Environmental Science and Master of Business Administration
The MBA/MS in Environmental Science and Management offers the opportunity to develop a background in science, engineering, and technology that underlie environmental problems. Learn how to integrate and apply the science with your MBA curriculum to become an influential and innovative leader addressing environmental issues.
An MS in Environmental Science and Management degree is 36 credits, an MBA degree is 42 credits, and a One-Year MBA degree is 39 credits.
With 8 shared credits, an MS in Environmental Science and Management/MBA can be earned by completing 70 credits and an MS in Environmental Science and Management/One-Year MBA can be earned by completing 67 credits.
*MBA degree can be reduced in credits if you have prior coursework in business, which is determined at the time of admission.
How to Apply
Students may begin their study in either the School of Business or the School of Natural
and Environmental Sciences. However, students must apply and be accepted to both programs
of study. The GRE is is required for admission into the MS in Environmental Science
and Management.
- Professional MBA Admissions
- Environmental Science Admissions
Tuition Information
One-Year MBA
While the student is enrolled in both the MS in Environmental Science and the One-Year
MBA programs, the Natural and Environmental Sciences tuition rate will apply for the
terms during which the student is enrolled in ESM courses, and the One-Year MBA tuition
rate will apply to the terms when the student is enrolled in the One-Year MBA course
work.
Professional MBA
While the student is enrolled in both the MS in Environmental Science and the MBA
programs, the Natural and Environmental Sciences tuition rate will apply for all terms
except any term during which a student is enrolled exclusively in MBA courses. During
those terms, the MBA program will take priority and the Graduate Business tuition
rate will apply.
Curricula Details
The recommended degree progression for the MS in Environmental Science and Management/One-Year
MBA is as follows:
- Semesters 1 and 2 = Environmental Science and Management program (fall and spring)
- Semesters 3, 4, and 5 = One-Year MBA cohort (summer, fall, and spring)
- Semester 6 = Environmental Science and Management program (summer)
All grades earned in degree-included courses that are taken from the other program-will
be calculated into the cumulative grade point average for that degree.
Students who successfully complete all requirements will receive two degrees and two
diplomas. The degrees must be conferred simultaneously.
Program Information
Develop a background in science, engineering, and technology that underlie environmental problems. Learn how to integrate and apply the science with your MBA curriculum to become an influential and innovative leader addressing environmental issues.
Program Type
Dual Degree
Degree
Master's
3 credit hoursMS in Environmental Science and Management Courses
This course familiarizes students with the structure and scope of formal writing in
the environmental field. It focuses on formal documents as they pertain to communication
between environmental professionals, stakeholders, shadow audiences, external clients,
and the public. Business writing can vary greatly from scientific writing, so we will
focus on the skills that will help you be successful in your future career. Types
of writing covered will include memos, emails, issue and policy briefs, press releases,
presentations, and project proposals. Writing skills learned will include clarity,
brevity, structure, argumentation, and presentation skills. Lecture. Writing Enrichment. Offered fall and summer.
This course provides students with an underlying theory and appreciation and an understanding
of the fundamental concepts in Environmental Chemistry. Students will learn environmental
chemical fundamentals and become familiar with testing methods and gain the knowledge
necessary for critical evaluation of fundamental aspects of the environment. There
is an overarching theme in the Environmental Chemistry Class as a practical and theoretical
basis. This is Environmental Human Health. Understanding relationships of environmental
chemistry enables comprehension of the complexity of “environmental human health”
and is a critical aspect of modern environmental chemistry. Congress in enacting RCRA
(Research Conservation and Recovery Act) stated the purpose of the law to be “… for
human health and the environment.” An entire new field of medicine and research has
been growing in the past several decades and has now been given the name Exposomics.
This is a new field in environmental chemistry, medicine and human health (google
CDC and Exposomics and read more of this new field). Energy is now one of the hottest
topics in chemistry and environmental chemistry. It is essential and polyclinical
as well as being science. We will cover energy, its creation, storage and environmental
chemistry. Environmental chemistry is now leading to new professional employment in
fields of human health, sustainability, Exposomics, public health service and hundreds
of professional careers. Lecture. Offered spring only.
