Business College Overview

Departments: Accounting and Business Law, Economics and Finance, Information Systems and Analysis, Management and Marketing 

Programs: General Business, Reese Construction Management 

Enrique R. Venta, Dean
232 Galloway Business Bldg., ph (409) 880-8603

Marleen Swerdlow, Director, General Business and OnLine Programs
232 Galloway Business Bldg., ph (409) 880-7804

Carly Broussard, Director, MBA Program & Graduate Certificate Programs
204 Galloway Business Bldg.

Shannon Klutts, Coordinator, MBA Program, ph (409) 880-8604

David Mulcahy, Director, Small Business Development Center,
Center for Innovation, Commercialization and Entrepreneurship, Beaumont, Texas, ph (409) 880-2367

Paul Latiolais, Rogers Director, Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies, ph (409) 880-8436

All Freshman and Sophomore students are advised through the . Please contact them at (409) 880-8822.

The university established the College of Business in 1972. Prior to this time, the Division of Business, established in 1951, and the School of Business, established in 1954, granted degrees in business and economics. All undergraduate and graduate degree programs of the College of Business are accredited by AACSB International.

Four departments—Accounting and Business Law, Economics and Finance, Information Systems and Analysis, Management and Marketing—and the Office of General Business Programs—make up the College of Business. The Bachelor of Business Administration degree is granted in all areas.

The Reese Construction Management Program is also housed in the College of Business and offers a Bachelor of Science in Construction Management.

The Master of Business Administration and the Master of Science in Accounting degree programs are also offered.

Mission

We deliver a quality education to a diverse population of current and future business professionals. We cultivate the intellectual capabilities and professional competencies required to successfully and ethically meet the challenges of a rapidly-changing global and technological environment. Our faculty fosters a spirit of shared learning through innovative teaching, scholarly contributions, and business and community service.

Degrees Offered

The Bachelor of Business Administration curriculum consists of three distinct phases: business core, major specialization, and electives.

The business core requirements are patterned to develop an understanding of the social, legal, political, economic, ethical, and global frameworks within which business organizations exist and operate. A common body of fundamental business and economic theory and principles is also represented in the business core. These theories and principles are developed along with certain basic quantitative tools of analysis and communication skills as preparation for the specialized major courses. Understanding of the interaction of all areas and functions of business operations is the objective of the core courses.  We cultivate the intellectual capabilities and professional competencies required to successfully and ethically meet the challenges of a rapidly-changing global and technological environment.

The major specialization provides opportunities for study in a particular field of interest. This specialized study should enable a graduate to assume a position of responsibility in business, public service, or education. Finally, the student may choose electives that complement and supplement the specialization area.

The Bachelor of Business Administration degree will be awarded upon completion of the university core curriculum (section 6.4.1) plus

1. Business core courses (57 semester hours)*:

ACCT 2301 - Introduction to Financial Accounting

ACCT 2302 -  Introduction to Managerial Accounting

BUAL 2310 - Business Analysis I**

BUAL 3320 - Business Analysis II

BCOM 3350 - Business Communication

BULW 1370 -  Business Environment and Public Policy**

BULW 3310 - Business Law

BULW 4390 - Special Topics in Business Law***

BUSI 2300 - Intro to Critical Thinking for Business Decision Making

ECON 2301 - Principles of Economics I Macro**

ECON 2302 - Principles of Economics II Micro**

FINC 3310 - Principles of Finance

MGMT 3310 - Principles of Organizational Behavior and Management

MGMT 3320 - Production Management

MGMT 4370 - Strategic Analysis

MISY 1373 - Introduction to Business Technologies

MISY 3310 - Principles of MIS

MKTG 3310 - Principles of Marketing

One From:

  • ECON 3340 - Macro Economics
  • ECON 3390 - Managerial Economics
  1. Major Specialization (18-30 semester hours)
  2. Approved electives to complete a minimum of 120 semester hours
  3. A minimum grade point average of 2.00 in all College of Business coursework
  4. A minimum cumulative grade point average of 2.00
  5. Application for the degree must be made through the office of the chair of the department of the student's major or the Office of General Business Programs.

*Slightly different business core requirements exist for accounting majors.

**BUAL 2310 also fulfills the University Core track 2 requirement. Completion of either BULW 1370, ECON 2301 or ECON 2302 fulfills the University Core Social and Behavioral Sciences requirement.

