50 YEARS OF BUSINESS EDUCATION

While process efficiencies and fiscal accountability have been overarching themes of modern government, the education of management has been a focal point of the Naval Postgraduate School for some time. In fact, the university’s Graduate School of Business and Public Policy (GSBPP) began celebrating its 50th year of business education at NPS in 2012.

Although the initial award of M.S. in Management degrees began in the early 1960s, advanced education at the most prominent business school in the DOD has evolved greatly. The university now boasts degree programs in acquisition management, contract management, financial management and manpower systems analysis, just a few among a dozen curricula all accredited by dual agencies ... one of few universities anywhere to boast this distinction.

GSBPP has driven their educational enterprise further, however, turning advanced studies and research into practice. For example, GSBPP faculty helped develop the official “Contingency Contracting Handbook”—a product that has been distributed DOD wide to all contingency contracting personnel to unify the efficient and ethical processes that allow operators to acquire and succeed in the operational field, and in emergencies.

And once again, GSBPP’s Acquisition Management Program continues to set the standard in defining the body of knowledge of DOD acquisition. The prestigious symposium, which now enters its 10th year, has become the de facto exchange of policy and knowledge across the entire DOD.

In its second 50 years, GSBPP now begins to evolve the second area of its distinctive mission—public policy. With the addition of the Global Public Policy Academic Group, GSBPP will now partner its advanced education and research in business with an imminently advanced expertise in policy.

One of the immediate successes of this confluence is a developing effort in educational deliverables to the Civil Affairs officer community. Two robust graduate certificate programs are educating these critical leaders as they are placed into the asymmetric world of modern warfare and post-conflict stability and development. The programs have been very well received with students and senior leaders alike across the Civil Affairs community, and are poised for further growth over the coming years.

More Information ...

Inside NPS details the 9th Annual Acquisition Research Symposium, highlighting the program’s development into a clearinghouse of acquisition research and study. view episode

An Executive Master of Business Administration cohort turns their capstone project into a revived search and rescue unit at Naval Air Station Lemoore. view story

The first edition of In Review magazine for 2013 outlines the current state of the Graduate School of Business and Public Policy after 50 years of management education at NPS. view story