[ Skip Main Nav ]

University of Phoenix

http://www.phoenix.edu

Workforce Solutions Partners

Making it happen - with higher education

Edward Van Horne
Regional Chief Executive Officer, American Medical Response

Edward Van Horne

In 2000, Edward (Ted) Van Horne had been a paramedic for more than a decade, holding a variety of field and administrative roles. He had just co-founded his own ambulance company in Douglas, Arizona, and was consulting for American Medical Response (AMR). Despite all this, Ted worried that his career horizons were limited by his education.

“I felt I needed to have a post-graduate degree to advance in my career,” he says. “And I was also thinking that if I ever wanted to transition from EMS work into hospitals or other arenas, I’d want to diversify my skills a little and have that MBA.”

Despite his busy career, Ted decided the time was right to pursue an MBA. What initially brought him to University of Phoenix was flexibility—both online and on-campus programs were available. Ted knew he would prefer being in a classroom and needed a university that would accommodate his work schedule.

If you're really looking for career advancement in the business...an MBA is critical. It's almost what a bachelor's degree was twenty years ago.

“With my consulting work, I was spending a lot of time in Tucson and Phoenix, and lived between the two cities,” he says. Ted needed to be able to attend classes in both locations. “University of Phoenix allowed me to do that. I did my coursework for one year at the campus in Phoenix, and the other year in Tucson.”

It was a challenge for Ted to find the time to pursue his educational goals while managing his career and personal life, but he embraced it. “Pursuing the MBA taught me a lot about how to better manage my time and how to value it,” Ted says.

While at University of Phoenix, Ted also discovered skills he did not know he had. “I realized I was a lot more proficient in math than I had thought,” he says. “One day a light bulb came on and I understood statistics.”

Ted’s new knowledge helped him progress towards his personal and professional goals. He was soon a director of operations, leveraging the skills and knowledge he learned through his MBA program. Ted continued to rise to CEO of AMR’s south region.

“If you’re really looking for career advancement in the business—whether into operations, executive or leadership roles—an MBA is critical. It’s almost what a bachelor’s degree was twenty years ago,” Ted says. “Education is more important than ever in the job environment.”

The use of the phrase education partner or education partnership is for marketing purposes only and is not intended to create a legal partnership.

Corporate Education Solutions

An education partnership with University of Phoenix can help your company meet its corporate and industry learning objectives.

Business-to-business solutions

Innovator’s Accelerator

Transform key employees into innovators who create competitive advantage.

Learn more »

Loading...
It looks like you are using
Enhance your Phoenix.edu experience

You're using an older browser (a software program used to explore the web) which is not optimal for viewing the University of Phoenix website. Consider downloading a new browser to maximize your experience on this and other websites. Your new browser should display web pages properly, increase your web surfing speed and enhance your security.

©2006-2011 University of Phoenix, Inc. All rights reserved.