*** The content of the Special Topics course will be determined by the college.

Accounting Major (24 semester hours): ACCT 3310 Intermediate Accounting I, ACCT 3320 Intermediate Accounting II, ACCT 3330 Governmental Accounting, ACCT 3340 Cost Accounting, ACCT 3370 Systems and Practice, ACCT 3380 Taxation Accounting, ACCT 4300 Introduction to Auditing, ACCT 4375 Accounting Information Systems

Economics Major (21 semester hours): ECON 3310 Economics of Entrepreneurship, ECON 3320 Money & Banking, ECON 3340 Macro, ECON 3390 Managerial Economics, and 9 semester hours of ECON electives

Finance Major (21 semester hours): FINC 3320 Intermediate Financial Management, FINC 4310 Investments, FINC 4320 Financial Markets and Institutions, FINC 4330 Commercial Banking, and 9 hours of professional track electives

Management Information Systems Major (24 semester hours): MISY 3340 IS Infrastructure, MISY 3350 JAVA Development or MISY 3360 Visual BASIC Development, MISY 3370 IS Analysis & Design, MISY 3395 E-Commerce Design and Development, MISY 4350 Project Management & Practice, MISY 4370 ERP Overview, MISY 4380 IS Development, MISY 4390 Special Topics in MISY, elective–Business Intelligence

Management Major (21 semester hours): ACCT 3340 Cost Accounting, MKTG 4310 Marketing Management, MGMT 3330 Human Resources Management, MGMT 3340 Project Management, MGMT 4320 Advanced Organizational Behavior, MGMT 4340 Quality and Productivity Management, MGMT 4380 Seminar on Entrepreneurship

Marketing Major (21 semester hours): MKTG 4310 Marketing Management, MKTG 4330 International Marketing, MKTG 4360 Marketing Research, MKTG 4370 Advanced Marketing Problems, MKTG 3360 Consumer Behavior, MKTG 3350 E-Marketing, MKTG 4340 Marketing Promotion

Human Resources Management (21 semester hours): BULW 3320 Employment Law, MGMT 3330 Human Resources Management, MGMT 4320 Advanced Organizational Behavior, MGMT 4330 Compensation Management, MGMT 4340 Quality and Productivity Management, MGMT 4350 Issues in Human Resources Management, PSYC 3360 Psychological Tests and Measurements

General Business Major (18-30 semester hours)

Business Concentration (18 semester hours): ACCT 3340 Cost Accounting or ACCT 3380 Taxation Accounting, FINC 3320 Intermediate Financial Management, MGMT 3330 Human Resources Management, MKTG 4310 Marketing Management, MGMT 4380 Seminar on Entrepreneurship, MGMT 4350 Issues in Human Resources Management or MGMT 3340 Project Management or MGMT 4340 Quality and Productivity Management

Advertising Communication Concentration (18 semester hours): ARTS 3351 2D Graphics, ARTS 3352 3D Graphics, MKTG 3360 Consumer Behavior, COMM 3361 Desktop Publishing or COMM 4365 A New Media and Publishing on Web, COMM 4380 Advertising Campaign Strategies, MKTG 4340 Marketing Promotion

Business Education Concentration (30 semester hours): ACCT 3340 Cost Accounting or ACCT 3380 Taxation Accounting, FINC 3320 Intermediate Financial Management, MGMT 3330 Human Resources Management, READ 3326 Reading and Literacy Strategies for the Content Areas, PEDG 2310 Introduction to Teacher Education, PEDG 3300 Human Development and Learning, PEDG 3380 Secondary Curriculum and Methodology, PEDG 4380 Secondary Methodology and Classroom Management, PEDG 4620 Student Teaching in Secondary School

Construction Management Concentration (24 Semester Hours): CMGT 1310 Introduction to Construction Management, CMGT 1320 Light Construction Materials and Methods or CMGT 2310 Heavy Construction Materials and Methods, CMGT 2420 Construction Graphics Communication, CMGT 4325 Construction Project Management, CMGT 3350 Electrical Systems or CMGT 4310 Construction Project Control Systems, CMGT 4370 Construction Safety Management, CMGT 4420 Construction Cost Estimating and Analysis, CMGT 4100 Internship/Independent Study

