Portland State University

Earlier this year, PSU MBA students Oscar Leeper (Class of 2012) and Ryan Black (Class of 2012) completed a Capstone Consulting Project for Bonanza Publishing and Rick Steber, award-winning author of nearly 30 books about the Old West.

All Portland State MBA students complete a Capstone Consulting Project prior to graduation. Students often work in 2 to 4 person groups with a local, regional or international company and commit 300-600 or more total hours over 12-18 weeks to complete their “real world” business assignment.

We recently had a chance to interview Oscar about the project and how it shaped his experience in the Portland State MBA program.

MBA Team (left to right): Joe King, Mark Rentschler, Jon Wachsman, Bret Perkins, Lindsey Dietz, Ben Lies, Michael Liang

This past Winter term, in conjunction with an MBA electives course on e-marketing, I had the opportunity to lead as project manager a team of seven MBA students in developing an E-marketing plan for Oregon Health and Science University's (OHSU) Biomedical Informatics Graduate Program.

In layman's terms, biomedical informatics is the scientific study of the storage, retrieval and optimal use of biomedical information, data, and knowledge for problem-solving and decision-making. Since most people are unfamiliar with the field of "biomedical informatics" (mention this phrase in conversation and you may receive a blank look of confusion), the plan we developed was aimed at using social and digital media channels to increase awareness of this growing industry.

The goal of the plan is to increase program enrollment by optimizing the program's web presence and its use of digital and social marketing channels, such as LinkedIn, Twitter, and blogging.

Many Portland State MBA students are working full- or part-time while enrolled in the program, and each year we even see numerous students launch entrepreneurial ventures.

Adam Smith (MBA 2011) is one of those MBA alumni with a great story. While pursuing his degree and working in marketing for Portland State, he found the time and focus to invent a handy kitchen tool that now has international distribution.

We recently had a chance to chat with Adam to find out more about his invention and how his experience in the MBA program helped support his efforts to bring his product to market.

When not busy inventing new products, Adam is a Product Manager for Inventor at Autodesk.

Portland State MBA students have access to wide array of educational and business networking resources across the PSU campus.

One of these opportunities is the Age of the Pacific lecture series, which brings international business leaders to Portland State University to present on current trends and developments worldwide.

The latest installment in the series takes place tonight as PSU welcomes Linda Weston, President and Executive Director for the Oregon Entrepreneurs Network (OEN) since 1999. OEN is the largest entrepreneur assistance organization in the state of Oregon, fostering the flow of entrepreneurial ideas, services, and capital to entrepreneurs.