A lifetime construction worker, Chad Patten was looking for a career change after the Provo, Utah, steel mill where he worked shut down in late 2002.
After receiving his bachelor's degree in technology management in 2004, he tried working as a quality-control manager, but it wasn't the right fit. Then he joined Capital Community Bank in Provo, where his father is chairman of the board, as a lending trainee in May 2005.
Today, at 49, Mr. Patten is the $100 million-asset bank's top lender. He gives much of the credit for his rapid rise to the Master's of Business Administration in Banking and Financial Institutions at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Tex.
The university started the program in August 2005, and Mr. Patten was among the first to enroll. He and 15 others from that inaugural class will graduate this summer.
"It helped me leapfrog almost seven years in the business," Mr. Patten said. "I think I would have caught on eventually to lending, but the jump-start the program gave me was a major portion of my success."
Students meet for two weeks a year, with the rest of the studying done online. Organizers said it is the country's first accredited master's program focusing exclusively on banking.
The university created the program largely in response to the industry's demand for talent.
Senior-level lenders and managers have become scarce in recent years, especially in Texas. Jim Bexley, the administrator of the master's program, said it is designed to help banks develop talent from within. The school, which in 1996 received a $1 million endowment from an anonymous donor to create a banking program, also offers a bachelor's degree in banking, and Mr. Bexley said many of its students are offered jobs before graduation.
"What we are trying to do is find unique ways to serve the banking industry," he said. "The program trains people on a more global basis, so that they are prepared to manage all the various aspects of the bank - credit, marketing, the financial side, and all the things that go on at a bank."
The master's program has an advisory board of bank executives and regulators, which allows the curriculum to reflect the industry's needs, Mr. Bexley said. The coursework includes cost-based accounting, finance, communications, marketing, and lending. The third master's degree class is set to start in August; the cost is $14,000 a year and enrollment is limited to 25 students.
But the program is not just for low- or midlevel bankers looking to move up the corporate ladder. It is also attracting veteran bankers and even regulators.
Daryl Bohls, the executive vice president of special projects at the $4.4 billion-asset Sterling Bancshares of Houston, had been a banker for about 30 years, but felt he had fallen behind, especially in technology. Indeed, some of his first lessons were in how to use a laptop computer and even a "fancy calculator."
Mr. Bohls said he has also learned about gauging a buyout candidate's value. "We've bought 10 banks, but I never knew how to do the calculations," he said. "Now at M&A meetings I can ask intelligent questions and understand the answers."
Maris Olguin, a senior adviser to the ombudsman of the Office of the Comptroller of Currency in Houston, said the coursework has led to better efficiency in her office. Homework surveys she did helped to improve communication with banks and bank customers and to streamline information-gathering policies, she said.
The flexible format allows Ms. Olguin, a mother of two, to continue to work full time. Instant messaging, chat rooms, and text messaging keep students connected.
"It's a really good fit for me," Ms. Olguin said, "because not only am I learning personally, but I'm taking what I learn in the academic world and applying it to the day-to-day business world."
