The Princeton Review selected Fresno State as having one of the nation’s top 50 graduate programs for entrepreneurs in 2024, ranking the program No. 9 in the West. The ranking, based on a survey of nearly 300 business schools in the United States, Canada and Europe, appears in the December issue of Entrepreneur magazine.
“This recognition highlights the quality, rigor and relevance of our MBA program and its role in nurturing entrepreneurs who drive the economic development of Central California,” said Dr. Julie B. Olson-Buchanan, dean of the Craig School of Business at Fresno State. “This is an important milestone for us — our MBA program has a long and proud history, but we are constantly working to make it a more effective educational resource for our community.”
Dr. Zhanna Sahatjian, director of Fresno State graduate business programs, said the ranking reflects the core role of entrepreneurship in the MBA program, which educates a diverse population of professionals who work in the Central Valley and are committed to economic development in their communities.
“Our MBA program excels in promoting diverse perspectives and delivering real-world applicability,” Sahatjian said. “We’re committed to shaping our students into ethically grounded business leaders who will make an impact on Central California. Entrepreneurship education cultivates innovation, fosters adaptability and equips our students to not only embrace change, but to drive it.”
Fresno State’s graduate business programs include the only Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business-accredited MBA program in Fresno and the surrounding area.
Melvin Velasquez
For Melvin Velasquez, an alumnus of the MBA program, Fresno State helped him break through barriers to start his own company. Velasquez, who has cerebral palsy, founded PCA Now, a Web service to connect disabled people with personal care assistants. For two and a half years, he used free office space provided by the Lyles Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship to help launch his business and provide a critical need for disabled people.
“Put yourself in my position,” Velasquez said. “Imagine you wake up tomorrow not able to walk, not able to move, not able to get out of bed. What would you do? You only have your brain. The state provides only a certain number of hours of help. What happens when those hours are up? I told myself, ‘You have to get an MBA, so you can prove to society that you know your stuff. And you have to start up this business to help others in the same situation.’ The MBA program gave me real-life experience to know what I’m getting into.”
The MBA program provided another local entrepreneur with the knowledge and confidence to save a beloved local business. When Joey Martinez, an MBA alum and lifelong comics fan, learned that Fresno comics store Heroes was going out of business, he knew exactly what to do.
“I’ve been shopping at Heroes for 13 years and it’s been a big part of my life, so when I heard they were closing, I contacted [Heroes owner Dave Allread] and arranged to meet him the next day,” Martinez said. “Within 24 hours I wrote out a business plan of how I would handle the business, how I would do ordering, with rough numbers and a marketing plan. I wouldn’t have had the confidence to do that, I wouldn’t have known what to say or had as much insight into business processes if I hadn’t gone through the MBA program.”
Martinez’s business plan won him Allread’s confidence, and Martinez will soon reopen the comic book store at a new location at Fresno Street and Alluvial Avenue under a new name, Secret Identity Comics.
Martinez said every part of his MBA experience has helped him with entrepreneurship. “I would say the entire MBA program is an entrepreneurship program,” Martinez said. “You can’t start a business without understanding accounting, finance, marketing, law, management. Every single class in some way gives you knowledge that contributes to you owning a business. The entrepreneurship classes take all that information and synthesize it — how do we put it all together and put it into a business plan?”
The MBA program also encourages entrepreneurial thinking through its focus on applying business knowledge to real-world business programs. Students complete their studies with a culminating experience project, in which they analyze current business problems for local nonprofit organizations and businesses and propose a solution.
David Kuhtz
Alumnus David Kuhtz incorporated analysis of his own business into his studies. “The most helpful part of entrepreneurship studies was to take higher learning concepts, theories and models and discuss them in a real context, especially with small business,” Kuhtz said. “My MBA thesis was on my actual business that I had at the time, a tree care company. I analyzed all the different services I was providing and did a cost analysis of them, and, in the end, I eliminated some services that weren’t profitable. That was very important to me. I didn’t just want the formal education. I wanted to tie my education to my real-world life.”
The MBA program serves working professionals and offers a balance of in-person and online classes to accommodate working schedules. Besides the traditional MBA program, Fresno State offers the Executive MBA for experienced professionals, an accelerated 17-month program that meets on Saturdays.
The Executive MBA program now has a new home at the executive classroom at Campus Pointe, which opened at a ribbon-cutting ceremony and reception in October. The new classroom will primarily be used for Executive MBA classes and other professional development activities.
“We’re truly excited to have this new state-of-the-art facility,” Zahatjian said. “Equipped with the latest technology, comfortable furniture and a versatile space for networking and group interaction, this is a cutting-edge classroom for deeper learning and professional growth.”