Entrepreneurship Concentration (18 semester hours), ACCT 3340 Cost Accounting, FINC 3320 Intermediate Financial Management, MGMT 3330 Human Resources Management, ECON 3310 Economics of Entrepreneurship, MKTG 4350 Entrepreneurial Market Opportunities, MGMT 4380 Seminar on Entrepreneurship

Industrial Engineering Concentration (18 semester hours): INEN 3300 Industrial Engineering, INEN 3330 Engineering Economy or INEN 3322 Engineering Materials and Processes, INEN 3380 Work Design, INEN 4301 Quality Control Applications, INEN 4316 Industrial and Product Safety or INEN 4369 Engineering Management, INEN 4374 Human Factors Engineering, INEN 4376 Occupational Ergonomics or INEN 4379 Facilities Design

Retail Management Concentration (18 semester hours): FCSC 1320 Textiles or FCSC 2383 Apparel Analysis and Evaluation, FCSC 2379 Visual Merchandising and Display, FCSC 4320 Fashion History, FCSC 4340 Fashion Production and Distribution, FCSC 3370 Fashion Promotion and Advertising, MKTG 3350 E-Marketing

Regardless of degree program, all students must earn at least 50 percent of the business credit hours required for any College of Business degree at ËÄ»¢Ó°ÊÓ.

Admission and Policies of the College of Business

All newly entering freshmen who meet the university's general entrance requirements will be admitted to the College of Business.

Prerequisite Policy – College of Business students registering for business courses must meet all course prerequisites, including the implicit prerequisite indicated by the course level. The chair of the department offering the course must approve any exceptions.

2000-level courses – Student must have 30 hours*

3000-level courses – Student must have 60 hours*

4000-level courses – Student must have 90 hours*

* These hours include the hours in which a student is currently enrolled.

Minor Programs in Business

Business:  Non-business students may minor in business. Such students should complete ECON 1301, ACCT 2301, FINC 3310, MGMT 3310, MKTG 3310, and MISY 3310. One of the following courses must also be completed: BULW 3310, 3320, 3330, 3340, ECON 3310, MGMT 3320, 3330, or MISY 3395, 4390.  In keeping with the spirit of a minor, the students must have less than 25 percent of their total curriculum in business subjects. This 25 percent restriction also applies to all students who are not registered for a major in the College of Business, but who wish to have any kind of a business emphasis or concentration.

Management Information Systems:  The minor in Management Information Systems (MIS) is available to any student at ËÄ»¢Ó°ÊÓ. To receive a minor in MIS, a student must complete six (6) classes: four (4) required classes, and two (2) elective classes from the following list.

  • Four required courses (12 hours) are: MISY 3310 Principles of Management Information Systems, MISY 3340 IS Infrastructure, MISY 3370 IS Analysis and Design, MISY 4370 ERP Overview
  • Two of the following elective courses (6 hours) should be taken: MISY 3395 E-Commerce Design and Development (with MKTG 3350 E-Marketing as a course substitution), MISY 4350 Project Management and Practice (with MGMT 3340 Project Management as a course substitution), MISY 4380 IS Development, MISY 4390 Special Topics in MISY, Elective MISY 3350/3360 Java Development/Visual Basic Development

Economics:  Non-business students may minor in Economics.  The minor requires 18 hours: ECON 2301, ECON 2302, ECON 3340, ECON 3390, and six (6) hours of electives approved by the department chair.

Business Law:  Non-business and business students may minor in Business Law.  Such students should complete BULW 1370 Business Environment and Public Policy and BULW 3310 Business Law.  Four of the following courses must also be completed, including at least two additional BULW courses:  BULW 3320 Employment Law, BULW 3330 Environmental Law, BULW 3340 Business Ethics, BULW 4390 Special Topics (Entertainment Law, Estate Planning Fundamentals, International Law, Real Estate Law), POLS 3301 Legislative Process, POLS 3313 Judicial Process, POLS 4390 Administrative Law, COMM 4310 Communications Law, COSC 3325 Computer Laws and Ethics, CRIJ 4313 White Collar Crime, or any other business-related law course pre-approved by the program supervisor.