This three-credit course provides an overview of the human impact on other life on
Earth. Basic biological principles are examined in the context of this interaction
with the biosphere. Topics covered in the this course will include critical thinking
about the environment; human population and the environment; ecosystems; biogeochemical
cycling, climate change; biological diversity and ecological restoration; agricultural
impacts; energy; and water. The course is appropriate for biology majors, environmental
science management majors and nonscience majors with a strong science background. Lecture. Capstone Experience. Offered fall only.
This course looks at how organizations manage their environmental aspects, impacts,
and obligations. Students will come to recognize the context for, and develop a broad
understanding of, the various disciplines involved with managing environmental issues
from the perspectives of both regulated industries and governmental agencies. Students
will develop an understanding of environmental management systems and will improve
their analytical and problem-solving skills in the environmental management area. Lecture. Offered fall and spring.
This course examines the interplay of scientific, political, and economic factors
in the formation of environmental policy in the United States. It assesses the role
of civic concern, political institutions, regulatory agencies, non-governmental organizations,
scientific information, financial factors, and technology in environmental affairs.
Lectures, readings, and videos enable students to understand the principal issues
in the field. The political process that generates environmental laws and regulations
is reviewed. Also, real world case studies cover controversial national and international
policy issues are explored. The focus is on the role science plays in the policy process
and on the sources of conflict among political and policy actors (elected officials,
bureaucrats, legislators, and interest groups). At the end of this course you should
be able to: Explain public policy as it relates to environmental concerns; Identify
the challenges and opportunities that are associated with various strategies to implement
environmental policy; Describe significant changes in environmental perspectives in
the United States over the last 50 years; List and define the different world views
that influence decision making related to environmental politics; Build environmentally
focused arguments based on information gathered from a variety of sources. Lecture. Offered spring only.
The course will combine lectures, class discussions and role-playing opportunities
in simulated environmental disputes to explore the nature of environmental conflicts,
alternative dispute resolution processes and varying techniques that may be employed
to resolve conflicts effectively. The course will emphasize practical rather than
theoretical approaches. Class sessions will be designed to include substantial student
participation. Lecture. Offered fall and summer.
The course will introduce students to the regulatory process and the roles of the
environmental agency, industry, and public interest groups. It will provide an overview
of the federal environmental laws and their application. Lecture. Offered fall only.
The course is designed to examine the toxic effects of chemical substances on humans,
on other living species, and on the environment. Practical applications and current
issues/topics are presented, using specific chemical substances, such as pesticides,
heavy metals, organic solvents, and their vapors. Extrapolation of toxicological data
from animals to humans is presented, along with potential concerns when using animal
data to predict human responses. The National Research Council (NRC) risk assessment
paradigm (hazard identification, dose-response assessment, exposure assessment, and
risk characterization) is discussed. Uncertainties in risk assessment are discussed
and how they must be addressed by regulators. Lecture. Offered spring and summer.
Professional MBA Curriculum and Course Descriptions
This course provides graduate business students with an introduction to fundamentals
of accounting for corporations. Topics will include the accounting cycle, an introduction
to the basic financial statements of a corporation and determinations of corporate
profitability and solvency. Online.
The course is a prerequisite for ECON 520 and covers introductory topics in both microeconomics
and macroeconomics. Online.
Financial Management is about decisions firms make in two broad areas: the investments
it makes and how it pays for them. The first involves expenditures for physical capital,
human capital, technological capability, brand capital, and so forth. The second involves
raising money in financial markets. In business decision making, the objective is
to maximize shareholder wealth. Why the emphasis on shareholders? Among stakeholders
generally (i.e., customers, employees, suppliers, government, communities, etc.),
shareholders alone possess a uniquely comprehensive and long-term view of the firm’s
viability as an ongoing enterprise. This perspective arises from the residual nature
of shareholders’ claim to earnings and assets. Wealth is created when the return
from investing business resources exceeds their opportunity cost.
FINC 501 Finance Fundamentals provides an introduction to fundamental topics which
are prerequisite for FINC 530 Financial Management:
• Financial Statements and Ratio Analysis
• Financial Statement Forecasting
• Time Value of Money
PR: ACCT 501. Online.
