9-29-98

FISHER COLLEGE OF BUSINESS ONE OF BEST FOR WOMEN

	COLUMBUS -- The Max M. Fisher College of Business at The 
Ohio State University is one of the 10 best business schools in 
the nation for women, says Working Woman magazine.  In its 
October issue, the magazine ranks Ohio State as the ninth best 
place for a woman to earn a Master of Business Administration 
degree.

	The report evaluated the 33 most selective American business 
schools on prestige, percentage of women students, percentage of 
female faculty members, curriculum, contact with alumnae business 
leaders, active women students' groups, availability of part-time 
MBA programs and number of students over the age of 40.

	Top 10 schools all had strong records of reaching out to 
women and supporting them, rising female enrollments, women 
faculty in leadership positions, active women students' groups 
and histories of female graduates getting good job placements.  
The list was headed by Columbia University and included the 
business schools at Michigan, Berkeley, Northwestern, Virginia, 
Stanford, Duke, North Carolina and Penn in addition to Ohio 
State.  Not making the list were such well-known schools as 
Harvard, MIT, UCLA and Yale.

	Ohio State's Fisher College was specifically cited for its 
active chapter of Women in Business and its MBA Corporate 
Mentoring Program, which matches women, minorities and 
international students with successful executives.  The magazine 
noted that women faculty teach six of the 13 core courses in the 
full-time MBA program, and it quoted Dean Joseph A. Alutto as 
saying, "Female students find the team atmosphere a strong 
component of our program.  The teams are diverse, but we also 
take care not to isolate women or minority students within a 
team."  The magazine saw the Columbus location, headquarters to 
several large companies, as "a great location for career 
networking."

	The magazine noted that, overall, business schools are not 
particularly welcoming to women, lagging behind medical and law 
schools in proportion of female students and often offering 
curricula that are "still based on traditional organizational 
theories and packed with case studies that feature white males."

	What makes the Fisher College and the other top 10 schools 
stand out, says Working Woman, is that they "strive to put women 
in leadership positions and make women's issues an integral part 
of the learning experience."  Women who graduate from these 
programs feel more confident about taking their places in the 
business world, the article says.

	"This ranking is a reflection of the efforts of faculty, 
staff, and students," Alutto said. "The leadership efforts of 
women in the Fisher College, both faculty and support staff, are 
no doubt important elements in this assessment.  Just as 
important, it is clear that our women MBA students are provided 
with leadership opportunities that bode well for their
personal and professional futures."

	The Fisher College of Business offers a small, selective MBA 
program with areas of focus based on faculty research strengths. 
The program is ranked as one of the 25 best in the nation by U.S. 
News & World Report magazine.

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Contacts: Cindy Holodnak, Director of Graduate Programs,
          (614) 292-8531
          Melissa Lamb Peale, Director of Marketing and
          Communications, (614) 292-8022