Despite the reaction from some University of Iowa alumni about the Tippie College of Business’ announcement in August that it plans to close its full-time M.B.A. program, the college’s dean maintains that Tippie needs to be market-driven in its decision making.

Tippie Dean Sarah Gardial gave a presentation Wednesday during the state Board of Regents’ Academic and Student Affairs Committee meeting about the closure of the full-time M.B.A. program.

“With the changes that are going on in the business world, we have to keep up,” Gardial said. “We have to be where they are and where they’re going.”

The full-time M.B.A. program is one of five M.B.A. programs offered by Tippie and is the only one with declining applications, Gardial said.

“By no means are we walking away from the M.B.A.,” Gardial said.

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Gardial said the closure of Tippie’s full-time M.B.A. program is not a retraction but a reallocation of resources tied up in the shrinking program.

UI President Bruce Harreld said in an interview with The Daily Iowan on Tuesday that although the program did not close for fiscal reasons, the program’s closing means resources can now be shifted to areas where there is higher demand.

“… We have no plans currently to shift anything else out of M.B.A., but I will say we are continually looking at every channel for all degrees trying to make sure they make sense and they close economically particularly during this difficult fiscal period,” he said. “… We can repurpose that money to places where there’s higher demand. I think if we didn’t do these sort of things, people would be critical of us for not using our money expeditiously.”

Regent Nancy Boettger said the regents have received questions regarding the program’s closure from alumni, and Gardial’s presentation helped the regents understand the logistics behind Tippie’s decision.