This course provides the necessary foundation in probability and statistics necessary
for students looking to go on to study the application of statistics to business.
In this course, students will learn the rules of probability, how to identify and
use common probability distributions, and how to conduct basic hypothesis tests. Online.
In this course, students will learn how to apply statistical methods of inference,
produce and interpret statistics that attempt to answer typical business questions,
and use probability theory and statistical methods to draw conclusions. Students are
required to arrive having a working understanding of basic probability and statistics
up through and including hypothesis testing. This course places heavy emphasis on
the application of statistical techniques to business problems and the interpretation
of results for a non-technical audience.
PR: STAT 501. Online, Lecture.
The primary responsibility of all managers is to make decisions in situations in which
there are multiple competing objectives. This course introduces students to a set
of tools that can be applied to scenarios in a variety of business environments. Specifically,
this set of tools will include data summarization, data visualization, optimization
methods, Monte Carlo simulation, multi-criteria decision analysis, and decision trees.
Subsequent courses in the program will utilize these analytical methods within their
specific decision environments.
PR or CONCURRENT: STAT 501. Online, Lecture.
This course examines the ways in which leaders, managers, and employees can improve
employee performance and commitment – key factors underlying competitive organizations.
Guided by an examination of contemporary research and real-world cases, students will
develop the knowledge and tools needed to help them navigate the opportunities and
challenges inherent in managing themselves and others to generate enduring social
and financial value, while incorporating long-term sustainable business objectives
into the vision for the firm. Online, Lecture.
This course provides graduate business students with a deeper understanding of the
accounting cycle used in companies to produce both internal and external financial
information. Special emphasis is placed throughout the course on understanding, analyzing
and interpreting financial statements and related information. Additionally, students
will be introduced to decision making tools such as ratio analysis and challenged
to utilize them to critically evaluate financial information and make effective decisions.
The basics of corporate sustainability reporting will also be covered. Prerequisite:
ACCT 501 with a minimum grade of C. Online, Lecture.
The course covers selected topics in microeconomics. It emphasizes the integration
of microeconomic theories and tools from a managerial perspective. The applied aspect
of the course comes from analyzing case studies and studying empirical evidence of
the theories. Topics include both traditional topics in microeconomics (quantitative
demand analysis, elasticities, production and costs, market structures and profit
maximization), in addition to advanced topics (game theory and pricing strategies).
CO or PR: STAT 510. Online, Lecture.
The purpose of this course is to provide business professionals with the knowledge
needed to manage and utilize information systems and technology within a business
organization. As information systems have become critical to the success of modern
business organizations, knowledge of information systems has become a key success
factor for all business professionals within the organization. This course provides
comprehensive and integrative coverage of essential new technologies, information
system applications, and their impact on business models. Moreover, this course emphasizes
the conceptualization of information systems as structured technology configurations
working collectively to serve the information needs of an organization. Online, Lecture.
Supply Chain Management (SCM) is the business process that has evolved from the integration
of the traditional business disciplines of forecasting, demand planning, materials
planning, purchasing, production, operations management, transportation, inventory
management, warehousing, packaging, materials handling, customer service, and related
information systems. SCM focuses on efficient and effective customer satisfaction
from the exchange of goods, services and information to complete the business transaction
from supplier’s supplier to customer’s customer. This course provides insight into
the goals and best practices of each business discipline included in the SCM process,
and how these disciplines integrate to ensure a competitive advantage and corporate
success. Students will assess industry specific differences in managing the flow
of materials, goods, services, information and cash via the processes, technologies,
and facilities that link primary suppliers through to ultimate customers for both
service and product industries. PR: GRBU 503 AND STAT 510 with a minimum grade of
C. Online, Lecture.
Financial Management is about decisions firms make in two broad areas: the investments
it makes and how it pays for them. The first involves expenditures for physical capital,
human capital, technological capability, brand capital, and so forth. The second involves
raising money in financial markets. In business decision making, the objective is
to maximize shareholder wealth. Why the emphasis on shareholders? Among stakeholders
generally (i.e., customers, employees, suppliers, government, communities, etc.),
shareholders alone possess a uniquely comprehensive and long-term view of the firm’s
viability as an ongoing enterprise. This perspective arises from the residual nature
of shareholders’ claim to earnings and assets. Wealth is created when the return
from investing business resources exceeds their opportunity cost.
