Graduate Elective Courses

Graduate Elective Course Offerings (Subject to Change)

For details regarding elective course offerings, what are considered technical or interpersonal electives, and requirements for declaring a concentration, please visit the Graduate Advising Office. Note that some majors require students take at least one technical elective and one interpersonal elective. 

Elective Course Availability

We cannot guarantee when elective courses will be offered. If an elective course is required for your concentration, you are strongly urged to register for that course when you see it is available. Most required elective courses are only offered once per academic year. If an elective course is closed at the time of your registration, submit a Closed Course Petition.

Concentrations in the MBA Program

To complete a concentration, a minimum of four courses (sixteen credit hours) is required. Concentrations are optional. You can declare a concentration at this link.

MS Accounting students are not able to declare a concentration.

Finance

• FIN 520 - Financial Management

  This course focuses on the assets and liabilities of a firm through covering topics including financial planning, control and forecasting, receivables management, cash management, inventory policy, leasing decisions, mergers and acquisitions, capital structure, dividend policy, debt refunding and cost of capital. Coursework emphasizes cases and integration of concepts from MGMT 505. Credits: 4 Levels: Graduate

• FIN 540 - Security & Portfolio Analysis

  This course integrates traditional security analysis with more recently developed theories on market efficiency, risk, and capital asset pricing. The course will help you understand how analytical frameworks are applied to pragmatic investment decisions in the stock market. 4 credits. Prerequisite: MGMT 505. School of Management graduate students only. Traditionally offered fall semesters Levels: Graduate, Undergraduate

• FIN 550 - Derivative Securities

  This course delves into the theoretical foundations of the pricing and use of options, futures and derivative instruments through the exploration of the institutional details of derivative markets in the U.S. Topics include underlying economic rationale for these markets, trading strategies and valuation considerations. Prerequisite: MGMT 505. School of Management grad students only. 4 credits. Traditionally offered spring semesters. Levels: Graduate

• FIN 555 - Fixed Income Securities

  This course builds on the concepts learned in MGMT 505 and FIN 540 that apply to fixed income securities including analytical techniques to price bonds, calculate yields, solve for duration and convexity and learn basic portfolio management techniques. We will then extend these basic concepts to understand various alternative securities such as floaters, inverse floaters, swaps, bond options and asset-backed securities. Significant time will be devoted to learning about mortgage bonds, how they are priced, and the risks that make them different from other bonds and to price IOs, POs and CMOs. The course will also cover some of the institutional features of bond markets, in particular municipal bond markets, emerging bond markets and U.S. Treasury auctions. Prerequisite: MGMT 505. 4 credits. School of Management graduate students only. Traditionally offered spring semesters Levels: Graduate

• FIN 580E - Financial Statement Analysis

  This course explores the analysis of financial information - particularly firms’ financial statements for making decisions to invest in businesses. The primary focus is on equity (share) valuation, with some attention given to credit analysis and the valuation of debt. The methods of fundamental analysis will be examined in detail and applied in cases and projects involving listed companies. Topics include models of shareholder value, a comparison of accrual accounting and discounted cash flow approaches to valuation, the analysis of profitability, growth and valuation generation in a firm, diagnosing accounting quality, forecasting earnings and cash flows, pro-forma analysis for strategy and planning, and the determination of price/earnings (P/E) and market-to-book (P/B) ratios. Prerequisite: MGMT 505. 4 credits. Traditionally offered spring and fall semester. Levels: Graduate, Undergraduate

• FIN 581A - Arbitrage Strategies

  This is an advanced, research based, elective course targeted at students majoring in Accounting and/or Finance. It is designed to be a cutting edge, state of the art, hands-on course. It is intended for those students who have a strong interest in understanding and applying the concepts underlying modern accounting and finance in the capital market settings. These skills are applicable in jobs in auditing, consulting, corporate finance, forensic accounting, hedge funds, investment banking, quantitative financial analysis, securities litigation consulting, etc. Prerequisite: MGMT 505. 4 credits. Levels: Graduate, Undergraduate

