Now In Business

When Sukhmeet Chhabra came to Pacific University, she was seeking a new career in a new field.

Chhabra worked in sales and marketing at home in India, but wanted a change after moving to the United States. Her husband worked for Intel in India and in Hillsboro, and the company had appeal for her, as well.

She had taken finance courses as an undergraduate, and she tried a few classes at Portland Community College and UCLA.

Pacific’s new Master of Science in Finance Program, she said, offered a quick and convenient route to achieving her goals at a longstanding university with a solid reputation.

“Pacific fit the bill,” she said.

Chhabra attended classes on Fridays and Saturdays every other week in Hillsboro, and she said the small cohort of students and the knowledgeable professors made for an ideal learning experience.

“It was fun to see people of different backgrounds and different fields,” she said. “It was quite an interactive class where everybody had an opinion. There was a lot of support and interactions between the professors and students.”

The 11 MSF graduates completed classes in December and were among the nearly 700 undergraduate and graduate students who earned their degrees at Commencement on May 16.

By that time, though, Chhabra had already been with Intel for about five months, working in financial accounting in the corporate finance office.

“It’s the most interesting and technical part of accounting,” she said.

The learning curve is steep, but her experience at Pacific gave her more than just business skills, she said; it also gave her the confidence to know she can succeed.

“I learned a lot more about myself during this phase,” she said. “I know I will be able to achieve results by giving my 100 percent.” ■

This story first appeared in the Summer 2015 issue of Pacific magazine. For more stories, visit pacificu.edu/magazine.