Academics
The College of Business Administration offers the Master of Business Administration (MBA), Master of Accounting (MAcc), and Master of Science in Management Information Systems (MSMIS) as well as a doctoral program in business. Other programs include cross-registration with Washington University, St. Louis University, and Southern Illinois University/Edwardsville, cooperative programs with Boeing and Edward Jones, work-study programs, foreign exchange with 6 countries, internships, and joint research. The strongest areas of study are international business, finance, management, and management information systems. The most popular courses are Law, Ethics, and Business and Telecommunications: Design and Management. Regular programs bring distinguished speakers and visiting professors to campus, speakers are usually executives with major local corporations and leading scholars.
Thirty-nine to 54 total credits are required to complete the MBA, including 9 elective credits. Required courses include:
- Quantitative Methods and Modeling in Economics, Business, and the Social Sciences
- Managerial Communication
- Financial and Managerial Accounting
- Economics for Managers
- Law, Ethics, and Business
- Financial Management
- Organizational Behavior and Administrative Processes
- Contemporary Marketing Concepts
- Management Information Systems
- Statistical Analysis for Management Decisions
- Production and Operations Management
- Strategy Formulation and Implementation
Required courses for the MSMIS, in addition to the MBA requirements, include:
- Applications of Programming for Business Solutions
- MIS: Theory and Practice
- Information Systems Analysis
- Database Management Systems
- Information Systems Design
Students may eliminate or substitute requirements by receiving credit for prior course work or by proficiency exam.
Business students may take relevant nonbusiness courses in other departments. The minimum time permitted to complete the master’s degree program attending full time is 1 1/2 years; maximum, 6 years. For students attending part time, the minimum is 3 years; maximum, 6 years.
There are 30 total full-time graduate business faculty, of whom 93% hold a doctorate; there are 4 part-time faculty, of whom 50% hold a doctorate. Faculty salaries are rated below average for Category I institutions, based on the AAUP rating system. Average number of courses faculty teach is 5; average business class size is 23.