Altman Program Celebrates 10 Years of International Studies and Business

“It’s truly unlike any other academic experience at Tulane University,” says Casey Love, “and, I might argue, at any other university in the United States.”

Love, senior professor of practice in political science and associate dean for global education, is referring to the Altman Program in International Studies and Business, the dual degree program combining liberal arts, business, non-English language and studying abroad that graduated its 10th cohort of students this year.

For Love and Senior Professor of Practice in Finance Myke Yest, the program’s founding co-directors, it was a milestone worth celebrating.

Since the program’s launch, Altman Scholars have studied abroad in 30 different countries that speak eight different target languages. But even more impressive than the graduates’ international adventures are their employment outcomes. Graduates have gone on to work for top companies like Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Amazon and Google as well as to the State Department, the Federal Reserve, leading foundations and non-governmental organizations. Eleven graduates have received Fulbright Scholarships, six have earned Boren Awards, and others have received prestigious, nationally competitive scholarships including Eisenhower, Marshall, Gilman and Rangel.

“The world really opens up for these students,” Yest says. “They can go into traditional business, or they can go into policy, think tanks, nonprofits or graduate school.”

The program was established in 2011 through a gift from Jeffrey Altman (B ’88), founder and CEO of the investment advisory firm Owl Creek Asset Management, who envisioned a new kind of program, one that would prepare students for the increasingly interconnected world he was seeing in business.

Ana Lopez, a revered professor in the Department of Communication at the School of Liberal Arts and associate provost for faculty affairs who passed away in 2023, was charged with creating the program from the ground up. She turned to Love and Yest for their expertise. “Ana was our mentor, and the Altman Program is a big part of her legacy at Tulane,” said Yest.

In keeping with Altman’s vision, the program focuses extensively on the development of intercultural competence, including the ability to communicate across lines of cultural difference. 

The curriculum isn’t for the faint of heart. Altman Scholars earn two Tulane degrees — a BA in liberal arts and a BSM in business — and spend their entire junior year abroad taking courses in their target language. They also spend a month at the end of their freshman year studying in a Global South country. This year, the class traveled to Vietnam.

While programs at other universities combine liberal arts, business and studying abroad, Altman differs in one key respect: Students are admitted in cohorts of 20, and they remain connected to their cohort throughout the program.

“The cohort aspect is fundamentally the most important and distinctive part of the program,” says Love. “That togetherness fosters a special bond between students.  They develop a deep level of respect for one another as members of this intellectual community,” she says. “There’s a high degree of trust among students. ”

“Studying abroad even for one semester is really challenging, but when you have this kind of support system, you just go for it, and you’re the better person for it,” says Altman graduate Abbey Hochreiner (SLA ’25, B ’25), who joined J.P. Morgan in June as an equity research analyst. “You have so much more self-confidence and willingness to try new things. Yes, it’s difficult academically — you’re going to have to work hard — but what you get out of it is 1,000% worth it.”