General Business Programs

The academic major in General Business provides students an opportunity to study the fundamentals of a business enterprise and at the same time diversify into a secondary field of concentration. Four of the fields of concentration available to a student are outside of the College of Business.  The program allows students to take courses in General Business only or to concentrate their course work in one of the following areas:  Advertising Communications, Business Education, Construction Management, Entrepreneurship, Industrial Engineering, or Retail Management. 

Business Concentration

The Business Concentration enables an individual to receive a thorough education in business without a major in any one business discipline. This focus gives enough flexibility so that an individual can explore career paths in accounting, real estate, insurance, personnel management, marketing, and finance. This concentration is designed for an individual who is interested in majoring in business but who is undecided about an area of specialization.

Advertising Communication Concentration

The Advertising Communication Concentration is an interdisciplinary program between the College of Business, the Department of Art, and the Department of Communication. This field of study combines a solid knowledge of business with the creation and placement of information designed to produce sales; it is a substitute for the human salesperson. This career, blending commercial business and show business, attracts interesting people with a desire to be creative. Advertising Communication encompasses many areas including marketing, copy writing, art and layout, research, television production, photography, graphics, packaging, printing, and retail promotion.

Business Education Concentration

The Business Education Concentration is an interdisciplinary program between the College of Business and the Department of Professional Pedagogy. This field of study is designed for an individual who would like to pursue a career in secondary education and is interested in majoring in business but who is undecided about an area of specialization. This concentration enables an individual to receive a thorough education in business without a major in any one business discipline and to prepare for a career in secondary education in the area of business. This combined education provides an individual with the flexibility to also explore career paths in various areas of business, including accounting, real estate, insurance, human resources, marketing, and finance.

Construction Management Concentration

The Construction Management concentration is an interdisciplinary program between the College of Business and the Department of Construction Management. This major combines a solid knowledge of business with the technical expertise of construction management. This combined education enables a graduate to focus more on the financial and managerial roles in the construction organization. This concentration enables individuals to receive a thorough education in business without a major in any one business discipline and to prepare for a career in construction management as office managers, sales representatives, human resource managers, and purchasing representatives.

Entrepreneurship Concentration

The Entrepreneurship Concentration prepares students who are interested in one day starting and running their own businesses. A solid understanding of budgeting and understanding financial statements is obtained from accounting and finance courses. Knowledge of how to hire, train, motivate, and retain employees is gained from the human resource management course. Finally, the three entrepreneurship courses help students crystallize how to identify opportunities in the marketplace and put together a plan to exploit those opportunities through a new business.

Industrial Engineering Concentration

The Industrial Engineering Concentration is an interdisciplinary program between the College of Business and the Department of Industrial Engineering. This concentration combines a solid knowledge of business with the technical expertise of engineering. This combined education enables a graduate to make decisions concerning products to manufacture or services to provide, layout of the production facilities, materials used in manufacturing a product, production procedure, quality control, and inventory control as well as methods of motivating and rewarding employees. Because their skills and knowledge can be used to improve operating efficiency in almost any type of company, graduates from this concentration can be employed by insurance companies, banks, construction firms, public utilities, hospitals, retail organizations, manufacturing companies, and other large business firms, as well as by government agencies.

Retail Management Concentration

The Retail Management Concentration is an interdisciplinary program between the College of Business and the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences. This field of study combines a solid knowledge of business with the understanding of fashion and consumer sciences. With advances in computer technology, large-scale retailers have become much more research oriented. Computerized merchandise systems provide buyers with the information they need to identify trends and reorder fast-selling items of merchandise. The Retail Management concentration is designed for the individual wanting to pursue career paths in fashion coordination, visual merchandising, and buying and retail management. Other career paths include accounting control, store operations and management, retail sales analysis, and sales promotion.

Master of Business Administration

ËÄ»¢Ó°ÊÓ's MBA is fully accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB). Students with degrees in non-business fields as well as business undergraduates are encouraged to earn the Master of Business Administration degree through ËÄ»¢Ó°ÊÓ's Traditional MBA.

Strategic Role

The strategic role of the Lamar MBA is to deliver a dynamic, integrated management education to a variety of student groups. Our students range from those who are exploring their career goals to students who want to advance their existing business knowledge and to students who have a focused career path. These different student needs are met through either the flexible part-time or the full-time Lamar MBA.

