PACE helps students quickly build real-world professional experience, lead and succeed in multi-cultural teams, analyze organizational issues, communicate and make effective presentations — all while contributing to the community by enhancing the operations of their not-for-profit client.
Willamette MBA alumni often cite PACE as one of the most transformative aspects of their MBA experience. PACE is a combination of career services, learning business practices, and a six-month consulting project for not-for-profit clients.
Students begin with a series of concepts about management and organizations with immediate direct application to the client projects as well as lifelong application to students' careers. As the first semester progresses, students will form small teams and begin planning their consulting services for not-for-profit clients. The projects provide valuable opportunity to put ideas from the first part of PACE into action.
During the second semester, each student team will receive both mentor and content inputs that are aligned with project progress. As the semester concludes, students will reflect on learnings from the projects and the series of steps they need to take to be positioned for fulfilling summer internships. At the end of the semester, each student team will make a presentation to present their recommendations to their client.
