Earlier this fall, we announced a number of exciting innovations to our Executive MBA Program. In this ongoing blog series, we explore each of the innovations in more detail. New to the series? Be sure to check out our previous posts detailing our career curriculum enhancements and enterprise leadership course updates. Today we take a closer look at Darden’s home in the Washington, D.C. area, Sands Family Grounds, and a few of the benefits of having all executive format students based out of our Rosslyn location.
Beginning with the Class of 2021, the Sands Family Grounds in Rosslyn will be the base location for Darden’s Executive MBA Program. Of course, students will continue to spend time in Charlottesville for the two week-long leadership residencies at the beginning and end of the program, as well as curated extracurricular opportunities throughout the program’s 21 months. Best of both worlds!
Here are a few more things to know:
A Convenient Schedule. All weekend residencies will take place in Rosslyn and follow a Friday through Sunday schedule. Weekend residencies occur, on average, once a month, and classes will begin on Friday at Noon and conclude on Sunday around 3:30 pm. We will explore the schedule in more depth in a subsequent post. Stay tuned!
Maximum Networking. There are many benefits to having all students in the same location for significant portions of the program: Increased opportunity to build relationships and network with classmates, more class-wide extracurricular activities (we currently have six student organizations (and counting), and a pretty active social calendar (Tacky Sweater party, we’re looking at you)), simplification of program delivery, more facetime for faculty with students, to name a few.
In the current structure (two sections – one in Cville, one in Rosslyn), the full class is together just twice during the 21 months of the program. By locating both sections in Rosslyn, the full class will be together a total of 14 times!
Sands Family Grounds
Situated in Arlington, Virginia on the 30th and 31st floors of a 31-story office tower, Sands Family Grounds overlooks all of DC and points north, south, east and west. It features of mix of tiered and flat classrooms, learning team and seminar rooms and multi-purpose spaces. It is less than five miles from both Union Station and Reagan National Airport (DCA) and just three blocks from the Rosslyn Metro station.
Interested in learning more? Watch the video below for a tour of the space, and listen to our recent podcast with Mike Stroud, Darden’s Executive Director of Facilities and Operations. In this interview, Mike shares insights about Sands Family Grounds as well as Darden’s strategic plan for facilities.
Curious about all the happenings at Sands Family Grounds since its opening in March 2018? Be sure to check out the Darden Report’s recent year in review article.