Leadership and Consulting

• LEAD 551 - Leadership Skills&Development

  This course concentrates on leadership as it occurs in one-on-one situations and in small groups, and surveys the major topical areas of leadership. A significant portion of the course focuses on interpersonal influence through language, framing and specific behaviors, as well as leading for innovation. Traditionally offered fall semester. Levels: Graduate, Undergraduate

• LEAD 552 - Team Leadership

  This course begins with an emphasis on one individual leading a team of individuals. However, over time the teams take a shared leadership model, whereby participants learn how to distribute leadership within their teams. Students will work in project teams to learn the process of implementing and leading a project team. Teams work both face-to-face and through technology to learn how to function effectively as a virtual team. The team and project leadership literature provides readings for this course. Traditionally offered spring semesters. credits:4 Levels: Graduate

• LEAD 553 - Strategic Leadership

  The theme of this course is the role of leadership in larger systems and on the role of culture in organizations. Emphasis is on how to work in larger organizations to effect strategic change, implement new technology, work across different boundaries/units and work in different cultures and globally. The intent of this course is to develop the capacity in students to consult with larger organizations on strategic leadership and change management practices. Students will work with advanced information technology to learn how to best manage knowledge and to develop a learning culture in organizations. Traditionally offered spring semester. Credits: 4 Levels: Graduate, Undergraduate

• MGMT 583N - Negotiations

  In this course, students learn to negotiate for personal and career objectives through textbook and negotiation exercises, including individual as well as team negotiations. Topics include planning, negotiation opponent assessment, strategy and tactical planning, voice and word control, role playing, and reactive flexibility. 4 credits. Levels: Graduate

Management Information Systems

• MIS 523 - Info.Sys.Analysis&Specificatn.

  This course provides an understanding of the systems development and modification process. It enables students to choose and adapt system development methodologies. In approaching a project, this course teaches students the principles of high-quality information requirements determination and specification through effective communication with users and all other stakeholders in systems development and maintenance and appropriate documentation standards. Participatory approaches like JAD, SSM, ETHICS or prototyping are emphasized. Prerequisite: MGMT 500. 4 Credits. SOM grad student only. Offered in Fall. Levels: Graduate, Undergraduate

• MIS 525 - Essentials of Programming

  Given the highly digitized environment we live in, organizations are increasingly recognizing the need for programming literacy to leverage computing devices and data-processing applications to improve their performance. Therefore, programming and data analysis are becoming the necessities of today's highly competitive business environment. This course focuses on the essentials of programming in Python, a powerful and general-purpose programming language that many businesses expect their recruits to be competent in. The course will cover a variety of general programming topics such as data structures, decision controls, loops, and functions. It will also cover popular Python libraries such as numpy, pandas, and matplotlib. The course will prepare students to develop programs that solve real-world problems. Students registering for this course should be prepared for an intense but manageable workload. Levels: Graduate

• MIS 533 - Database Management Systems

  Management of data resources is a crucial activity for any enterprise because effective decisions require good information. Since a good database management system may perform poorly with badly designed databases, this course provides a conceptual foundation and design principles upon which students may develop well-designed applications using the relational database model and the database life-cycle methodology. Tutorials and projects provide students the opportunity to implement their designs and become proficient in the use of the various features of a database management system. Advanced topics include transaction management and concurrency control, distributed database management systems, object-oriented databases, data warehouse design, database administration and e-business integration. 4 credits. School of Management grad students only. Prerequisites: MGMT 500. Traditionally offered in the Spring. Levels: Graduate, Undergraduate

• MIS 550 - IT Security and Forensics

  The first part of this course covers description of different security technologies including firewalls, intrusion detection and cryptography and identification of potential threats such as malicious software, social engineering, spoofing, and phishing. Students will also learn about managerial aspects including information security policies, security management models and practices, and risk management. The second part of the course covers technical and legal aspects of conducting computer forensic analysis and investigation. Topics include requirements of processing crime scenes, investigation of digital evidence (computers, laptops, etc.), network forensics, e-mail investigation, report writing, and expert testimony in high-tech investigations. Prerequisite: MGMT 500. 4 credits. Levels: Graduate, Undergraduate

