Whether he’s connecting with colleagues and clients or teleconferencing with classmates about an assignment, Matt Bechdol telecommutes to both work and class. His home office is this converted livestock barn near Auburn, Ind. |
In rural DeKalb County, Ind., a red clapboard-and-stone barn sits tucked away on 14 wooded acres carved from a farm that’s been in the same family since the 1800s. But behind the rustic facade, the former livestock barn houses 21st-century technology and the home office of a seasoned telecommuter.
From this 20-by-30-foot barn, Matt Bechdol, a federal account manager for Geographic Information System (GIS) software company Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI), leads a team of professionals located in Colorado, Washington, D.C. and California. Bechdol calls the arrangement “geographically neutral.” “You can do the same job anywhere and have the quality of life that you want,“ he says.
For Bechdol and his wife Beth, director of agribusiness strategies for the law firm Ice Miller LLP, this meant leaving behind hectic two-hour commutes in Washington, D.C. to get back to their small-town roots to raise their daughter Grace and help ensure that Beth’s family farm is preserved for future generations. Today, Bechdol’s commute is either a walk across the yard to his office or a 25-mile drive south to Fort Wayne to catch a plane, most often to the nation’s capital, where he works with clients in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, or to an ESRI office in Denver.
After researching graduate business programs, Matt Bechdol selected the Purdue-IU MS-MBA in Food and Agribusiness Management. One of the program’s biggest selling points was its focus on agribusiness, says Bechdol, an account manager whose federal client base includes the U.S. Department of Agriculture. |
Given his reliance on technology and familiarity with coordinating projects from around the country, it’s not surprising that Bechdol, a self-described “techie,” would consider distance-education when he began searching for a master’s degree program. Bechdol, who had already earned a master’s degree in geographic and cartographic science, was looking for a program that would provide business strategy and management skills to help him in both his career at ESRI and at Brechbill Farms, his in-laws’ family enterprise.
Two universities, two degrees
After meticulous research, Bechdol chose the Purdue University-Indiana University MS-MBA in Food and Agribusiness Management, a dual-degree program in which students earn both a master’s degree in agricultural economics from Purdue and an MBA from IU. Both schools have international reputations and are highly regarded for their respective degree programs. “I chose the MS-MBA because of the focus on agribusiness,” says Bechdol, whose wife and sister-in-law earned their master’s degrees in agricultural economics at Purdue. “The MBA is added value. Being able to get two degrees in one program is the ‘silver bullet.’”
Distance-learning degree programs are attractive to mid-career professionals like Bechdol, who worked out of town more than 80 days last year, because it gives them control over when and where they study. “These are people who travel on business, have young families and are frequently transferred within their organizations,” says Allan Gray, MS-MBA program director and professor of agricultural economics. “Taking a year off to attend full time or enrolling in a part-time evening or weekend program doesn’t work for them.”
That was the case for Stephanie Young, who works in Indianapolis at the world headquarters of Eli Lilly and Co. Although she lives within an easy commute of several MBA programs, her roots on farms and ranches in Oklahoma and the distance-education component drew her to Purdue Agriculture. “I didn’t have time to sit in a classroom every week,” she says. “I didn’t have a life that would allow me to do that.”
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