NKU re-vamps part-time MBA program
The NKU Haile/US Bank College of Business will begin a newly-formed Master of Business Administration program in the fall. The catalyst for the change was Xavier’s new campus in Northern Kentucky, said Rick Kolbe, dean of the college of business. The new MBA program will take two full years to complete and will continue during the summer terms. The program will be a combination of both online and face-to-face studies and will begin with 40 students. The old program will be phased out after the 90 students finish who are currently enrolled. The new program will take about 36 credit hours to complete, which is 12 credit hours less than the current program. Students will pay the same amount for tuition that they currently do.

Norse Leadership Society sponsors conference, with Western & Southern Financial Group
The Norse Leadership Society is hosting a Corporate Leadership Conference Feb. 24 at the Western & Southern Financial Group building in downtown Cincinnati. Norse Leadership Society is partnering with Western & Southern to give students an opportunity to learn about corporate
culture and gain leadership skills in a work setting. The conference will allow students to possibly obtain a paid co-op position during the summer. Students of any major may apply, but must have a minimum GPA of 3.0. The application fee is $20, and the deadline to apply is Jan. 31 at 4 p.m. For more information about the conference, contact Tiffany Mayse at mayset@nku.edu.

Griffin Hall to hold MashComm36
On Feb. 18, the Northern Kentucky University College of Informatics and Department of Communication will host MashComm36. Teams comprised of public relations and media informatics students will be given an organization and a problem it faces, and they will have 36 hours to create and present a solution. Representatives from the respective organizations will attend and assign the scenarios to the students. Potential tasks include writing content for web and social media sites and/or redesigning them. For more information, visit http://mashcomm36.nku.edu.

Chase alum elected Edgewood BOE president
Amy Ashcraft, a graduate of the Salmon P. Chase College of Law, was recently sworn in as the president of the Edgewood Board of Education. Ashcraft was also a graduate of Edgewood High School. Ashcraft, 38, was a lawyer in Trenton, Ohio since 2001 until the ceremony. According to the Middletown Journal, she said she “is concerned with any plans to close any of the district’s schools and about the number of students leaving the district for other schools or for home schooling and on-line learning.”

NKU joins project to “breed
entrepreneurs of tomorrow”
On Jan. 16, Northern Kentucky leaders, including Northern Kentucky University and the College of Informatics, launched UpTech. According to Cincinnati.com, UpTech is a “business accelerator program that will leverage a $5 million investment fund to bring 50 start-up technology companies to the region over the next three to five years.” As part of the project, NKU’s Griffin Hall will be a place where funded start-ups will have access to the building’s facilities and the assistance of College of Informatics faculty, staff and students.