The Lamar MBA places a heavy emphasis on an experiential-based approach to problem solving, including the knowledge, skill and ability to incorporate ethical considerations, leadership, teamwork, and a global perspective into the decision-making process. ËÄ»¢Ó°ÊÓ blends its students' MBA education with passionate teaching, active learning, specialized knowledge, and professional development to enhance their career potential.

Traditional MBA

Students with undergraduate degrees in business and those from non-business disciplines are equally encouraged to apply for a Lamar MBA. The MBA is a highly respected vehicle for enriching undergraduate study in science and engineering, liberal arts, and the social and behavioral sciences as well as for adding depth to the traditional undergraduate business disciplines.

For students without any previous undergraduate study in business, the Lamar MBA consists of 48 semester hours (16 courses). The program consists of four leveling courses, a required core of eight courses, and four elective courses that will allow a student to develop a concentration. One or more of the four leveling courses may be waived if the student has completed equivalent undergraduate coursework.

The four leveling courses may be completed after admission to graduate study or before admission when registering as a post-baccalaureate student. Undergraduate students are limited to nine semester hours of graduate work in their last twelve hours of coursework.

Students entering the Lamar MBA with undergraduate degrees in business from an accredited business school will likely have satisfied the graduate leveling work, and all of the four leveling courses may be waived. The MBA will then consist of 36 semester hours (12 courses), including eight core courses and four elective (concentration) courses.

Dual Degrees offered:

  1. Master of Science in Nursing/Master of Business Administration
  2. Master of Science in Accounting/Master of Business Administration

BSIE/MBA Industrial Engineering undergraduates are eligible to participate in a 5-year academic program that leads to two degrees: a BSIE and MBA. Industrial Engineering students will complete all of the normal INEN degree requirements, with one exception: INEN electives are replaced with MBA leveling courses. The program is designed to be completed in 5 years with a general structure as follows:
  • Years 1, 2, and 3 are spent in pre-engineering and industrial engineering coursework.
  • Years 4 and 5 are spent taking MBA courses.
BSEE/MBA Electrical Engineering undergraduates are eligible to participate in a 5-year academic program that leads to two degrees: a BSEE and MBA. Electrical Engineering students will complete all of the normal ELEN degree requirements, with one exception: ELEN electives are replaced with MBA leveling courses. The program is designed to be completed in 5 years with a general structure as follows:
  • Years 1, 2, and 3 are spent in pre-engineering and electrical engineering coursework.
  • Years 4 and 5 are spent taking MBA courses.

Admission Requirements

1. The student is required to take the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT).

  • The applicant's undergraduate grade point average and GMAT scores must equal or exceed the minimum standards. The student must meet at least one of the following standards:
    • A. A total of at least 1000 points based on the formula: 200 times the overall undergraduate GPA (4.0 system) plus the GMAT score. (See Note below)
    • B. A total of at least 1,000 points based on the formula: 200 times the GPA (4.0 system) of the last 60 hours of undergraduate work plus the GMAT score. (See Note below).

2. A student whose native language is not English is expected to meet university requirements for the TOEFL or IELTS exams..

3. Post-baccalaureate students are not permitted to enroll in business courses for graduate credit without the prior consent of the MBA Director.

4. All applications will be reviewed on the basis of the profile material required and submitted for admission consideration. Each required document contributes to the overall profile of the candidate for admission. Qualified applicants for graduate study must provide evidence of good standing at the college or university from which they earned their undergraduate degree. No single application element will be either an automatic qualifier or disqualifier for admittance.

  • Online Graduate ERP Certificate

    Students must have a bachelor's degree. Five courses are taught online. No GMAT is required. SAP ERP Academy (TERP10) offered. Students must obtain a 3.0 GPA for four courses with a "C" or better in each class.

    Courses offered: MISY 5340 ERP Overview, MISY 5350 ERP E-Commerce, MISY 5360 Business Intelligence OR INEN 5382 Enterprise Data Mining, MISY 5390 Current Topics in MIS, MGMT 5370 Supply Chain Management OR INEN 5357 Supply Chain Management

    MBA students who have completed three ERP courses or more are encouraged to take the SAP ERP Academy (TERP10). TERP10 is a highly intensive training by certified SAP trainers focusing on the integration of business processes and covering 16 different SAP modules. The Academy is concluded with a certification exam on Day 10. It is the first step toward becoming an SAP Certified Associate.

