The UA’s footprint in downtown Phoenix will be getting a bit bigger this fall with the relocation of the Eller College of Management’s satellite MBA program.

Eller College’s Evening MBA and Executive MBA professional programs will be relocating from Scottsdale to the UA College of Medicine — Phoenix campus in the fall.

The current Scottsdale campus location is not conducive to the program and lacks a sense of community, said Hope Schau, the associate dean of the Eller College MBA program and an associate professor of marketing.

The Eller College faculty has been pushing for this relocation for over a year, and has put in a great deal of effort to make it happen, Schau said.

About 170 Eller College MBA students will gradually transition to the downtown location, according to Al Bravo, associate director of public affairs at the UA College of Medicine — Phoenix. The Eller College classes will be held in a building added to the downtown UA Medical Center campus in summer of 2012, Bravo said.

“It’s nice to have the consolidation and sharing of resources of the universities all in one place,” Bravo said.

Bravo said relocating the campus will create a greater education presence in downtown, especially with Arizona State University undergraduate students downtown.

“It’s just nice to have more students downtown,” Bravo said. “I think that adds to the energy.”

Bravo said that he thinks one of the factors behind the decision to relocate the Eller College campus was the Phoenix economy.

“I also think they’re looking to benefit from being in the middle of the city, in the middle of the economic center of Phoenix,” Bravo said.

Bravo also said he believes that the UA medical students downtown could benefit from the presence of the Eller College campus.

“[The medical campus sees] a cooperation — a partnership — educationally down the road,” Bravo said. “We would love to expose our medical students to some of the business curriculum.”
Schau also said that several Eller College students have expressed interests in health care and business.

In a press release, Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton said that he is looking forward to having the Eller College campus relocate to downtown Phoenix.

“Eller graduates are top-notch, and exactly the kind of professionals we want as a part of our community,” Stanton said.

Schau spoke highly of the downtown area and said that she is excited to see an increase in the UA’s presence there.

“I am so thrilled that they have allowed us to have a partnership that we think will be pretty substantial in the years to come,” Schau said.