• MIS 573 - Information Systems Project

  This course is a capstone course in information systems development, where students will tudents work on a real-life project in the analysis, design and implementation of a system to address an actual problem. Proper project management skills are also emphasized. Completion of this course qualifies students to be productive members of an industry project team. 4 credits. School of Management graduate students only. Prerequisite: MGMT 500. Traditianally offered in the Spring semester. Levels: Graduate, Undergraduate

• MIS 580E - Advanced Spreadsheeting

  This course focuses on using advanced features of Microsoft Excel to create efficient spreadsheet models and analyze real-world business problems. Because a spreadsheet can be a part of a bigger Information System, Excel can be used as a tool for pre-processing data or integrate with other tools such as databases. Moreover, Visual Basic for Applications built into Excel allows us to develop programs to perform tasks that are not available from the standard Excel interface (buttons and command). Course topics include: an introduction to MIS problem solving approach (e.g, efficient and flexible spreadsheet design), determining effective data display with charts and linking and consolidating worksheets, text functions and formulas, data screening and validation, locating and managing data with reference functions, troubleshooting and customizing workbooks with macro, visual basic programming and other advanced tools, and data analysis. Although certain level of familiarity with programming is preferred, such skills are not required. Prerequisite: MGMT 500. 4 credits. School of management graduate students only. Traditionally offered in the fall and spring semesters. Levels: Graduate, Undergraduate

• MIS 580G - Introduction to Cybersecurity

  This course offers an innovative hands-on opportunity to develop cybersecurity, leadership, project management, and teamwork skills while working closely with Deloitte client-serving professionals on a weekly basis. The target audience of this program are students interested in Cyber Risk Management. This is a great opportunity to get hands-on experience in the dynamic field of cybersecurity and develop relationships, differentiate yourself, and demonstrate your communication, technical, and problem-solving skill sets. credits 4 Levels: Graduate

• MIS 580J - Intro to Machine Learning

  Machine learning is the science of allowing computers to learn from data and perform tasks without being explicitly programmed. It becomes so pervasive today that we are using it in many aspects of our lives without even knowing it. Some examples include speech recognition, image recognition, web search, personalized recommendation, and self-driving cars. This course provides an overview of machine learning techniques (e.g., supervised vs. unsupervised methods) to explore, analyze, and exploit data with a focus on designing machine learning workflow and algorithms. Whereas no prior knowledge of machine learning is needed, students are assumed to have a basic understanding of calculus, probability theory, and linear algebra. No background knowledge of programming is required. Recommended Prerequisites Calculus and Statistics Credits: 4 Levels: Graduate

• MIS 580M - Web Application Development

  This course introduces students to the fundamental concepts and implementation of e-business. The two major objectives of the course are 1) To learn web design details with HTML and major web design tools. The variety of resources and web fundamentals are introduced with in-class exercises and assignments. 2) To learn a variety of e-business concepts such as online retailing, online consumer behavior, online customer service, online customer relationship management, business to business e-commerce and collaborative commerce. Students also learn about web design, technologies, and strategies required to implement these e-business concepts. Prerequisite: MGMT 500. 4 credits. Levels: Graduate, Undergraduate Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Colleges:            GD Management

• MIS 581F - IT for Business Analytics

  This course focuses on the technology component of business analytics; more specifically storing, processing, and accessing data for the purpose of business analytics. The majority of the class explores a variety of technology solutions for big data on cloud infrastructure. The first part of the class focuses on comparing/contrasting relational databases, in-memory databases, and NoSQL databases, virtualization, and basics of parallel computing and cluster computing. The second part of the class covers alternative database models including column, key-value, graph, and document. The last part of the class focuses on data processing languages and distributed machine learning technologies. At the end of the class, students will have hand-on experience with distributed file systems, various NoSQL databases, and virtualization solutions for the purpose of preparing data for business analytics. Pre-reqs: MGMT 500. 4 credits. Levels: Graduate, Undergraduate