    Graduate Leadership Certificate

    Students must have a bachelor's degree. No GMAT is required. Students must obtain a "C" or better in each course and maintain an overall GPA of 3.0.
    Students may select 15 hours from the following list:

    BULW 5320 Leadership and Negotiation (coming summer 2018)

  • BULW 5330 Employment Law

  • MGMT 5312 Personal Leadership

    MGMT 5313 Team Leadership

    MGMT 5314 Tactical Leadership

    MGMT 5315 Strategic Leadership

    MGMT 5316 Performance Leadership

  • MGMT 5360 Human Resources Management


  • Certification courses will apply to a full degree once you gain full admission to the MBA program (GMAT required). In addition, students entering the MBA program who do not have an undergraduate degree in business administration may be required to take leveling courses before entering the MBA program.

    Degree Requirements

    Leveling Courses (designed primarily for students whose undergraduate degree is not business) ACCT 5315 Financial Accounting Foundations, BULW 5300 Legal Environment of Business, ECON 5300 Foundations of Economics, FINC 5300 Foundations of Finance. Students who needed TOEFL or IELTS scores for applications will be required to take BCOM 5300 Administrative Communications.

    Core Courses ACCT 5370 Managerial Accounting, BUAL 5380 Managerial Decision Making, ECON 5370 Managerial Economics, FINC 5310 Financial Management, MKTG 5310 Marketing Management, MGMT 5340 International Business, MISY 5340 ERP Overview, MGMT 5380 Strategic Management

    Additional four courses within one of the following concentrations:

  • Construction Management (Online)
  • Knowledgeable managers are crucial to the success of  any construction project. By integrating an advanced construction project management curriculum with a comprehensive business education, ËÄ»¢Ó°ÊÓ's MBA in Construction Project Management prepares business leaders to run projects that meet performance, operational, scope and sustainability goals on a national or international scale.
  •  
  • Criminal Justice Management (Online)
  •  
  • The ËÄ»¢Ó°ÊÓ MBA with a concentration in Criminal Justice Management offers students an extensive business management background while preparing them to apply management principles in a criminal justice setting. Students gain insight on how business management can be applied to the highest ranking positions in the field of criminal justice.
  •  
  • This is an excellent degree for those who are already employed in the field of law enforcement, correctional administration or security management and would like to reach new levels of management and leadership within their current organizations.

  • Enterprise Resource Planning (On Campus or Online)

  • The Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) concentration in the MBA program is about familiarizing our MBA students with the concept of integrating different business functional areas such as marketing and sales, supply chain management, accounting and finance, and human resources to achieve company goals of improving business processes by using ERP software. An ERP software such as SAP can support integration of business processes that cut across different functional areas. This concentration will demonstrate how ERP systems can help a company cut costs and improve efficiencies of business processes by providing managers with accurate, consistent, and real-time data across all business functions. The courses offered in this concentration are: 1) ERP Overview, 2) ERP – E-Commerce, 3) Business Intelligence, and 4) Supply Chain Management. (Available to all MBA students)

    Experiential Business and Entrepreneurship (On Campus)

    Having an idea is one thing, commercializing it is another. This concentration contains curriculum that is designed to take teams of graduate students through the process of idea generation to business concept and from business concept to sustainable value through the completion of a competition-ready business plan. Student teams may generate their own ideas and concepts or "commercialize" a technology created by an Engineering Design Team. Program participants are taught how to perform an opportunity analysis and develop a business plan and proposal to help them launch a new venture. Teams that work with the design projects experience how business and engineering work together to achieve the common objective of bringing a product to market. In addition, this concentration prepares students with hands-on application of practical business skills to use in the workforce. (Available to all MBA students)

    Financial Management (On Campus)

    The Financial Management specialization provides the student with advanced skills in corporate finance and investments. Students study how to select different instruments for investments, financing business activities, and managing financial risk. (Available to all MBA students)

    Healthcare Administration (Online)

