Coyne, who earned her bachelor’s degree at ����ֱ�� State. “The fact that I know the quality of the education at ����ֱ�� State drew me to the program.”

����ֱ�� State’s Online MBA program is drawing national recognition as well. It ranks among the top 100 programs in the nation according to U.S. News & World Report’s “2019 Best Online MBA Programs” list. ����ֱ�� State’s Online MBA program ranked 90th in the country and 66th among public institutions. This is the first year the college was eligible for ranking since the program launched in fall 2017. 

Mrs. Coyne had planned to work on her MBA after she graduated from ����ֱ�� State in 1991 with a bachelor’s degree in public relations. However, she got married, started her family and “life got in the way,” she said. Once her two sons reached high school, they were more independent and she had the time to enroll in the online MBA program.

Before long, Mrs. Coyne acquired practical skills from the Online MBA program that she immediately transferred to her position at an insurance company. She was surprised by the engaging peer-to-peer interaction that she experienced in a Leadership and Management Assessment course.

“We worked together to coach each other,” she said. “I had never met my peers face to face, but we fostered strong relationships with each other. That was unexpected in this online program.”

Mrs. Coyne was only halfway through the program when she leveraged the newly acquired knowledge into a lead analyst position at the J.M. Smucker Company.

“I started the program working for an insurance company,” Mrs. Coyne said. “Now, I’m ending the program working for a company that makes products. Most of my courses focused on companies making products. I was intrigued. I had always worked for service-oriented companies. The things that I learned in the Online MBA program gave me the confidence to pursue my career goals and dreams.”

For more information about ����ֱ�� State’s College of Business Administration, visit www.kent.edu/business.