• MIS 586 - E-Business

  This course provides a broad introduction to e-business. To put it simply, e-business is doing business online by strategically using information and communication technologies (ICTs) to perform various activities from back-office to front-office. It is an evolutionary step in the convergence of technological development and business innovation. Technological innovations have allowed businesses to operate globally and gain a presence like never before. By taking advantage of ICTs in all aspects of the business, enterprises have completely changed how they operate and interact with their stakeholders. Despite the various benefits of e-business, effective e-business implementation faces various managerial and technological challenges. This course is designed to highlight the managerial perspective of e-business with an emphasis on the role of ICTs. Students are expected to be able to apply the knowledge domains we will be discussed in class to understand and resolve business problems that confront organizations during their introduction and implementation of e-business. The primary objective of the course is to expose students to key concepts and issues that transform commerce in a digital environment. The course will cover many key e-business knowledge domains, including (simple) website design, search engine optimization, change management, business process reengineering, and process mining. Students will learn by doing various course activities and projects.4 credits. School of Management graduate students only. Traditionally offered Fall semesters. Levels: Graduate, Undergraduate

• ACCT 550 - Accounting Information Systems

  This course provides an overview of the importance of accounting systems as a means to record and store transactional data and ultimately transform data into relevant information that is needed by decision makers. Topics will include audit and control, AIS applications, AIS databases, the systems development process, and the impact of key pieces of legislation such Sarbanes-Oxley and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Prerequisite: MGMT 500. Credits 4 Levels: Graduate

Marketing

• MKTG 535 - Consumer Behavior

  This course introduces the field of consumer behavior through examining the aspects that underlie consumer decisions and relating this understanding to market issues. Pre-requisite: MGMT 506. Offered as needed. credits 4 Levels: Graduate, Undergraduate

• MKTG 540 - Marketing Research

  This course introduces major research techniques currently employed by major corporations in the U.S. Included are issues dealing with problem formulation, research design, questionnaire construction, data collection, multivariate data analysis techniques and report writing. Prerequisite: MGMT 506. Levels: Graduate, Undergraduate

• MKTG 545 - Marketing Strategy

  Presents framework used to guide decision-making process. Impact of marketing decisions on other functional areas is explored in depth through use of actual business case situations. Pre-requisite. MGMT 506. Offered as needed. Levels: Graduate, Undergraduate

• MKTG 580L - Optimizing Customer Strategy

  This course is designed to meet the increasing demands from the industry and recruiters for the application of quantitative and analytical skills to support sophisticated marketing decision making. This hands-on course primarily uses Excel (and SPSS) to develop the analysis. Concepts like Customer Lifetime Value, maximum likelihood estimation, Discrete Choice and Latent class modeling, and optimization are introduced in this course. The content of the course is based on cutting-edge research in optimization to derive solutions to more individually customized and proactive marketing decisions, such as cross-selling campaigns and customer retention. Students will apply the tools to several cases with data. STUDENTS ARE REQUIRED TO HAVE LAPTOPS IN CLASS. Prerequisite: MGMT 506. credits 4 Levels: Graduate

• MKTG 575 - Data Driven Marketing

  This course will deal with the use of data and relevant skills to make marketing decisions, focusing on CRM and Database/Direct Marketing (with both online and offline applications). Topics include customer acquisition, retention, attrition, and loyalty program, etc. Prerequisites: Introduction to Marketing (MGMT 506 or MKTG 311), Marketing Research (MKTG 540 pr MKTG 320). Traditionally offered in the spring semester. credits 4 Levels: Graduate

• ENT 580F - Entrepreneurial Marketing

  This course is designed to introduce students to the marketing challenges and issues in an entrepreneurial environment specifically on the marketing theories, strategies and tactics that can be applied in the early stages of new ventures to maximize the chances of success. Students will become familiar with some of the key characteristics of new ventures: 1: Operating in rapidly changing, often chaotic, environments 2. Innovating new products, services or processes 3. Creating new markets 4. Extensively customer-centric and opportunity-driven. Students learn to identify target market segments, position their products, estimate demand, set prices, gain access to channels, manage the issues of rapid growth and learn the necessary skills and tools entrepreneurs need for marketing in their start-up ventures. This course will be useful for students planning to work in start-up ventures or entrepreneurial organizations. PRE-REQ: MKTG 311 Credits: 4 Levels: Graduate

