Photo of online Master’s students collaborating.
RYAN MONTEMARANO / COURTESY
Sophia Fortunato, Staff Writer
Manhattan University (MU) held its first Residency Weekend for online master’s students this semester on Oct. 9-11.
Grishma Shah, Ph.D., interim dean of the O’Malley School of Business, explained to The Quadrangle that the weekend is part of the university’s new online graduate programs.
“The programs themselves are new, the master of science degree programs are brand new,” Shah said. “We just launched them in fall 2026, and so the Resident Weekend is part of that program.”
Shah further emphasized that the goal was for students to build social and professional networks and to experience campus.
“I think the thing we want them to get most out of this is to build their social and professional networks,” Shah said. “Number one, to be able to meet off the online system and meet in person so they can build community. Two, is to experience our campus. We know that we have this beautiful campus in New York City, and our online students never get to really see it or experience it.”
The weekend consisted of different activities for MU’s students. Francis Zhang, assistant professor of business analytics, was involved with the weekend and told The Quadrangle that he wanted students to leave seeing their classmates as future connections.
“After this course I want them to know their classmates can be their friends and be their networks… and the best part of the [Residency] weekend is that they can have their classmates to work with them in the future,” Zhang said.
Zhang described what was planned for each day and the work students were tasked with, beginning with team-building sessions.
“The first day, I had two boot camps,” Zhang said. “Also [on the same day, I instructed] some easy group projects to let them get to know each other.”
Zhang explained that the students worked in teams, with each team mimicking a department within a company.
“I divided the students into four groups, with each group representing a different department in a company,” Zhang said. “They started by working on their own datasets, and I asked questions. They gave me a dashboard, the report, but later they had to communicate and combine the information [while generating] more advanced business reports.”
C.J. Curtis, an MU student currently enrolled in the master of science in business analytics program, explained that he attended Residency Weekend to meet classmates in person.
“I got a stronger connection to the program, better relationship with classmates, and a better feel for the school overall,” Curtis said.
Curtis went on to discuss that the program is mostly online, which made the in-person time appealing.
“It was part of the course, but I also wanted to meet everyone in person since most of the program is online,” Curtis said. “The chance to connect with classmates and faculty in person – it made the program feel a lot more personal.”
Shah noted that MU will continue to host more Residency Weekends in the future.
“We [are planning] to do this three times a year,” Shah said. “We have three courses that [have a requirement to attend] Residency Weekend. We just did our first one, [and we plan to do another] one mid-March.”