Exploring Trending Topics Through In-Person Residencies in the Online Program

Hassan Shaikh ’24 MBA is on track to earn an online MBA with concentrations in business analytics and finance from the Whitman School in March 2024. In the meantime, he’s determined to make the most of his education by attending as many of the program’s in-person residency offerings as possible. With four completed, Shaikh has his eye on two more intensive weekend-long programs.

A supervising principal consultant at Sia Partners, a management consulting firm focusing on AI and next-generation design capabilities, Shaikh chose Whitman because of its online format that meets the demands of his busy work schedule. With a finance and data science background, he wanted an MBA to identify the gaps in his professional knowledge, particularly in business analytics, to further his career in management.

“Every skill I’ve learned at Whitman so far I’ve taken with me into work, my community and my personal life,” he explains. “The program has given me greater confidence and helped me see what kind of leader I want to be.”

Whitman’s residency program requirement for online MBA students was also a draw. The program requires three in-person sessions that take a deep dive into business topics that students can take back to the workplace and often implement immediately. Shaikh saw this not only as an opportunity to explore trending issues and network with students, faculty and alumni face-to-face but also a chance to travel to various locations he’d never visited before.

To date, he has attended four residencies — at Syracuse University in spring 2022 to focus on Digital Data during his first visit to campus; in New York City in fall 2022 for Alternative Investments, featuring a number of Syracuse alumni working in finance; to New Orleans in January of this year for the Whitman Challenge, consisting of marketing strategy development for nonprofit Louisiana Green Corps; and back to campus this April for The Business of Sport and a chance “to see campus one last time” before graduation. He isn’t stopping there, though, and plans to attend two more before completing his degree — Stockholm for the Entrepreneurial Business of Sweden in August and Denver in the fall to explore the Emerging Cannabis Industry.

“Attending Whitman for my online MBA has been one of the best decisions I’ve made in my life. Both my online courses and the residency programs have helped me grow professionally,” Shaikh says. “I will forever be proud to be a Syracuse University graduate.”

By Caroline K. Reff