COLLEGE STATION – Mays Business School at Texas A&M University and the Texas Engineering Extension Service (TEEX) have entered into a five-year agreement to provide mutually beneficial services to both entities. As part of the agreement, TEEX will provide two Disaster City ? Challenge events for Mays’ Full-Time and Executive MBA programs annually, and Mays will sponsor one enrollment per year in the Executive MBA program annually for a TEEX employee who is admitted to the program.

Over the last four years, students from Texas A&M’s MBA and Executive MBA programs have participated in the Disaster City challenge events at the 52-acre TEEX Disaster City training facility. This experience is a leadership and team-building exercise that teaches crisis communications and creative problem solving — soft skills essential for top business leaders. During the exercise, students are divided into teams to complete tasks such as rescuing “victims” from a train wreck, a high-speed GPS scavenger hunt, and a “slab drag,” moving a 1,200-pound block of concrete with team effort and pulleys. They also practice responding to the media and other external audiences during a crisis.

For Mays, this partnership provides MBA students the unique opportunity to develop their skills in a physically challenging, high-stress environment. The lessons from exercises will translate into how they work together in their teams, how they communicate, and how they lead their organizations.
“The experience at Disaster City provides something we can’t duplicate within the walls of our classrooms: a physical, tangible test of problem-solving and decision-making skills,” says David Blackwell, associate dean of graduate programs at Mays Business School. “We are fortunate to have access to this facility so near our main campus.”

The partnership allows TEEX to invest in the professional development of top employees, and increase the business acumen of their leadership team.

The Executive MBA program, offered by Mays Business School at Texas A&M University is a two-year MBA program for business professionals with classes held every other weekend in The Woodlands, Texas. The school’s Full-Time MBA Program is a 16-month program offered in College Station on the Texas A&M University campus, and is frequently ranked among the top 10 public business programs in the nation.

Disaster City?, Texas, is a 52-acre training facility that delivers a full array of skills and techniques needed by today’s emergency response professionals. The mock community features full-scale, collapsible structures designed to simulate various levels of disaster and wreckage. The training possibilities are nearly endless and can be customized for the specific needs of any group. Emergency responders worldwide, from the United Kingdom to Japan and from Taiwan to South America, venture to Disaster City for unparalleled search and rescue training and exercises. Simply put, Disaster City is the most comprehensive emergency response training facility available today. Disaster City is part of the Texas Engineering Extension Service (TEEX) Emergency Preparedness Campus located in College Staton, Texas. TEEX is one of seven state agencies, 11 universities and the Health Science Center that comprise The Texas A&M University System.

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