    The ËÄ»¢Ó°ÊÓ MBA Healthcare Concentration Program is uniquely suited to graduate students planning a career in health care administration, management, or entrepreneurial investment. The program augments general MBA graduate courses in strategic planning, finance, management, information technology, and economics by concentrating the student's business acumen to the specific entities and conditions of the healthcare market structure. Currently, the program consists of structured, lecture-oriented courses in healthcare economics, strategy, entrepreneurship, and medical information technology. Each student, during participation in these courses, will have hands-on, real-time experiential problems to solve and present to the instructors, classmates, and practicing healthcare professional and/ or their organizations. These healthcare professionals are active in Southeast Texas as physician business executives, physician group managers, and healthcare financial investors, as well as hospital and other healthcare institution administrators and will present the students with unique problems for solution from their organizations. The ËÄ»¢Ó°ÊÓ College of Business has developed a working relationship with the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) so that qualified graduate students may apply for internships at healthcare systems and institutions throughout Texas and the United States. Healthcare MBA Concentration students are urged to join the ACHE as members and to actively participate in the organization's planned education meeting events and programs presented throughout the region. Students' and ACHE members' interaction promotes professional contacts that may lead to mentoring and career path acquisitions. Some Healthcare MBA Concentration Program Courses may require business course prerequisites. (Available to all MBA students)

    Leadership (On Campus)

    The MBA leadership concentration focuses on personal and organizational development. Students learn how to unleash the contributions of their teams towards their organization's critical priorities and create a work environment where individuals want to devote their best efforts. Students completing the leadership track will better manage decisions, attention, and energy so that they can create extraordinary value for themselves and their organizations.

  • Marketing
  •  
  • Learn about marketing functions that add value to organizations. The marketing concentration gives you an understanding of how to use various marketing tools including CRM (Constituent Relationship Management) systems, data analytics, and various modes of digital marketing to enhance and improve the company in which you lead.

 

  • Organizational Management (Online)
  •  
  • The landscape of business has shifted from leaders who exercised formal authority and faced low conflict to leaders who are required to achieve results through influence in the face of greater conflict. According to BIZ ED magazine, a leading publication on programs in higher education, "Most MBA programs give scant attention to soft skill development, generally confining it to electives on writing and presentations. MBAs need enhanced interpersonal skills. These include the ability to serve a wider range of audiences - such as customers, employees, and stockholders - while tolerating intense scrutiny and relinquishing command and control leadership approaches. Most MBA programs do not understand or know how to teach the relationship-building skills required for contemporary business leadership."
  • The focus of the ËÄ»¢Ó°ÊÓ MBA Organizational Management concentration is personal and organizational development. This concentration emphasizes the values, integrity and emotional intelligence necessary for students to become successful organizational leaders. It features proven world-class organizational leadership training delivered by passionate instructors that realize that emotional and social intelligence are as important to a student's leadership role as their knowledge of finance and marketing. Graduates of our program understand what it takes to motivate people and lead an organization.

 

Port Management

This concentration offers industry-relevant curriculum taught by Business and Engineering College faculty augmented by experts in the field, which can help accelerate your career path in the dynamic port and marine terminal operating industry. Courses in this program give you a deeper understanding of core business disciplines along with the skills necessary to lead and manage in this sector. Subject covered include: international trade and economics, logistics, legal issues, strategic and capital planning, operations, safety and security, as well as management, competitive positioning, leadership and team building.

Service Management and Marketing (On Campus)

This concentration prepares ËÄ»¢Ó°ÊÓ MBA students for careers in which they will establish customer relationships, build loyalty, and increase profits through effective service delivery. This will include the unique challenges involved in marketing and managing services. Students will consider the sources of competitive advantage in service businesses such as managing supply and demand, relationship management, customer satisfaction and loyalty, and the overlap in marketing/operations/human resource systems. (Available to all MBA students)

Thematic (On Campus)

For students who seek a tailored approach to their degree, the MBA program at ËÄ»¢Ó°ÊÓ offers a thematic concentration. The thematic concentration allows students to choose their elective courses from a list of elective courses offered in the MBA program. To develop a thematic concentration, students develop a plan of study, including courses to be taken, and then submit them to the director of the MBA program for approval.

International Business Support Concentration (in addition to the core and main concentration)

In the increasingly global economy, many of our graduates will be seeking employment in the field of international business with hopes of traveling and working abroad in a variety of countries and cultures. Students who are interested may add the International Business Support concentration in addition to their chosen concentration. If interested, please discuss this option with your advisor.