There probably was a day when news about an East Coast university bringing its MBA program to Oregon would have been met with flat-out derision. Something along the lines of: We have plenty of fine graduate business programs at our own universities, thank you very much.

But hearing that Wellesley, Mass.-based Babson College's new Fast Track MBA program will start enrolling its first class of about 50 Northwest students for a program to be based somewhere in the Portland area, I thought, "Great, bring it on."

While looking at Oregon's b-school programs for an Oregon Business story last year, I talked to smart people who told me that despite the varied MBA options at our public and private schools — a number that continues to grow with additions such as Eastern Oregon University's program — the state still suffers from a lack of nationally ranked programs. Students seeking the best of the best are often drawn outside the state.

The Babson program is consistently ranked the No. 1 program for entrepreneurship by U.S. News & World Report. Its Fast Track MBA liberally uses Web-based classes, with face-to-face instruction making up about 40% of the overall curriculum — a flexible choice for the time-starved worker/student.

Scott Gibson, angel investor, RadiSys board chair and the primary advocate for Babson in Oregon, puts it this way: "Last time I checked, Boston hasn't been disadvantaged by having too many great schools nearby."

Babson isn't the only interesting thing happening at the intersection of business and education right now. Two MBA programs are moving into downtown Portland in 2006. Willamette University's Atkinson School of Management is setting up digs in the Pearl District for a new Professional MBA program with revamped core classes. And the Oregon Executive MBA program, offered by the University of Oregon, Oregon State and Portland State universities, will be opening its new site at 200 S.W. Market Street around the same time.

And that's just Portland. In Southern Oregon, a partnership between Rogue Valley Community College, Southern Oregon University and the business community will start to take shape with a new education center. And at the OSU-Cascades Campus in Bend, the Juniper Ridge development promises to deliver a deep business-education partnership.

Ask any business exec to name their top three concerns and education is likely to be among them. Flexible models and creative partnerships are signs that educators are starting to think creatively about how to improve.

CHANGE IS ALSO IN THE WORKS at Oregon Business. By the time this issue hits newsstands and in-boxes, we'll have a new editor. Robin Doussard joins us from Portland Monthly, where she served as news editor, and prior to that tours of duty at daily newspapers that included The Orange County Register, San Jose Mercury News and South Florida's Sun-Sentinel.

The rest of us will remain in our posts: me as managing editor, Oakley Brooks as associate editor, Brandon Sawyer as research editor and 100 Best guru, and Kate Melkerson as art director. We're looking forward to an eventful 2006, a year that marks our 25th anniversary covering businesses in Oregon.

If you have comments about any articles you've read in Oregon Business magazine, e-mail us at feedback@oregonbusiness.com.

Copyright 2005 Oregon Business magazine