The Financial Times on Wednesday highlighted business school programs geared toward non-profit managers in dire need of brushing up on their leadership skills during this time of economic crisis.

Programs targeting non-profit managers are fairly new at most business schools; the expense of executive education programs for corporate customers – they are typically a cash cow for business schools – makes them out of reach for most, FT says.

But some business schools have found a way to make them affordable for social sector clients through sponsorship and grants to sub­sidize the programs.

Here’s a look at some of the programs mentioned in the article. Click here to read the whole story in the Financial Times.

Thunderbird School of Global Management ran a program in March for high-potential leaders of top social sector organizations in the US and overseas. A $200,000 grant by the American Express Foundation funded the program. Part­icipants spent a week at the school’s Glendale, Arizona, campus learning about non-profit sustainability, strategy, brand management, fundraising and innovation.

Kellogg School of Management offers short courses on social sector management. The classes include critical issues in board governance, leveraging resources through partnering, and non-profit finance, and the goal is to provide intense courses on specific issues for non-profit leaders who may not have a week to spare at a training seminar.

Stanford Graduate School of Business started a mini-MBA program in 2001 geared at non-profit executives. The program, subsidized mainly by grants from the Hewlett Foundation and the Packard Foundation and alumni gifts, is held every year and lasts two weeks.

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The University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business announced Wednesday that it has acquired new space in Baltimore at the University of Maryland BioPark that will make it possible to expand MBA programs and partnerships, and to include dedicated space for alumni offerings in Baltimore.

This move will give the Smith School more than four times the square footage it currently utilizes in the School of Nursing, and the new space will include technology-equipped classrooms, team break-out rooms, staff offices, a conference room, a small computer lab and a lounge area.

“The University is excited about the Smith School’s expansion in Baltimore,” says C. D. Mote, Jr., president of the University of Maryland, College Park. “We are an enthusiastic partner for Baltimore businesses, government and universities. This is a natural expansion of our existing collaborations with the University of Maryland, Baltimore. Given these linkages, I am confident that our highly ranked MBA program will thrive in its new Baltimore setting.”

Construction is slated to begin in July.

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The University of Chicago Chronicle announced Thursday that the University has signed a participation letter with the new International Student Loan Program (ISLP), which will provide loans requiring no co-signer to international students at the Chicago Booth School of Business.

The program will make educational loans available to international students who are not eligible for federal assistance and cannot qualify for standard private loans because they do not have a U.S. co-signer.

“Providing international students with access to a Chicago Booth education is a priority,” Rosemaria Martinelli, Associate Dean for Student Recruitment and Admissions, said in a statement announcing the news. About one-third of the students enrolled in the school’s MBA program come from outside the United States.

“With some traditional avenues closed due to the weak economy, we have gone to great lengths to find creative alternatives so our international students can finance their education. We are delighted to be able to offer a sustainable solution for our international students,” Martinelli said.

ISLP, originally conceived and discussed under the convening authority of Graduate Management Admission Council, quickly evolved into a loan program to be provided by a consortium of organizations experienced in the student loan arena.

This consortium, led by Deutsche Bank, which expects to provide initial funding, includes Access Group as the program servicer and administrator; Liberty Bank, N.A. as the originating lender; and Moehn and Associates as the program manager. The ISLP was developed with the involvement of Chicago Booth.

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Six senior faculty from University of Chicago Booth School of Business will discuss “The Future of Markets” in a live webcast of the opening session of the school’s 57th annual management conference Friday, May 29 at 12:45 p.m. central time.

Topics to be covered include:

• How much regulation do financial markets need?

• Is cycle-proof regulation possible?

• Are government stimulus programs effective? Should executive pay be restricted?

The live webcast will provide up-to-date insights into what is happening in the economy as it faces it greatest challenge since the Great Depression.

Speakers on the panel have spoken and written extensively on recession-related topics during the past year and will help explain the new role for regulation as well as make judgments about where the economy is headed.

To watch the session live, click on http://ChicagoBooth.edu/mc/2009/coverage.

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The University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School has created a new International Board of Advisors (BOA) of alumni who will advise the dean as the school expands its ongoing engagement with the global business community, the school announced on Tuesday.

Comprised of nearly two dozen UNC Kenan-Flagler alumni living in 17 different countries, the board will hold virtual meetings two to three times a year. According to James W. Dean Jr., dean of UNC Kenan-Flagler, creating the board builds on the school’s history of initiating new models of global education and fostering a deep engagement with business worldwide.

“These leaders navigate international business issues on a daily business, and they are uniquely positioned to work with the School as we deepen our ongoing focus on globalization,” says Dean. “In addition to our virtual meetings, I will travel to Europe, India, Asia and Latin America to grow our interaction with these alumni and other leaders of companies in business centers around the world.”

Having an international board of advisors is a valuable resource for the school that will bring the benefits of local knowledge and resources of alumni around the world, something that will dramatically extend the UNC Kenan-Flagler brand for recruiting, placement and development, says Jeff Tucker (MBA ’00), director of Century Bridge Capital in China and a member of the School’s Alumni Council and International Board of Advisors.

For a complete list of members of the new International Board of Advisors, click here.

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Last Friday, Nightly Business Report on PBS featured Darren Gersh‘s intriguing interview with Dean Robert Bruner of the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business in which the pair talked about whether the recession will ultimately be a valuable lesson for upcoming grads.

Here are some excerpts from that conversation…read the whole story here.

Dean Robert Bruner: It’s difficult to say that pain is healthy and that dashed hopes and disappointment is healthy. But I think that in the long run this generation is going to emerge stronger and wiser because of this experience. I tell the students, you’d really rather have an experience like a crash early in your professional life than late. So this generation will probably emerge much more sane about risk taking, much more prudent about thrift and investing.

Gersh: And yet business schools train the people who brought us this financial crisis by and large. I’m wondering, is this a time for reflection at places like Darden among professors about whether or not you did the right thing?

Bruner: No one can look at the events of the last two years dispassionately. No one can ignore the pain and dislocation that this has caused. I think we need to focus henceforth much more carefully on the way we think about risk, the way we assess it, the way we mitigate it. I think business schools need to embrace the consequences of the use of derivatives much more widely and help our students and the companies they serve use them more judiciously.

(Dean Bruner image courtesy of Darden School of Business)

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