The new Leadership Excellence and Advancement Program was launched with the e-TQM College's commitment of a $500,000 gift to the MOT program over a five-year period. The initiative also calls for collaboration in research, publications, and measuring student performance.

"This program will broaden the focus of our MOT program as well as expand the horizons of the faculty who become involved," says Robert E. Cole, a professor emeritus at the Haas School and former co-director of MOT. Cole will serve as the executive director of the Leadership Excellence and Advancement Program, which will be housed in the Institute of Management, Innovation, and Organization at the Haas School.

MOT, the largest interdisciplinary program on campus, is a partnership between the Haas School, the College of Engineering, and the School of Information. The e-TQM College, a newly certified college in the UAE, is the first online college in the Middle East specializing in total quality management in both manufacturing and service sectors. Its goal is to provide lifelong learning opportunities at both the graduate and undergraduate levels as well as executive education.

The joint program's executive education classes will address topics such as leadership and strategy and will include Haas School faculty through a combination of distance learning, trips to Dubai, and classes at the Haas School. The classes will be offered to executives in Dubai, as well as the larger Arab business world.