Danelle Tate knew she wanted a career that would allow her to travel and interact with others. After attending community college for two years in Kirkwood, Mo., she looked around for a university that would offer her an outstanding international business program, connections to top companies and the opportunity to study abroad.
UMSL student Danelle Tate, shown here at the The Schlachte in Bremen, Germany, studied abroad over the summer.
She didn’t have to look far. After learning about the International Business program at the University of Missouri–St. Louis, she was sold.
The program landed its 12th consecutive top 20 ranking by U.S. News & World Report this week. The magazine’s 2015 “America’s Best Colleges” guidebook named the International Business program at UMSL the best undergraduate business program in Missouri and the 16th best overall.
In addition, the College of Business Administration at UMSL was ranked in the top third of business programs in the nation in the magazine’s same issue.
“I decided to transfer to a university where I could study international business and study abroad,” said Tate, who is majoring in international business and logistics and supply chain and operations management at UMSL. “The universities I considered were costly and out-of-state. I did not want to transfer to a big university, which made the search a bit harder. I wanted a relatively small teacher-to-student ratio. After speaking with a few representatives from the university and students in the program, I knew UMSL was for me.”
UMSL’s International Business program began in 1999 as a collaboration between the College of Business Administration and Pierre Laclede Honors College at UMSL. The International Business Institute formed in 2000 with the goal of continuing to strengthen the international undergraduate and graduate degree programs.
“Twelve years in the top 20 is an amazing accomplishment,” said Joseph Rottman, director of the International Business Institute at UMSL.
He believes the consistent top ranking is attributed to the outstanding faculty and strong leadership that support the program.
“The program has a strong and active International Business Advisory Board that funds our many scholarships, our internationally acclaimed faculty and our dedicated staff,” he said. “It is a real team effort.”
UMSL’s international programs include:
• More than 70 study abroad programs available in more than 40 countries and a large contingent of students from China, Japan, Europe, Latin America and India
• Annual study tours that lead student groups to locales around the world
American students have interned at the overseas offices of companies such as Japan Airlines, Emerson Electric and General Motors, while foreign students have interned in the St. Louis area at companies such as Emerson Electric, Silgan Plastics, Novus International and Pricewaterhouse Coopers.
Building on the long-running success of the undergraduate program, the college launched the International Master’s of Business Administration program in 2005. The International MBA program created partnerships with international universities in China, Japan, India, France, Germany, Finland, Mexico and Taiwan. Students enrolled in the two-year graduate program spend the first year studying abroad followed by a summer internship before returning to UMSL for a year.
Tate received the 2014-15 Edward Jones Alumni Scholarship and the 2014 Pang Ylan and Pang Kiyan Memorial Scholarship, which allowed her to study in Bremen, Germany, this past summer.
“The scholarship allowed me to immerse myself fully into the culture and all that Germany and Europe had to offer,” she said. “It was a great experience and highly educational. I studied the German language along with other students from over 30-plus countries around the world. I traveled to several other locations with students in my program. My favorite memory has to be when Germany won the 2014 World Cup. The locals celebrated from dusk until dawn, and then some more. Alles war ausgezeichnet!”
Tate credits the faculty at UMSL for preparing her for the future.
“UMSL houses several prestigious professors, Michael Costello and Betty Vining to name a few, and they are more than willing to help students,” she said. “The professors listen to their students and tailor their programs based on our wishes and what we want to learn. The material is current and focuses on application rather than explanation.”
Tate said she gained a lot through her time at UMSL and felt the program was ranked among those at other leading universities for a reason.
“I am stronger in service, a careful listener, a sound leader, a quick thinker and full of character,” she said. “UMSL continues to surprise me with the programs it has to offer its students. It’s opened my eyes to new worlds and allowed me to test my strengths and weaknesses through various experiences.”
