Glenn Omura’s parting words to the Full-Time MBA Program Class of 2018 at the Broad College of Business carried special meaning at graduation ceremonies on Friday, May 4. Not just because he oversees the program, but also because he’s departing with his outbound students.

Omura, the associate dean for the MBA and professional masters programs, is retiring after a 39-year career with the college.

“You cannot believe how proud I am of my last class,” Omura said at a pre-commencement reception at the Henry Center for Executive Development, adding that he feels the past two years of “study and sacrifice has been worth it” for students, their families, and their friends.

That’s because they learned not only facts and skills, but how to successfully use them going forward.

“Content knowledge today is not enough. How to use that knowledge is much more important,” Omura said.

The program graduated 64 newly-minted MBAs at subsequent commencement ceremonies that afternoon at the Breslin Center.

Omura was preceded in his remarks by Broad College of Business Dean Sanjay Gupta, who said the ceremony “is all about each one of you that has gone through this incredible journey, and you find yourselves here two years later, celebrating on this day.”

“I simply hope that what these experiences have provided you is with a capacity to think critically; imagine creatively; and respond in an ethical manner to the most challenging business and societal problems that we face,” Gupta said.

“I commend each one of you for your commitment to MSU,” Gupta said.

Among Broad faculty and staff, “our collective wish is that you would have taken away something even more special from what you experienced: the importance of trust and transparency; the significance of ethics and integrity; and really a willingness to carve a path that shows you to be champions and leaders who will make changes in the organizations” they lead, Gupta said.

He also wishes that the future actions of the newly-minted MBAs “not only impacts the organizations that you are a part of, but also the communities” in which they live. “That’s a challenge for you, but I know that each one of you is going to live up to it in the most remarkable way.”