FINC 530 Financial Management provides an advanced discussion of the analytical techniques
used to assess the impact of business decisions on shareholder value. The course
covers these topics:
• Valuation—stocks, bonds, corporate valuation
• Interest rates and financial markets
• Investment decision making (capital budgeting analysis)
• Risk, return and the opportunity cost of capital
• Market efficiency
• Capital structure
PR: FINC 501, ACCT 515, STAT 510, GRBU 503
PR or CONCURRENT: ECON 520. Online, Lecture.
This course is designed to develop the legal literacy of MBA students by raising their
conscious awareness of potential legal problems or challenges as they discharge their
professional responsibilities. Because business decisions have legal implications,
it is important that managers understand the legal environment in which they must
function. In fact the significance of the law is so great it has been suggested that
modern organizations are immersed in a “sea of law.”
As a part of an integrated professional MBA program students will come to understand
how law affects all aspects of business. This is not a stand alone legal course. In
this course we will bring a legal sensitivity to the financial, managerial, organizational
and strategic dimensions of business. The larger goal of this course is to develop
a legally astute manager. Although we tend to think of the law as the exclusive province
of lawyers, the reality is that law is too important a matter to be entrusted to lawyers
alone. To do so is in effect an abdication of the business professional’s responsibilities.
The legally astute manager understands that success in business requires, among other
things, the development of critical thinking skills. There is no better context in
which to develop those skills than in the study of business law. Critical thinking
skills honed in the study of law provide a foundation for business professionals who
must navigate across a wide range of disciplines in order to achieve business success.
Toward that end, MBA students will examine substantive concepts relative to such matters
as contract formation, risk management, intellectual property, environmental management,
employee relations and corporate form and governance.
As we live in a time in which the law, business and society nexus is so significant,
it would be foolhardy to underestimate the importance of legal education in shaping
our business leaders. Online, Lecture.
This course teaches graduate students essential qualitative decision-making skills
for analyzing business issues with an ethical dimension. Conflicting and complementary
conceptions of the ethical decision making model are presented that demonstrate how
to critically reason through ethical dilemmas in business across all business functions.
These rational processes will enable students to effectively recognize, evaluate and
resolve ethical conflicts. Throughout the seminar, the analytical frameworks will
be applied to common ethical challenges to businesses. The purpose is for students
completing this module to be able to identify which ethical framework is most appropriate
for addressing a given real world issue and ultimately be able to apply that framework
to facilitate responsible decision making. Thus, the course begins with a detailed
description and application of each ethical decision making framework to ensure students
understand how and in what contexts these tools are utilized. Then, attention is
paid to the various individual, organizational, and institutional factors that affect
ethical misconduct in the workplace. Personal cognitive influences, common intra-organizational
pressures, regulatory factors, and market forces are discussed in terms of how they
moderate ethical behavior in business. Once students learn the sources of ethical
indiscretions in organizations, methods for constructing and manipulating organizational
environments to increase the likelihood of ethical behavior among the firm’s stakeholders
are offered. Online, Lecture.
This course examines the role of marketing in creating exchanges that satisfy consumer
and organizational objectives thereby creating value for the firm. The course focuses
on formulating and evaluating marketing strategies. Students learn how marketing
mix decisions – product, place, promotion and price – are made as part of a cohesive
strategy. Contemporary concepts and theories will be presented with a focus on analytical
and financial models that will assist marketing managers in making better decisions.
Emerging perspectives on strategic sustainability, marketing management and the impact
of digital media are also emphasized.
PR: ECON 501. Online, Lecture.
Strategic sustainability advances students’ managerial skills for identifying, researching,
evaluating and communicating innovative opportunities involving the efficient and
effective management of financial, social, and environmental resources.
Building on our commitment to the Principles for Responsible Management Education
(PRME), this course experience serves as a foundation for strategic sustainability,
models and tools across the curriculum.
