In order for students to earn an emphasis area on their diploma and transcripts, they must complete all three electives for a chosen area (four electives for Cyber Operations students), for a total of 12 credits. Students pursuing the general “MBA” degree may take a mix of any 3 electives from the list below.
Have more questions? See our OMBA Emphasis Areas: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) web page.
General MBA / Management Emphasis
BUSMBA 530 Leadership & Communication (4) – A hands-on introduction to written and oral managerial communication including informal exchanges, elevator pitches, meetings, and persuasive formal presentations. Emphasis placed on team-oriented and supervisory communication tactics. Interpersonal skills enhanced via online collaboration with classmates.
BUSMBA 535 Information Technology & Business Alignment (4) – Examines the role of information technology in business process integration, strategic alignment, and business analytics. Includes application project in industry sector of student’s choosing.
BUSMBA 540 Managing Successful Projects (4) – Introduces and provides experience in the front-end issues of project management such as team formation, communication strategies, conflict management, project constraints, and risk analysis. Includes use of the project management tools: PERT/Critical Path, resource utilization, project monitoring and tracking, and critical chain analysis. Includes application project in industry sector of student’s choosing.
Construction Management Emphasis
BUSMBA 521 – Leadership in Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) (4) – Focus on management and leadership strategies as they apply to the architecture, engineering and construction industries. Topics include decision-making, effective communication and negotiating skills, change and conflict management, team building, leadership and ethics.
BUSMBA 522 – Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) Project Management (4) – Topics related to the management of AEC projects including; scope, time, cost, quality, contracts, risk management and sustainability. Includes a focus on project administration and project controls, project scheduling and project cost accounting.
BUSMBA 523 – Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) Company Management (4) – Preparation for planning, organizing, staffing, executing, and controlling operations for ongoing management of an AEC company. Topics include organizational structures, financial management and accounting, sales and marketing, and personnel administration.
Healthcare Leadership Emphasis
BUSMBA 531 Leadership for Health Professionals (4) – In-depth discussion of management and leadership strategies as they apply to healthcare. Emphasis on oral and written communication in the healthcare field, change management, program planning, organization, and staff development. Examination of data management, compliance, and ethics as they relate to management decision making.
BUSMBA 532 Healthcare Systems & Delivery (4) – Explores health care economics, delivery, and payment systems from the perspective of key stakeholders. Discussion of current issues in health policy and the impact to cost, quality, and access of care. Analysis of various healthcare delivery models including accountable care and fee-for-service.
BUSMBA 533 Healthcare Operations & Financial Management (4) –Discussion of technology and practices for defining, measuring, and improving quality in healthcare. Exploration of financial decisions in a changing landscape with topics including revenue cycles, risk sharing, portfolio management and budgeting. Focus on data collection and analysis as tools for operational decision-making.
Marketing Leadership Emphasis
BUSMBA 541 Marketing Leadership (4) – Examines the role of the marketing leader in an organization. Presents best practices for brand stewardship, and how to manage the internal and external communications that drive an organization’s reputation with its stakeholders. Prepares students to lead the marketing department, the sales force, and internal innovation processes.
BUSMBA 542 Digital Marketing Management (4) – Covers the tools of digital marketing and how to combine them for maximum effect. Connects those tools to common marketing metrics in order to monitor promotion effectiveness and maximize ROI.
BUSMBA 543 Strategic Product Management (4) – Considers the challenges of simultaneously managing multiple products and services, each of which is at a different stage of the Product Life Cycle. Focuses on value propositions including pricing strategies.
Finance Emphasis
BUSMBA 561 Financial Markets (4) – Presents a detailed overview of the U.S. and global financial markets, instruments, and institutions. Examines financial markets, the instruments that trade on them, and the financial and governmental institutions that use or support these markets, including the theory and practical determination of interest rates, money and capital markets, international monetary systems, the Federal Reserve System, depository and non-depository financial institutions, and some derivative markets. Students will develop tools to analyze these markets and discuss current issues in finance.
BUSMBA 562 Financial Analytics & Modeling (4) – Provides hands-on experience using analytical tools to solve financial problems. Concentrates on bringing classic financial theory into practical settings. Cost of capital, financial statement modeling, valuation, portfolio models and the efficient set, option pricing, and bonds. Provide students a framework to enhance their analysis of complex financial issues faced by real-world managers, and to become proficient in solving such challenges via financial modeling.
BUSMBA 563 Investments (4) – Explores investment management in global securities markets by blending academic theories and evidence with practical application. Topics include financial markets, the mechanics of direct investment, the measurement and management of risk and return, optimal portfolio selection, security analysis and models of valuation (e.g., bonds, equities, options, etc.), market efficiency, and behavioral finance.
Business Analytics Emphasis
BUSMBA 542 Digital Marketing Management (4) – Covers the tools of digital marketing and how to combine them for maximum effect. Connects those tools to common marketing metrics in order to monitor promotion effectiveness and maximize ROI.
