Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

UTEP President Diana Natalicio received a briefing on the new Graduate School of Business Friday from Jesus Ortega, Perspective project manager, left, ad Chris Kleberg, vice president of Borderplex. (Victor Calzada / El Paso Times)

EL PASO -- UTEP students seeking master's degrees in business administration soon will be able to mingle with bankers and other Downtown executives.

Starting in October, the University of Texas at El Paso is moving its College of Business Administration MBA programs to the Chase Building.

The UTEP Graduate Executive Management Center will occupy about 12,000 square feet on the first and fifth floors for the accelerated MBA, executive MBA and international MBA programs.

UTEP President Diana Natalicio said the new center, at Stanton Street across from the Federal Reserve, represents the first physical expansion of the College of Business Administration in more than 25 years.

"We believe the research capacity expansion will contribute toward our 'tier-one' status, and help contribute to the revitalization of Downtown El Paso," Natalicio said.

Tier one is a description of top-research universities, a status that UTEP aspires to reach.

Graduate business students had been attending classes Downtown in various places, including El Paso Electric Co., Wells Fargo and the Greater El Paso Chamber of Commerce.

The arrangement at the Chase Building will provide a more permanent home for the center, as well as badly needed space for growing programs.

Mari Olivas, 42, an accelerated MBA student and physician liaison for Sierra Providence Health Network, is one of those students. She has almost completed her two-year program.

"Being in the Downtown environment was a very good experience," Olivas said. "Most of us in the classes are managers, and some of them already worked Downtown. Being down here, you get to see the bankers and lawyers and other executives. What the university is doing is a great idea."

The center also will house several research centers, including the Center for Hispanic Entrepreneurship, the Border Regional Modeling Project, the Centers for Entrepreneurial Development and the proposed Center for Hispanic Marketing.

"The economic development of all great cities can be directly linked to the health and growth of its college of business' research and academic programs," said Robert Nachtmann, UTEP's business dean. "Together, this community and its UTEP College of Business Administration will grow into their mutual future."

Jose Marquez, owner of the Percolator at 217 N. Stanton, said he welcomed the idea of having MBA students conducting their studies two blocks from his coffee shop.

"It will bring more people to Downtown, and it will provide the students with exposure to real life," Marquez said. "I hope to see them in my shop, but even if they don't come in, their being here will benefit all of us."

Steve Johnson, UTEP's associate business dean, said it will cost about $600,000 to get the place ready.

"We are very grateful to the other businesses that allowed us to impose on them with our classes," Johnson said. "The business community has done a lot to help us get to this stage."

The center will accommodate between 60 and 80 upper-level students and their professors. The courses cater to working people who find it convenient to attend classes in the evening, early morning and weekends.

Olivas says that the flexibility does not mean the classes are easy and that teachers set high standards for the students.

The new 18-month executive MBA program is aimed at high-level and experienced managers, including candidates from other cities who will travel to UTEP to attend classes. The international MBA program will provide a global focus to bilingual students, who will be able to build on their language skills, including Spanish and Chinese. Fernanda Garcia, a UTEP management professor who specializes in human resources, has taught students in the accelerated MBA program.

"This is a great opportunity for our students to get in touch with business leaders, and to be right in the middle of the action, where things are happening," Garcia said.