Students work individually, and in teams to frame problems, research and develop training
seminars, and manage resources for assigned topics. The focus is inspiring innovation,
and creating competitive advantage – both short and long term – for organizations.
Deliverables include presentations of mini training seminars to peer, analytical life
cycle assessment along with participation in class discussions while applying critical
thinking to identify productivity gains, cost savings, revenue increases, and profit
growth when implementing sustainable business practices.
The course is taught as a seminar where sharing learning, best practices and sustainability
knowledge across teams and individuals enables all to gain insight to emerging issues
beyond the scope of a single entity. Students work within an integrated curriculum
to analyze internal/external situations, drivers and risks; to identify problems and
opportunities; to evaluate return on investment from alternative courses of action;
and to value both short- and long-term prosperity. Students independently learn about,
apply, and reflect on proven models and methodologies while honing their skills as
a researcher, analyst, writer, and speaker.
PR: GRBU 503. Online, Lecture.
This course helps students acquire the knowledge and skills needed to interact and
manage effectively in a global business environment. Students will be exposed to
international aspects of organizational behavior, human resource management, labor
relations, corporate strategy, political risk and ethical issues. Overall, this course
is designed to raise students' international business acumen as well as their cultural
intelligence. While business is an increasingly global proposition, cultural differences
impact everything from how employees are hired to how they are led to how business
strategies are formed. Online, Lecture.
This is a dynamic course that provides an overview of executive leadership and opportunities
to interact with senior managers. The course draws on the collective experience and
wisdom of distinguished business leaders who visit the class to provide students with
executive perspectives on the challenges associated with thinking entrepreneurially,
strategic leadership, developing a vision and motivating organizational change. Students
use a variety of conceptual frameworks in leadership and related areas to assess and
evaluate these “executive insights” (e.g., via papers and projects) with an eye toward
developing their own leadership skills, particularly their ability to seize opportunities
and create effective solutions for the contemporary challenges facing business leaders. Online, Lecture.
This course addresses the process of planning and implementing business strategies.
In order to develop a future direction for an organization, this class builds on the
formulation of a company’s mission, industry analysis, an organization’s internal
assessment, innovation, and strategic planning. This course emphasizes corporate governance,
sustainability, and ethics in strategic management. Online, Lecture.
The second half of our integrative capstone sequence, the Capstone Project involves
students teams working with a real company client to develop a set of strategic recommendations
for advancing the business. In this course, students will assess the firm’s strategic
context and diagnose its internal operations as well as its products and/or services
as they relate to customer needs. In doing so, students will experience what it is
like to make high-stakes and impactful recommendations to top management under time
pressure and with high expectations for quality and analysis. Final deliverables
for each team include a detailed report that lays out specific action steps and metrics
(e.g., for productivity gains, cost savings, increased revenues/profit growth) as
well as a sophisticated presentation to company management that highlights the team’s
analysis and recommendations.
PR or CO MGMT 540. Online, Lecture.
One-Year MBA Courses
This course provides graduate business students with a deeper understanding of the
accounting cycle used in companies to produce both internal and external financial
information. Special emphasis is placed throughout the course on understanding, analyzing
and interpreting financial statements and related information. Additionally, students
will be introduced to decision making tools such as ratio analysis and challenged
to utilize them to critically evaluate financial information and make effective decisions.
The basics of corporate sustainability reporting will also be covered. Prerequisite:
Online Accounting Module to be completed prior to ACCT 715; material to be tested
in ACCT 715.
In this course, students will learn how to apply statistical methods of inference,
produce and interpret statistics that attempt to answer typical business questions,
and use probability theory and statistical methods to draw conclusions. Students are
required to arrive having a working understanding of basic probability and statistics
up through and including hypothesis testing. This course places heavy emphasis on
the application of statistical techniques to business problems and the interpretation
of results for a non-technical audience.
PR: STAT 501
This course introduces students to the Palumbo-Donahue School of Business’ policy
on ethical behavior and provides students with basic ethical decision-making skills
necessary to recognize, evaluate and resolve ethical conflicts. Emphasis is on common
ethical challenges facing graduate students in the classroom and at work. This course
provides an analytical framework for students to use when grappling with sustainability-focused,
ethical dilemmas in subsequent core and elective courses in the graduate program and
in their professional business careers. An additional goal of this particular SMBA
course is to emphasize the link between ethics and sustainable development, and the
challenges managers face to maintain a concern for both in the current business environment.
