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Graduate Bulletin Homepage |School of Business | Business Administration Master Degree

Master of Business Administration

The Full-Time M.B.A. Program of Study (61 credits - 10 credits are waivable)
The full-time M.B.A. program is an innovative and fully accredited, two year, four semester program leading to a professional business degree. Students from a variety of backgrounds are welcome, as the M.B.A. program does not require a business undergraduate degree as a prerequisite. The program develops both the theoretical understanding and applied business skills required to excel in an increasingly competitive global economy. Contact with the business community is integral to the professional development orientation of the M.B.A. The program is divided into three major components.

First Year
The first component takes into account the heterogeneous mix of student backgrounds. Since all students do not enter the program with the same knowledge of business foundations, concepts, and tools; a series of introductory courses are offered during the fall semester. These courses cover accounting, economics, statistics, behavioral science, and computer science, and are structured so that students can waive material previously studied. The second component delivered in the second semester of the M.B.A. program is designed primarily as a problem-solving, decision-making experience. Students discover how the basic functions of finance, marketing, information decision systems, human resource management, information systems, and the totality of concepts, methods, and techniques learned in the first semester are mobilized to carry out a firm's policies and operational objectives.

1st Year Curriculum:
Acc 518 Accounting for Managers (3)
Bus 523 Presentation Skills (1)
Fin 515 Economic Analysis (3)
Itm 513 Quantitative Analysis for Business (3)
Itm 522 Managing Information Technology (3)
Mgt 514 Human Resource Management (3)
Fin 525 Financial Management (3)
Itm 514 Operations Management (3)
Mgt 513 Organizational Behavior and Managerial Skills (3)
Mgt 685 Global Strategic Management (3)
Mkt 522 Marketing Management (3)

Second Year
The second year of the M.B.A. program delivers the third component and concentrates on four objectives: (1) Acquiring very specific intellectual and practical technical competence in one area of management, (2) Nurturing the general competence in other areas of management developed in the first year, (3) Sensitizing students to the social-moral, political, and legal dimensions affecting managerial decision making, (4) Understanding the strategic implications of any upper-level decisions while giving students opportunities to practice decision making at this level. The third semester of the M.B.A. program begins to address the objectives in four ways. First, each student selects an academic core and special field study in one of the areas of human resources information systems, information assurance, or management information systems. Second, students select electives from an area other than their academic core. Third, required courses in strategic management and operations management are taken. Fourth, students become involved in solving actual business problems via field projects and other forms of corporate contact. In the fourth semester, attainment of program goals is reached. The academic core, initiated in the third semester, is continued. Special field study projects, begun in the third semester, culminate at the end of this semester with written reports and oral presentations. A capstone course in business policy focuses on the strategic decisions commonly addressed by top-level management. Finally, the student selects three credits of approved elective coursework.

2nd Year Curriculum
Concentration core classes (12) *
Field Project (6) **
Concentration elective (3) ***
Electives (9)

* For the Human Resource Information Systems concentration the core courses are Mgt 601, Mgt 602, Mgt 603, and Mgt 604. For the Information Technology Management concentration the core courses are Itm 601, Itm 602, Itm 603, and Itm 604. For the Information Assurance concentration the core courses are Acc 661, Acc 681, Acc 682, and Acc 683.
** For the Human Resource Information Systems concentration the field project course is Mgt 694. For the Information Technology Management concentration the field project course is Itm 691. For the Information Assurance concentration, in lieu of the field project courses and one elective, students register for Acc 531, Acc 522, and Acc 680.
*** For the Information Technology Management concentration the concentration elective is Itm 610 or Itm 692.

Concentrations and Special Field Study
The M.B.A. is inherently a generalist degree and this quality is retained at the University. However, the School strongly believes that an educational experience should develop skills more intensively in one functional area of business. Part of this skill development is experience in utilizing one's knowledge to address the real problems of a business.

To satisfy this objective, each student completes 18 credits of study in one of the concentrations in the second year of the M.B.A. program. These 18 credits are divided into 12 credits of Academic Core and 6 credits of Special Field Study. There are three concentrations from which students may choose: Human Resources Information Systems, Information Technology Management or Information Assurance

The academic core is taught as a seminar, thus permitting students to actively share with the faculty in the exploration of the conceptual material. Academic core courses are often team taught by the faculty from that area. More thorough descriptions of the academic cores are presented in the concentration section below.

A unique feature of the HR/IS, and ITM concentrations is the special field study. The field study is a year-long experience which provides the students the opportunity to work under the supervision of a faculty member on the real-life problems of cooperating firms. Small groups of students are formed into a student-faculty consulting team for this purpose. A panel of previously selected firms and agencies from the region provide the site for this study. Participating firms range from Fortune 100 firms to local social service agencies.