BUSMBA 562 Financial Analytics & Modeling (4) – Provides hands-on experience using analytical tools to solve financial problems. Concentrates on bringing classic financial theory into practical settings. Cost of capital, financial statement modeling, valuation, portfolio models and the efficient set, option pricing, and bonds. The course seeks to provide students with a framework that will enhance their ability to analyze complex financial issues faced by real-world managers and to become proficient in solving such challenges via financial modeling.
BUSMBA 572 – Data-Driven Decision Making (4) – Introduces data analysis techniques in managerial decision-making processes, with a focus on uncovering patterns in data and identifying underlying drivers. Explores sources of structured and unstructured data for business intelligence, and examines tools to clean and leverage data for actionable insights. Covers descriptive and predictive analytical methods including visualization and machine learning. Provides managers with the knowledge to leverage business data and critically evaluate data sourcing and modeling methods.
Cyber Operations Emphasis
Required (prerequisite for gCORe 550, 560, and 570):
gCORe 500 Cyber Systems Thinking (3) – An introduction to systems thinking, lateral thinking, and resilience thinking as they relate to cybersecurity. Topics include understanding the complexity/interconnectedness of cybersecurity, applying lateral thinking in solving cyber problems, interacting among people, processes, and technologies, and managing disturbances/surprises/uncertainty to be more resilient
Plus the following standard / recommended Cyber electives*:
gCORe 550 Cyber Threat Intelligence (3) – A study and experimentation of platforms, open source tools, and techniques for cyber threat intelligence. The connection between cyber threat intelligence and risk assessment. Advanced practicum in artificial intelligence applications in cyber threat intelligence.
gCORe 560 Cyber Resilience Systems Design (3) – A study of resilient systems, networks and infrastructure design on the ability to anticipate, withstand, recover from, and adapt to adverse conditions, stresses, attacks, or compromises.
gCORe 570 Cyber Risk Management (3) – An overview of cyber security risk management frameworks and practices. Students will model cybersecurity risks and apply both qualitative and quantitative risk assessment methods.
*If other Cyber electives outside of gCORe 550, 560 and 570 are of interest, students may work with their academic advisor to explore alternative gCORe options.
Required MBA Core Courses
BUSMBA 500 Business Foundations (1) – Provides self-paced initial foundation or refresher in micro-economics, statistics, and Excel. (Pass/Fail.)
BUSMBA 501 Design Thinking & Strategic Management (4) – Examines collaborative innovation processes that are transforming business and driving industry life cycles. Includes a first exposure to the creation of functional, business-level, and corporate-level strategies. Special consideration of organizational design, diversification, mergers and acquisitions, and measures of strategic performance including use of Balanced Scorecards. Interpersonal skills enhanced via online collaboration with classmates.
BUSMBA 505 Marketing Strategy (4) – Focuses on revenue-generating opportunities with special emphasis on evaluating opportunities for new products or services. Includes segment analysis, customer choice behavior, branding, marketing tactics, personal selling, and the evaluation of market opportunities. Includes opportunity assessment project in industry sector of student’s choosing.
BUSMBA 510 People & Organizations (4) – Emphasizes integrated manager-employee relations in an organization. Includes HR planning, employee recruitment, selection, performance appraisal, discipline, coaching, compensation, and termination issues. Also focuses on collaboration, group dynamics, motivation, leadership, problem-solving, negotiation, and self-management. Interpersonal skills enhanced via online collaboration with classmates.
BUSMBA 515 Corporate Finance (4) – Familiarizes students with concepts in corporate finance that will assist them in interacting with the finance function​s​ within their respective organizations​. Includes techniques of valuation and financial analysis that help make operating decisions that contribute to corporate value creation.
BUSMBA 520 Global Economics: Policy & Trade (4) – Reviews how economies work, the differences between economic systems, factors that influence international trade, exchange rates, labor economics, and government polices related to trade. Includes a survey on the economies of the world, current topics in global economics, data sources for international economic trends, and an introduction to major international trade agencies/associations. Includes application project in industry sector of student’s choosing.
BUSMBA 525 Managerial Accounting (4) – Examines various cost-based accounting concepts and practices. Particular emphasis on the challenges involved in using them to evaluate past performance and plan future deployment of firm resources. Interpersonal skills enhanced via online collaboration with classmates to solve managerial accounting problems.
BUSMBA 545 Business Law & Ethics (4) – Introduces future managers to the major legal issues involved in the business environment. Covers legal reasoning and the legal system, agency and business associations, torts, contracts, intellectual property, employment law, sales, and product liability. Includes application project in industry sector of student’s choosing.
BUSMBA 550 Operations & Supply Chain Management (4) – Introduces product and service movement within the firm and between the firm and its partners up and down the supply chain. Focus on logistics management, supplier relationships, and creating operational excellence within the firm. Includes operations modeling project in industry sector of student’s choosing.
BUSMBA 555 Integrated Capstone (4) – Integrates previous coursework via development of a business plan in industry sector of the student’s choosing.