Situated in the city of Seattle—home to global firms such as Amazon.com, Inc., Starbucks Corp., and Microsoft Corp.—is the University of Washington’s Michael G. Foster School of Business. The graduate program focuses on the dynamics of leadership in business organizations and learning best practices while making business decisions. Students enrolled in the full-time M.B.A. program are introduced to and immersed in the program through LEAD Week. Students meet and work with a core study team, which are groups of four or five students that work together to accomplish projects and initiatives. Collaborative learning is a fixture of the full-time program, where students will learn team dynamics whether it’s through study teams or through a guided climb of Mount Rainier.

Along with a full-time program, the school also offers work-compatible options such as an evening M.B.A., executive M.B.A., and a Technology Management M.B.A. for technology professionals interested in business management careers. A one-year accelerated global executive M.B.A. is available for professionals invested in learning global strategies. A Ph.D. program as well as graduate degrees in Professional Accounting and Information Systems is also available at the business school.

There are more than 45,000 Foster graduates working across the globe, and some of the notable alumni include William S. Ayer, president and CEO of Alaska Airlines; Andrew Brimmer, the first African American to serve as governor of the Federal Reserve System; and Yoshihiko Miyauchi, chairman and CEO of Japanese financial services group ORIX Corp.