This course advances students’ skill sets for solving contemporary problems and managing
financial, social, and environmental resources – efficiently and effectively.
Building on readings and methodology from Sustainable Business Practices Project I
and our commitment to the Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME),
this course offers a proving ground for applying theory and models from across the
curriculum. Taught as a seminar for sharing learning, best practices and knowledge
across teams and clients, the course requires all students to examine issues beyond
their project scope and client concerns.
Students work in teams to frame problems, develop solution paths, and manage projects
from conception to completion for an assigned client. The focus is on improving processes,
inspiring innovation, and creating competitive advantage – both short and long term
– for real world organizations. Client deliverables include a formal presentation
to the client management team and an analytical report with recommendations that will
lead to productivity gains, cost savings, revenue increases, and profit growth when
implemented by the client.
Students function as professional consultants, working closely with a client organization
to analyze internal/external situations, drivers and risks; to identify problems and
opportunities; to evaluate return on investment from alternative courses of action;
and to recommend solutions for short- and long-term prosperity. Students apply proven
models and methodologies and hone their skills as a project manager, researcher, analyst,
writer, speaker and peer coach.
Strategic sustainability advances students’ managerial skills for identifying, researching,
evaluating and communicating innovative opportunities involving the efficient and
effective management of financial, environmental and social resources.
Building on our commitment to the Principles for Responsible Management Education
(PRME), and Global Compact, this course experience serves as a foundation for strategic
sustainability, models and tools integration across the curriculum.
Students work individually, and in teams to frame problems, research and develop training
seminars, and manage resources for assigned topics. The focus is inspiring innovation,
and creating competitive advantage – both short and long term – for organizations.
Deliverables include presentations of mini training seminars to peers, life cycle
assessment, enterprise strategic sustainability assessment, along with participation
in case analysis, and class discussions while applying critical thinking to identify
productivity gains, cost savings, revenue increases, and profit growth when implementing
sustainable business practices.
The course is taught as a seminar where sharing learning, best practices and sustainability
knowledge across teams and individuals enables all to gain insight to emerging issues
beyond the scope of a single entity. Students work within an integrated curriculum
to analyze internal/external situations, drivers and risks; to identify problems and
opportunities; to evaluate return on investment from alternative courses of action;
and to value both short- and long-term prosperity. Students independently learn about,
apply, and reflect on proven models and methodologies while honing their skills as
a researcher, analyst, writer, and speaker.
The course covers selected topics in microeconomics. It emphasizes the integration
of microeconomic theories and tools from a managerial perspective. The applied aspect
of the course comes from analyzing case studies and studying empirical evidence of
the theories. Topics include both traditional topics in microeconomics (quantitative
demand analysis, elasticities, production and costs, market structures and profit
maximization), in addition to advanced topics (game theory and pricing strategies).
CO or PR: STAT 510
Financial Management is about decisions firms make in two broad areas: the investments
it makes and how it pays for them. The first involves expenditures for physical capital,
human capital, technological capability, brand capital, and so forth. The second involves
raising money in financial markets. In business decision making, the objective is
to maximize shareholder wealth. Why the emphasis on shareholders? Among stakeholders
generally (i.e., customers, employees, suppliers, government, communities, etc.),
shareholders alone possess a uniquely comprehensive and long-term view of the firm’s
viability as an ongoing enterprise. This perspective arises from the residual nature
of shareholders’ claim to earnings and assets. Wealth is created when the return
from investing business resources exceeds their opportunity cost.
FINC 530 Financial Management provides an advanced discussion of the analytical techniques
used to assess the impact of business decisions on shareholder value. The course
covers these topics:
• Valuation—stocks, bonds, corporate valuation
• Interest rates and financial markets
• Investment decision making (capital budgeting analysis)
• Risk, return and the opportunity cost of capital
• Market efficiency
• Capital structure
PR: FINC 501, ACCT 515, STAT 510, GRBU 503
PR or CONCURRENT: ECON 520
This course features a live problem-solving case project with a real world client.
