Health Administration Graduate Programs at MC Among South’s Leaders

Mississippi College graduate Derek Melton, who works at St. Dominic Hospital in Jackson, joins Melanie Fortenberry, director of MC's Health Administration Program at graduation day on the Clinton campus on August 6.

Robin Crocker believes her graduate studies at Mississippi College will magnify her skills as an effective healthcare leader.

The Flowood resident highly recommends MC’s master’s degree in health services administration. And, she can see why it’s rated among the South’s top 20.

“I absolutely love this program,” says Crocker, a Baptist Healthplex business office manager at three metro Jackson locations. “It helped me to develop specific leadership traits that are valuable to the healthcare industry.”

With millions of aging Baby Boomers retiring, it’s an industry projected to see at least a 23 percent growth in jobs through 2020, reports show.

A 35-year-old single mom, Crocker is among more than 100 graduate students enrolled in healthcare management programs on the Clinton campus.

Mississippi College’s healthcare management graduate programs were ranked No. 14 in the South by the “Healthcare Management Degree Guide.”

In August, MC received a stronger ranking than No. 15 Loyola University of New Orleans and No. 16 Lipscomb University of Nashville, among others. Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina finished No. 1.

The new guide reviewed MC’s on-line master’s in health informatics. The program helps graduate students learn to reduce healthcare costs, while working to expand patient access to services. The guide also gave strong rankings to MC’s master’s degree in health services administration.

From Health Services Administration Director Melanie Fortenberry to Graduate Dean Debbie Norris, and students, the new ratings speak well for MC programs that are nationally accredited.

Affordable costs are another plus. Graduate tuition for the MC programs is just below $10,000. Solid rankings for MC as a No. 11-ranked “Best Value” school among Southern regional universities in “U.S. News & World Report” also factored into the decision.

Crocker finished her undergraduate studies 11 years ago. She was a little rusty with the books, working full-time, and raising a child, but managed to start graduate school in August 2014. The case studies, legal studies, discussions forums and real life problems were all beneficial cornerstones of her on-line courses.

“The professors push you to get outside of your comfort zones at times,” Crocker said. As a result of the classes, she learned about changes in the healthcare industry in recent years. The classes taught her how to better treat co-workers and others on the job.

“Overall, I was very impressed with the setup of the program, Fortenberry’s leadership, and assistance from all of the professors.”

Derek Melton, who graduated August 6^th from MC’s on-line master’s in health informatics, also gives glowing reviews.

The MC graduate program helped him, he said, develop habits to become more organized and task-oriented at St. Dominic Hospital. “It helped me connect the dots in several areas of healthcare,” says the senior applications systems analyst at the Jackson hospital.

For more information, contact Melanie Fortenberry at 601-925-3982 or Forten00@mc.edu