• MKTG 580K - Strategic Media Planning

  In this course, students develop familiarity with the basics of advertising and promotion; learn media characteristics, and how to use secondary and primary data to inform media strategy and selection. After obtaining this foundational knowledge, students are be assigned to a team which will conduct in-depth research on market environments and develop a comprehensive media plan and campaign for a client of Publicis, one of the largest marketing agencies in the world. Prerequisite: MKTG 311 or MGMT 506. credits 4 Levels: Graduate

Supply Chain Management

• SCM 560 - DecisionModeling&Risk Analysis

  This course uses problems and cases, primarily from general management, finance, marketing, and operations, and spreadsheet-based analytical tools to improve your decision-making ability in an uncertain and complex business environment. Students learn techniques widely used to estimate the impact of a decision on performance measures of interest, assess and manage risk, structure problems and determine the optimal decision. The course has three segments: Spreadsheet Modeling, Decision Making under Uncertainty (using Decision Trees and Simulation), Decision Making under Certainty (using Linear, Integer and Nonlinear Programming). Microsoft Excel and Excel add-ins are used throughout the course. All classes will be held in a computer lab. Prerequisite: MGMT 503 and MGMT 507. Offered as needed. Credits: 4 Levels: Graduate, Undergraduate

• SCM 565 - Supply Chain Management

  This course provides MBA students with an overview of the managerial aspects of Supply Chain Management and B2B e-business. The course will integrate the perspectives on supply chain management from information systems, operations, marketing and finance. It covers topics like enterprise systems, auctions, electronic procurement, EDI, XML, inventory management, supply chain design, supply chain collaboration, distribution, transportation and issues in global supply chains. Prerequisite: MGMT 503 and MGMT 507. Offered as needed. credits 4 Levels: Graduate, Undergraduate

• SCM 575 - DataMining & Business Intell.

  This course covers fundamental concepts and techniques in data mining with a focus on business application. The goal is to understand how to build and use appropriate data mining models to analyze business-related data and obtain useful information to advance the business and make managerial decisions. The course covers various predictive regression and classification models, such as Multiple Linear Regression, Regularization methods, K-Nearest Neighbors, Naïve Bayes, Logistic Regression, Classification and Regression Trees, Neural Networks, clustering methods, and dimension reduction techniques. Python will be used to implement such models. Hence, proficiency in programming with Python is critical in succeeding in this course. Prerequisites are Python programming, statistics. Levels: Graduate

• SCM 572 - Adv.Model for Decision Making

  The objective of this course is to improve your decision-making ability in an uncertain and complex environment, using problems and cases from multiple disciplines, including finance, marketing, and operations management. Using spreadsheet-based analytical tools and state-of-the art software, such as XL Miner, students will learn techniques widely used to structure problems, estimate the impact of a decision on performance measures of interest, assess and manage risk, and determine the optimal decisions for real-world linear, network, integer, and nonlinear optimization problems. Students will use Microsoft Excel and Excel add-ins throughout the course. Prerequisite: MGMT 503 and MGMT 507. credits 4 Levels: Graduate

• SCM 581B - Healthcare Opers. & Analytics

  In this course students will explore the challenges faced when delivering quality health care, take a principles-driven approach to study health care management and improve the health care value chain. We will learn how to evaluate the performance of operating units, understand why they perform as they do, design new or improved operating procedures and systems for competitive advantage, make short and long run decisions that affect operations, and manage the workforce. We will learn the analytical tools needed to support the efficient and effective delivery of healthcare such as process flow analysis, capacity management, and quality improvement. Using cases, assignments, and guest speakers we will demonstrate how these tools have been used to improve processes in healthcare setting, as well as point out what are the institutional challenges unique to healthcare. In addition, students will analyze healthcare problems using actual healthcare data. Prerequisite: MGMT 503 and MGMT 507. Credits: 4 Levels: Graduate