The Doctor of Business Administration program requires successful completion of 90 quarter credit hours.  Core courses are supplemented by courses in the specialty area chosen. The courses for this program are conducted in an online delivery format through a competency-based education (CBE) approach.  A faculty model is utilized designed for a 1:1 faculty/student relationship that promotes and involves substantive faculty/student interaction.  The faculty engage students through a variety of multimedia presentations, conversations, and qualitative and quantitative feedback.

Students complete coursework that supports a strong understanding of the skills required to identify an issue pertinent to their field and determine the existing data and prior research findings that illuminate potential implementations. The primary focus is on identifying and analyzing the value of existing data with a critical lens on both the methodology used in the data collection and the subject matter expertise of the researcher in the student’s field. This process provides the student with the experience of vetting existing data on a broad, potentially international scale, rather than devoting energy to conducting research on a smaller scale due to the constraints of time, location, and availability of subjects. 

After completing an initial review of the existing data and developing a preliminary analysis within the first courses, students move on to creating a formal literature review and identification of stakeholders to ensure that the research addresses multiple perspectives. This supports the move from review to analysis and toward the final portion of the dissertation in practice. The final stage will include the student’s findings based upon the analysis of the research and a resulting proposal for implementation commensurate with the industry standards for the field being addressed. As a part of the presentation of the dissertation, the student includes a description or model of how the recommended proposal will be shared with the community or population it is intended to support. 

Students are empowered within this learning model to apply their learning in practice each term, demonstrating their understanding by creating a portfolio of work. The guiding principle is for students to collaborate with their instructors and create a learning plan that individualizes each demonstration of mastery specific to their field, rather than a predetermined theoretical application. Each course has a set of competencies that can be demonstrated through application of the topic in the students’ field. To that end, the courses are written to address the competency, not a specific subject matter. Each student chooses a focus for the doctoral program that serves as a basis for the individualization.

Overviews of the Specialty Areas are as follows:

Accounting is designed to enhance the student’s knowledge of managerial accounting methods that are essential to understanding and evaluating business performance and management.  Emphasis is on advanced accounting skills to address the real-world business challenges faced by business today.  There is a special focus on formulating, evaluating, and interpreting accounting information for managerial decision making.  Identifying, preventing, and resolving accounting fraud issues is also included, as well as exposure to the special accounting issues related to global, non-profit, and government accounting. 

Healthcare Administration is designed to prepare students for leadership roles in the field of healthcare. The focus of the program is to have students utilize business management skills within the ever-evolving, complex field of healthcare. Students will examine current and proposed healthcare policy influence on the debate and current issues within healthcare, specifically the business of healthcare. Special emphasis will be on the decision-making process in managing and leading a healthcare organization relative to the financial and quality issues.

Information Technology is designed to leverage the experiences and knowledge of current IT leaders and business professionals to improve the market position of an organization while enhancing internal processes to scale efficiently and effectively. This program blends Business and IT with the goal to create the technology focused organization of the future. Students will analyze current organizational technology to build the future technology foundation of the organization to maximize performance, organizational processes, and create a competitive advantage that keeps the organization relevant. The faculty will set a tone of exploration and problem-solving based in research that will build from the core courses (Business) to the specialization courses (IT) to the dissertation (research).

Organizational Leadership is designed to enlighten, equip, and empower students to pursue personal and professional goals within their organizations.  The focus of the program will ensure that students have a mastery of knowledge and skills to make leadership decisions, influence others and the organizations in which they work, and to lead and navigate organizational changes. The program will explore how culture, change, communications, diversity, and strategy impact an organization through research-based practices. Additional focus points will be centered around executive leadership, leading across cultures, building organizational capacity, and leading as a coach/consultant.