Alaska Pacific University: small school, big program: Anchorage institution offers students topnotch MBA degree.

• Author: Stomierowski, Peg

If you need a career lift and are looking for a master's in business administration with an edge, Alaska Pacific University might be worth checking out. Whatever your views of those dizzying college consumer ratings, Alaska Pacific University is drawing notice, and more B-schools (business schools) are finding glitter in the kind of traditions APU holds dear.

This private, nonprofit center of experiential education in Anchorage that was included last year in Barron's "Best Buys in College Education" is ranked 47th among master's-level universities in the West in the 2007 edition of U.S. News & World Report Guide to America's Best Colleges. Cost of the MBA degree at APU, including fees and books, ranges from $22,000 to $23,000, says Tracy Stewart, director. Some classes are taught in Austria or China.

"Alaska is a hard market," reflects Academic Dean Marilyn Barry, "and not just because we're small and spread out. You have to make an effort to come to Alaska and to stay in Alaska. These are adventurous, hardy, even aggressive types. They're not shrinking violets."

APU targets these hardy individualists with the vision of stretching and growing professionally while personalizing their studies and rubbing shoulders with others who have expertise to share.

'ACTIVE LEARNING'

Hands-on learning isn't the latest nuance here, but a matter of remaining on mission. "APU's emphasis on active-learning exhibits itself with every curricular offering," says Mike Fisher, director of the MBA emphasis in Health Services Administration. "Alaska is a community of individuals and businesses that welcomes partnering with students toward achieving the common goal of quality and practical resolutions to challenging issues.

"APU's active-learning model is years ahead of many other schools," Fisher says, and he expects the community partnerships to continue and thrive.

APU, it seems, has been known for the kinds of strengths--small classes, exceptional faculty and a collegial atmosphere--cited by BusinessWeek as helping the University of California at Berkeley's Hass School of Business break into the magazine's top 10 rankings for 2006.

At 10 to 15 students, APU class size may resemble the executive corps that many students aim to join. At an institution that also eschews a tenure system for faculty, while encouraging constant planning and goal setting, about 77 percent of the faculty hold a Ph.D. or terminal degree in their fields.

"I was trained as a theoretical...