Over the past month, the full-time American students have been learning the Italian language and getting accustomed to the Italian culture with the help of Professoressa Michela. This month, she took them to the beautiful city of Asolo, just minutes away from our campus in Pieve del Grappa. This beautiful city has much to offer, and Michela led the tour of a lifetime. 

Completing an MBA at CIMBA is both a remarkable and extremely rewarding experience. Not only do you earn a degree, but you also can immerse yourself in a culture that is different from yours. People who move to a different country have the unique opportunity to experience firsthand the many differences and similarities that we have as humans. After completing a period abroad, most students will go home more susceptible to interacting with others.

Students first began arriving to our campus in Paderno del Grappa on September 1st — a refreshing sight after a long year of no full-time MBA classes due to the COVID-19 ongoing global pandemic. The first group to arrive was composed of four students from the University of Arkansas and one Kansas University Student. This group went on a ten day trip across many of the major cities in Italy. The rest of the students arrived in the week that followed, and during their first days in town they worked on becoming accustomed to the area, people, and culture.

For this month’s spotlight we had the opportunity to sit with Dr. Timothy L. Shaftel, professor of Corporate Financial Reporting. Dr. Shaftel is a Professor Emeritus at the University of Kansas. He has been part of the CIMBA faculty for over 20 years. During the conversation Dr. Shaftel shared some of his most memorable moments at CIMBA and what makes him passionate about CIMBA.

In searching for a job, it is important to remember that it is not just only about what you can provide to the company, but also about the potential for growth and development the company can provide to you. To this end, it is important that your goals, principles, and values align with those of your potential employer.

“Uneasy” is the word that could best describe how I felt when I first learned about CIMBA’s MBA program. At the time, I was working as an office manager for a construction company in a town hidden in the expanse of the Kansas plains. Back then, I wanted to hone the leadership skills that make up an effective manager, expand my understanding of the international business outlook, and be exposed to a variety of different cultures. I resolved that the best next step in my journey towards self-fulfillment was by obtaining an MBA with a focus in global business education while bearing in mind the hefty cost of such investment. 

As we are near the end of November, it is difficult to overlook the idea that in Italy people do not observe Thanksgiving Day, at least not in the same way Americans do. Granted that many countries around the world commemorate Thanksgiving, and each one of them may celebrate it for different reasons. American Thanksgiving is highly contextualized in the idea of family gatherings, turkey, and a cold November weather. It is in fact one of the biggest holidays in the US, along with Christmas. To my surprise however, I ran into a holiday that is strikingly similar to the American celebration: San Martino’s day.

It has been a wild year. At the beginning of the year, I was serving in the United States Peace Corps in an Albanian village bordering Greece. I was training other volunteers, working on tourism projects, and marking hiking trails to increase tourism in the area. As the entire world knows, COVID-19 had different plans for all of us. We were evacuated on March 15th back to the States, along with over 7000 Peace Corps volunteers worldwide. I was not ready to be back in the States in general, and much less so in a COVID world.

Although both impacted and dismayed by the global pandemic, we found ourselves filled with enthusiasm and anticipation as the Class of 2021 began its studies this past month. Guided and supported by a strong belief that truly great leaders do not merely survive in uncertain times, they thrive, we directed our energies toward managing and overcoming the seemingly endless series of barriers and obstructions that blocked our path.

As when I first started the CIMBA MBA program and was just getting to know my classmates, I was fascinated by a palpable quality that was present in many, if not all of them: the value of cultural diversity. While I fully appreciated the academic and professional properties of the program, each individual’s own background was a factor that captured my interest even further.