MHEC Secretary Calvin Burnett said he will reach a decision by March 15 and inform TU and its partner institution, the University of Baltimore.
The decision will follow several months of wrangling with local schools that have voiced objections to the proposal.
At a Senate Subcommittee on Education, Business, and Administration hearing on Friday, TU President Robert Caret called the joint MBA proposal "one of the more innovative programs [that has] ever launched" in the University System of Maryland.
"Too often, institutions have been fighting over programs," he said. "Rather than compete, [UB president] Bob Bogomolny and I, after a lot of dialogue, agreed to launch a joint MBA."
Caret said it is an example of two institutions "finding ways of doing things together where we can help each other."
Subcommittee Chair P.J. Hogan commended Caret and Bogomolny for working together. "It just makes so much sense," Hogan said.
Referring to an institutional tendency to fight over academic programs, Hogan joked, "The kids are playing in the sandbox much better than they used to."
Bogomolny testified to the subcommittee shortly after Caret completed his remarks. Approval of the joint degree "will increase affordable educational opportunities for all area students," Bogomolny's written testimony said.
Sitting behind Caret and Bogomolny was Burnett. In an interview, Burnett said he and his staff planned to work through the weekend to reach a decision by March 15. "We have to look at a whole bunch of things," he said.
Burnett stressed the importance of MHEC's agreement with the Office of Civil Rights. The agreement is designed to ensure equality for historically black institutions, like Morgan State University, which currently offers an MBA program. Some officials believe Morgan would be adversely affected if Towson offered an MBA.
"We have to make sure that we are in compliance with that agreement," Burnett said. He listed some of the many factors the commission must consider: "We have to make sure we're not being unfair to Towson, University of Baltimore, Morgan State; we have to make sure it isn't creating unnecessary duplication of programs; we have to make sure it's the best decision for the state of Maryland -- we're examining all of those areas." For TU and UB, the decision is an obvious one.
"We have the largest undergraduate business program in the state...and yet we don't have an MBA," Caret told the subcommittee. "It makes it very difficult to attract faculty. It makes it almost impossible to attract a dean for that college. And yet we have [many students] who have a need for that MBA."
Towson has also asserted that it's difficult to recruit the best business school applicants without an MBA degree.
"It's an important degree that looks bad not to have," Provost James Brennan said in October.
The University of Baltimore already offers the MBA degree. The joint proposal would expand the program and add two specialized tracks, in sports management and business security.
"The proposed joint MBA degree program will synergistically advance the two institutions' distinctive mission-based goals and will create an effective and efficient mechanism for supporting the State's economic development in the greater Baltimore Metropolitan region," the program proposal stated.
The MBA would provide "applied graduate business education for students seeking careers as professionals in the field of business administration."
The proposal was submitted several months ago, but many institutions, including Loyola College and the Maryland Independent College and University Association, objected to it. Towson sent its response to the objections in late January.
The two institutions believe a joint MBA would "build on the existing strengths at both institutions...to provide greater offerings than either institution can deliver separately." Establishing an MBA program has been one of Caret's key objectives since he arrived at TU in 2003.
"I believe the odds are in our favor, because we have made such a great case," Caret said after the hearing.
If the proposal is approved, the joint degree will be offered next fall. If Burnett rejects the joint MBA proposal, the two institutions have 30 days to protest the decision. It could be appealed to the full Maryland Higher Education Commission.
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