"Executive education programs are increasingly being used to drive management business objectives," says Bob Smiley, dean of the Graduate School of Management at UC Davis. Corporate customers are spending billions of dollars a year on formal training programs for managers and professionals, saying that executive education is an investment in their employees and businesses, according to Smiley. The UC Davis business school is now fulfilling a long-held goal of Smiley's -- to offer a M.B.A. program for working professionals in the Sacramento region. Several private schools in the area offer M.B.A.s through part-time evening study, but Smiley distinguishes the UC Davis program by its advantages. "First, and most importantly, we'll be offering a University of California-quality education," he says. The classes will be taught by senior faculty who not only have strong business backgrounds but also, through their research, are creating the knowledge they are teaching, says Smiley. Classes begin with the "Working Professional M.B.A." program in the fall of 1994. The revenue generated will help support the business school, which also offers a full-time M.B.A. program.