Outlook Magazine - Fall 2025

I had an interesting experience discussing the value of an MBA with four industry lead ers – three of them Stout alumni. Let’s just say they were not overly impressed with what a traditional MBA had to offer. That response was probably not that surprising since they were from industries that I see as very prac tical and very Stout-aligned: construction, manufacturing, printing and hospitality. An MBA is designed to be a general degree, focusing on finance, strategy and leadership. In my two years at Stout, I’ve met a remark able number of Stout alumni in executive leadership roles in companies large and small, and they seem to do very well with out an MBA. What they have in common are undergraduate degrees from our programs that are designed to develop leadership skills in technical fields. As the world adjusts to generative AI, our more practical and applied master’s degrees will be increasingly valuable. Generative AI is very good at providing middle-of-the-road answers to standard questions – in other words, it can make a beginner look like some one with a medium amount of experience. It is entirely possible that someone who would have relied on an MBA as an entry point into the business world from, say, engineering, could now use AI to generate the needed gen eral business information. What AI cannot do is provide nuanced solutions to complex problems that require in-depth knowledge combined with an understanding of a partic ular company’s operations. That’s what Stout’s business-related master’s degrees provide – a depth of knowledge in important fields that AI simply is not close to being able to replace. There are two ways to think about training business leaders. One is a generalist edu cation (MBA) that provides an overview of business operations that could apply to any organization. The other is building expertise in a particular field with the expectation that an individual can grow into a leadership role based on an understanding of the core busi ness operations. Stout’s alumni show the suc cess of the latter approach with an impressive list of industry leaders in areas like construc tion, hospitality, manufacturing, printing and more. Our School of Management master’s programs were built on that principle, and I will continue to contend that expertise in a field is the best base for a career. The burning question that everyone is trying to address is:

How will recent advances in AI change the relative value of different types of degrees? AI will have impacts on specific fields, like help ing with coding, but I suspect that its broad est impact will be to provide medium-level expertise in almost any area. If that is correct, it will elevate the value of detailed expertise relative to a generalist’s knowledge, because everyone will effectively be a generalist. Stout will continue to analyze the trends to ensure we’re making sound decisions for our future, as should any prospective graduate student – and who knows, that could include an MBA or a degree in AI – but at the moment, the smart investment for a workforce stand ing at the fork in the road is to follow a path that distinguishes them with specialized knowledge. Before joining UW-Stout, Daniel Freedman served as dean of the School of Science and Engi neering at SUNY New Paltz, where he also served as founding director of the Hudson Valley Addi tive Manufacturing Center. He holds a Ph.D. in inorganic chemistry from the University of Min nesota and has taught a wide variety of chemistry courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels throughout his 34 years in higher education.

"That’s what Stout’s business-related master’s degrees provide — a depth of knowledge in important fields that AI simply is not close to being able to replace."

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Outlook 2025