First Year Core Courses

501.  Management Communications.  (3.0 hours)
Builds skills and knowledge to be a successful managerial communicator.   The first part covers topics relating to your personal awareness and development of basic communication abilities.  As the course proceeds, topics include: communication strategy, presentation graphics, communication style and tone, structuring message content and argument, as well as, change, crisis, ethics, electronic, and intercultural communication, as well as news and media relations.  Through the course, students learn to understand the importance of effective communication in managerial and leadership roles, appreciate the value of strategic organizational communication, and enhance their speaking, writing, and other communication abilities.

510.  Financial Accounting: Reporting and Analysis.  (3.0 hours)
Analysis and interpretation of financial  statements.  Attention is given to contemporary issues in financial reporting and the economic consequences of accounting choices.

521.  The Technology Infrastructure.  (1.0 P/F) 
The focus of this introductory IT module is on the “technology” part of “Information Technology.”  We will discuss hardware, software, databases, telecommunications, and the Internet, and will experience hands-on applications in each of these areas.  For example, students will create a web site, develop a basic understanding of computer programming using Visual Basic For Applications, and design and construct a relational database.

530.  Financial Management.  (3.0 hours)
This course emphasizes alternative approaches to valuation.  Topics covered include financial markets; financial analysis and forecasting; approaches to risk and return; project evaluation; financial policy.  Selected advanced topics, such as international financing transactions, new venture finance, and risk management will also be covered.

540.  Marketing Management. (3.0 hours)
Focuses on developing integrated marketing programs that address customer needs, competitive activity, channel and supplier behavior, macro environmental factors, and market evolution. Emphasis is placed on assessing the market and developing a responsive marketing mix: product policy, pricing, channels of distribution, integrated marketing communications, and support structure.

550.  Organizational Behavior and Process.  (3.0 hours) 
Designed to provide you with the analytic frameworks and tools to diagnose events in and to take effective action in today's changing organizations.  The course draws on knowledge from the domains of Organization Behavior (OB), Organization Theory (OT), and Human Resource Management (HRM) to provide you with the understanding and skills that you need to be an effective manager of people in these changing organizations. OT, OB and HRM are concerned with developing understanding about how human beings act in organized settings and how organized systems affect human behavior through policies, structures and strategies.   In addition to conceptual understanding, ongoing assessments and experiential exercises provide you opportunities to reflect on your own behavior in order to develop new and more effective ways of interacting with others to accomplish work.

551.  Leadership Advantage I.  (1.5 hours)
This course focuses on enhancing the student's self awareness as it relates to six leadership competencies.  Through a customized multi-rate feedback tool, self assessments, development activities and ongoing feedback students gain a better understanding of themselves.  In concert with their Lead Coach each student will develop and executive a highly personalized development plan that allows them to establish goals, commit to specific developmental actions and measure their results.  Integrated throughout the first year MBA curriculum, students have multiple opportunities to practice their leadership skills.

570.  Applied Data & Economic Analysis I.  (3.0 hours)
Covers the use of key economic concepts of demand and supply in managerial decision- making. Strong emphasis is placed on data analysis.  Ties together important statistical tools with application to economic analysis through live data case work.

511.  Accounting for Managerial Decision Making.  (2.0)
Emphasis on managerial decision-making and control of operations using accounting information systems. Included are basic accounting concepts,  accounting for manufacturing and investment decisions, and designing management control systems to implement strategies (e.g., transfer pricing, balanced  scorecard.)

522.  IT-Enabled Technological Transformations.  (2.0)
The focus of the second IT module is on the “information” part of “Information Technology.”  Through readings and case discussion, students will gain an understanding of how IT is enabling fundamental transformations in firms, markets, products, and business processes.  These transformations have important implications for the way companies organize (both internally and with customers and suppliers) and compete.  Accordingly, this course addresses the management issues surrounding the impact of information technology in organizations.  It is designed with the line and general managers in mind, rather than the managers of the IS function.

560.  Design and Control of the Modern Operations Function.  (3.0 hours)
Provides an introduction to the responsibilities and decisions facing the modern operations manager.  The course is decision making and tool focused, with emphasis on the acquisition of information for decision-making.  It covers the topics most associated with today’s complex operation management activities: planning and scheduling, process selection and design, managing the supply and value chains, decision tools, day-to-day control (quality, inventory, demand management, capacity  planning, etc.), and managing and controlling complex projects.

571.  Applied Data and Economic Analysis II.  (3.0 hours)
Continues the economic and statistical analysis begun in 570 into applications to industrial structure.  The dynamic nature of industries' competitive nature is explored through live data cases.

594.  Business, Government, and the Global Economy.  (2.0 hours)
This course introduces the basic macroeconomic concepts in the global economy for both industrialized and developing countries.  Students are encouraged to analyze business and economic policies and money and capital markets.
 
500.  Internship Issues.  (1.0 hours P/F)
This course, offered in the summer,  is for international students completing CPT or students needing educational credit for a summer internship.  Two parts will include:  a mandatory written paper evaluating the internship due in the Fall, and two class sessions in the fall semester of your second year.