It introduces proven IDEO design thinking and project management methodologies while
tying theory to practice across the curriculum.
Aligned to Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME), the course requires
you to interact with managers of business corporations and explore jointly effective
approaches to the ethical management of social, environmental and financial and informational
resources. Students will interface with clients on three occasions: (1) at the outset
when the client presents the challenge and desired outcomes, (2) at mid-point to provide
a status report and ask questions about context, data and expectations; and (3) at
the end to present solutions to the client management team.
In this course, students represent Duquesne University as professional consultants,
and faculty will serve as managing directors of the engagement. With guidance and
coaching, students will audit and analyze the client’s internal/external situation,
drivers and risks; identify problems and opportunities; evaluate return on investment
from alternative courses of action; and recommend solutions for short- and long-term
prosperity. Within student teams, individuals will develop skills as project manager,
researcher, analyst, writer, speaker and peer coach. Performance evaluation includes
360-degree feedback from the client team, faculty and peers.
The purpose of this course is to provide business professionals with the knowledge
needed to manage and utilize information systems and technology within a business
organization. As information systems have become critical to the success of modern
business organizations, knowledge of information systems has become a key success
factor for all business professionals within the organization. This course provides
comprehensive and integrative coverage of essential new technologies, information
system applications, and their impact on business models. Moreover, this course emphasizes
the conceptualization of information systems as structured technology configurations
working collectively to serve the information needs of an organization.
Supply Chain Management (SCM) is the business process that has evolved from the integration
of the traditional business disciplines of forecasting, demand planning, materials
planning, purchasing, production, operations management, transportation, inventory
management, warehousing, packaging, materials handling, customer service, and related
information systems. SCM focuses on efficient and effective customer satisfaction
from the exchange of goods, services and information to complete the business transaction
from supplier’s supplier to customer’s customer. This course provides insight into
the goals and best practices of each business discipline included in the SCM process,
and how these disciplines integrate to ensure a competitive advantage and corporate
success. Students will assess industry specific differences in managing the flow
of materials, goods, services, information and cash via the processes, technologies,
and facilities that link primary suppliers through to ultimate customers for both
service and product industries.
This course examines the ways in which leaders, managers, and employees can improve
employee performance and commitment – key factors underlying competitive organizations.
Guided by an examination of contemporary research and real-world cases, students will
develop the knowledge and tools needed to help them navigate the opportunities and
challenges inherent in managing themselves and others to generate enduring social
and financial value, while incorporating long-term sustainable business objectives
into the vision for the firm.
This course integrates themes from business strategy, technology and innovation management,
and entrepreneurship to help students acquire knowledge and skills needed to convert
entrepreneurial opportunities into strategic actions. Students will be exposed to
the corporate venturing/entrepreneurial process - from opportunity recognition and
evaluation to business planning and implementation. This course is structured to improve
students' strategic & entrepreneurial mindset with an emphasis on developing and
leveraging capabilities related to sustainability.
Building on the skills developed in prior courses in the program, this course helps
students obtain the knowledge and skills to lead organizational changes necessary
to create a sustainable enterprise. Students will focus on theories, concepts, and
applications that will allow them to successfully initiate, analyze and implement
organizational changes in the context of sustainability issues. Students will be exposed
to the following change management and sustainability topics: change leadership processes,
the skills that leaders need to make positive change, barriers to change, tools to
identify and implement a sustainable business change, and the roles of the various
participants in the change process.
This course is presented in a series of seminars offering practicum experiences for
professional and career development designed to build a career management skill set
and core competencies. Invited industry experts and professional practitioners provide
students with enriching perspectives and opportunities for networking. The course
is designed to build a career management skill set that will assist the student in
obtaining a professional position upon graduation and as well as to be utilized throughout
the progression of his/her career.
This course focuses on the global environment of contemporary business. Students will
consider the rationale for conducting business internationally and the various issues
that complicated decision making in a global context. The course will pay specific
attention to the cultural, social, environmental, and legal differences that affect
international transactions and the development of collaborative partnerships.