Human Resource/Information Systems
The Human Resource/Information Systems (HR/IS) concentration blends comprehensive education in human resource management with extensive skill training in the use of information systems. As such, the HR/IS concentration is the leading program of its type in the United States. The academic core of the concentration focuses primarily on human resource theory and practice. Information systems topics are covered from a decision support perspective. Students work extensively with a variety of vendor supplied software packages and develop several decision support systems during the year. Graduates concentrating in HR/IS are prepared to assume specialist or generalist positions in the Human Resource field.
Field projects play a central role in the development of HR/IS skills. Students spend approximately one day per week working with a local or national organization on a significant human resource project. Recent projects have included work in areas such as: total quality management (TQM), HR information systems, compensation and benefits, training and development, labor relations, job analysis, and staffing. Previous clients include: Pfizer, Swiss Bank, SEFCU, Hiring Resources, Tiffany & Co., BASF, Exxon, Rehabilitation Support Services, Leonard Hospital, Whitney Young Health Center, and KeyCorp. Graduates have taken positions with Metropolitan Life, KeyCorp, Swiss Bank, Tiffany & Co., Deloitte & Touche, Accenture, The Bank of Tokyo, New York State, Empire Blue Cross, Leonard Hospital, CitiCorp, General Electric, Pepsico, and many other organizations.

Information Technology Management (ITM)
Students in this concentration learn to manage the information resources of an organization and how to use information technology to store, process, and communicate that information. Information has become recognized as a resource with a value that can rival that of the traditional resources of inventory, capital, and human skills. Information is traditionally used to manage an organization, assisting in carrying out operations, control, and decision making. Strategic uses that affect customers, markets, and products are becoming common today.
The ITM concentration provides the analytical framework, methods, and techniques to identify an organization's information needs and to design, implement, and manage systems to meet these needs. The courses integrate computer technology, management science, expert systems, and decision support with a field project in which students work in teams on substantive problems for client organizations.
Recent field projects have included: executive information systems for top managers in both the public and private sectors; expert systems for financial services and product engineering; designing financial databases; and development of decision support systems for planning and control. ITM graduates usually start as systems analysts and integrators, and have taken positions with such organizations as Andersen Consulting, AT&T, Coopers and Lybrand, General Electric, J. P. Morgan, and Xerox.

Information Assurance - Delivery of track suspended October 2009.
The Information Assurance Concentration provides a broad based education in accounting and business in addition to a good understanding of the technological infrastructure supporting electronic commerce and the technical skills in the area of Information Assurance and Security for students who do not wish to pursue licensure as accountants. Recent threats posed to the Internet infrastructure and the businesses that depend on that infrastructure have increased the necessity for people with good assurance and security skills.
Students graduating with a M.B.A. with an Information Assurance Concentration can expect to be placed with the security and assurance related practices of Big-4 and other large accounting firms, large management consulting firms, information security and privacy consulting firms, as well as large national and international corporations with needs in the areas of information security, audit, and security.

The Evening M.B.A. Program of Study (48 credits - 10 credits are waivable)
Recognizing the different needs of the in-career student, the School has created a unique program leading to an M.B.A. degree. The School's high standards of study and instruction are applied to this program; however, there are substantive differences which reflect the educational needs of the in-career student. The program can be completed in two to six years of evening study and is open to all qualified students regardless of undergraduate major. Indeed, the School's admission policy specifically encourages inclusion of a wide variety of both work and educational backgrounds among the student population.

The program seeks development of the management generalist by presenting to students contemporary theory and practice in the disciplines which underlie business and each of the functional areas of business management.

Courses throughout the M.B.A. program are scheduled in such a way as to require one evening per week for each class. Most students take 2 classes per semester and would normally complete the degree requirements in 3 years. Study is required in the summers.

The evening M.B.A. program is structured in such a way that first-year courses must be completed prior to taking second-year courses. Similarly, second-year courses must precede taking third-year courses.

Curriculum
Mgt 513 Organizational Behavior and Managerial Skills (3)
Acc 518 Accounting for Managers (3)
Mgt 514 Human Resource Management (3)
Itm 510 Software Development (1)
Itm 513 Statistical Analysis for Managers (3)
Fin 515 Economic Analysis (3)
Bus 523 Presentation Skills (1)
Itm 514 Operations Management for Managers (3)
Mkt 522 Marketing Management (3)
Itm 520 Database Management (1)
Fin 525 Financial Management (3)
Itm 522 Information Decision Systems (3)
Mgt 682 Strategic Management (3)
Bus 675 International Business (3)
Elective (3)
Elective (3)
Elective (3)
Bus 698 (3)

If a student decides to complete an elective track within a specialized field of study, the Research Project must be in the specialized field (i.e. Fin 698, Itm 698, Mkt 698 or Mgt 698 instead of Bus 698), and two of the above electives must be selected as follows:

Marketing - The following two courses: Mkt 602, Mkt 603 PLUS complete Mkt 698 (9 credits)

Finance - Two of the following three courses: Fin 603, Fin 604 or Fin 635 PLUS complete Fin 698 (9 credits)

Change Management - The following two courses: Mgt 661, Mgt 675 PLUS complete Mgt 698 (9 credits)

Information Technology Management - Two of the following three courses: Itm 611, Itm 612, Itm 680 PLUS complete Itm 698 (9 credits)

Taxation – In addition to Acc 631 and Acc 694, select one from Acc 633 or Acc 642 (9 credits)

New Venture Development – Two of the following three courses: Mgt 675, Fin 604, Mkt 602 PLUS complete Mgt 698 (9 credits)

Nanotechnology - Two 3 credit College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering elective courses (or comparable combination of NNSE elective work totaling 6 credits) PLUS NNSE 698 and Bus 698.  NNSE 698 is to be registered for concurrently with Bus 698 for a total of 6 credits of research that will be jointly supervised by faculty from the School of Business and CNSE. (12 credits)   


Last updated on 1/19/2010