The list is provided so that you can begin to imagine your MBA academic career at Millikin.
MB501: MBA Bootcamp (1 credit)This foundation course refreshes and develops business knowledge and skills in business disciplines including accounting, finance, marketing and economics. |
MB510: Personal Values & Business Ethics (3 credits)A fundamental building block of leadership is a strong code of ethics based on personal values. A leader's decisions require consistent judgments and a duty to follow the law of the land. This course examines the legal environment of business, the changing social context of business responsibility and the values and ethics of leaders. |
MB511: Generative AI for Managers (3 credits)Generative AI (GenAI) is ushering in a new age of productivity in business. Managers who ineffectively adopt it risk being outpaced by forward-thinking competitors. This course equips students to drive impact in any industry using GenAI tools. You'll learn to engineer effective prompts, integrate AI into workflows and develop innovative GenAI solutions, as well as explore ethical considerations and future trends. |
MB512: Business Use Cases for AI (3 credits)Just like you wouldn't use a financial model to drive a marketing campaign, different business use cases require different AI tools. In this course, students will explore the potential and limitations of AI technologies, learning to identify business problems suitable for AI solutions and build effective AI implementation strategies. By the end of this course, students will address key challenges and solutions in AI implementation. |
MB513: AI Governance and Ethics (3 credits)Alongside powerful data-driven solutions, AI opens a Pandora's box of ethical issues: data privacy, bias, transparency and balancing automation with human oversight. AI governance may be the biggest ethical issue of our time, something essential for any manager to understand before implementing this new technology. Students will develop AI policies for ethics and compliance, mitigate AI-related risks and communicate governance standards to stakeholders. |
MB514: Managing AI Projects (3 credits)AI projects can help predict trends and optimize operations, allowing businesses to understand not just what has happened but what will happen — and what should be done about it. By the end of this course, students will be prepared to drive financial and operational impact by managing AI project lifecycles: developing comprehensive project plans, managing data and models, ensuring effective deployment, and communicating progress and outcomes to stakeholders. |
MB520: Globalization & World Economics (3 credits)The global context of business in an increasingly open market with diverse cultures and systems necessitates an understanding of how international markets and their cultures operate. You will be challenged to expand your understanding of business to its international dimensions. |
MB521: Information Governance, Risk Management & Compliance (3 credits)Companies storing information are responsible for keeping it safe — and face consequences if they don't. Who's at fault after an attack, and who must be informed? This course covers corporate governance principles, risk identification methods, business regulations, accountability and audits. In a data-driven world, business leaders must handle data responsibly, and by the end of this course, you'll learn how to manage the growing legal obligations around cybersecurity. |
MB522: Network Architectures for Cyber Managers (3 credits)In order to ensure a house is safe, we need to know how it's built. It's the same for cybersecurity: to ensure systems are secure, we need to understand their design and the unique security challenges of different network architectures and data storage solutions. By the end of this course, you'll be able to critique security for various network designs, including IT and OT systems, cloud environments, data storage and IoT networks, in terms of cyber risk. |
MB523: Cyber Risk Management and Strategy (3 credits)Cyberattacks today are inevitable — but the extent of the damage may rely on how much you, as the manager, are prepared. By the end of this course, you'll know how to create risk management strategies before, during and after cyberattacks, developing incident response plans, understanding frameworks like NIST and MITRE ATT&CK, identifying proactive and reactive protection techniques, and debriefing with "hotwashes." |
MB524: Executive Cyber Defense (3 credits)To defend against hackers, you need to think like a hacker. This course covers the fundamentals of ethical hacking, from Linux commands and open-source tools to attack tree construction and vulnerability research. By the end of the course, you'll be able to use what you've learned to analyze, interpret and communicate penetration tests and security strategies to executives. |
MB530: Financial Fundamentals (3 credits)This course provides a broad survey of finance. Topics include financial statement analysis, risk and return, time value of money, stock and bond valuation, capital budgeting and the cost of capital. |
MB531: Spreadsheet Modeling for Decision Making (3 credits)Spreadsheet tools are the most universal and easily accessible program for most people to use and interpret data — and a vital skill for any analyst to know. In this course, students will learn data cleaning, financial modeling, optimization, and data visualization using PivotTables and PivotCharts, enabling students to analyze complex datasets, create forecasts and effectively communicate insights to support data-driven decision making in business contexts. |
MB532: Python for Business Analytics (3 credits)Managers who hope to stay competitive in business analytics need to be able to scale their analytics — and Python provides that solution. This course covers Python's significance in business analytics, setting up the Python environment and learning basic syntax. You'll leverage three of Python's essential libraries — NumPy for numerical data, Pandas for data manipulation and Matplotlib for data visualization — to use data to solve complex business problems. |
MB532: Python for Business Analytics (3 credits)Managers who hope to stay competitive in business analytics need to be able to scale their analytics — and Python provides that solution. This course covers Python's significance in business analytics, setting up the Python environment and learning basic syntax. You'll leverage three of Python's essential libraries — NumPy for numerical data, Pandas for data manipulation and Matplotlib for data visualization — to use data to solve complex business problems. |
MB537: Storytelling With Data (3 credits)Storytelling is one of the oldest and most powerful tools for action, and this course empowers MBA students to transform raw data into compelling narratives that drive business decisions. By the end of this course, you'll be able to create data queries and visualizations, integrate data into business planning and effectively communicate your findings, helping organizations turn data into a strategic tool for competition and innovation. |
MB540: Financial Accounting (3 credits)This course develops an understanding of financial statements, accounting concepts and principles, and the financial accounting process of measuring and reporting business activity. In addition, this course develops the principles and techniques for measuring and evaluating financial performance. The course culminates with a project where student teams build a financial forecast and cash requirements report for a fictitious company seeking capital and will present the finance section of a business plan presentation. |
MB541: Managerial Finance (3 credits)All businesses need to take risks, but managerial finance experts do so without risking it all. This course focuses on present value analysis, capital markets and budgeting, and corporate capital structure. You'll learn to assess company value, understand debt vs. equity financing, and forecast financial performance while gaining skills in budget management and decision making that allow you to drive value creation in every aspect of the corporate world. |
MB542: Capital Markets & Investing (3 credits)Investing involves risk — but this course teaches you how to manage that risk and make the right decisions to build and protect your wealth. What portfolio decisions are safer? How can companies thrive by balancing debt and equity? How can options mitigate risk? By the end, you'll have the financial acumen to make informed investment decisions; optimize portfolio performance; and master strategies for risk management, capital allocation and sustainable financial growth. |
MB543: Financial Statements Analysis and Valuation (3 credits)Financial statements are a gold mine that, when analyzed correctly, can reveal a company's financial health and potential for future profitability. And valuing a company is a critical skill in finance that both influences investment decisions and drives financial success. Through financial statement analysis, financial ratio analysis, risk assessment, pro forma financial statements, and advanced valuation techniques like DCF and comparable company analysis, students will gain the quantitative expertise to make informed investment decisions. |
MB544: Frontiers of Finance (3 credits)Finance isn't a static field, and understanding disruptors like blockchain and cryptocurrency allows you to capitalize on opportunities that are revolutionizing financial operations. Students will describe and evaluate blockchain, analyze cryptocurrencies and assess decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms. By course end, students will be ready to explore blockchain and crypto career opportunities and lead discussions on these cutting-edge technologies. |
MB550: Strategic Marketing Analysis (3 credits)This course covers essential marketing topics of the marketing mix, creating sustainable competitive advantages, creating brand and customer equity, and the principles behind marketing strategy. There is a heavy emphasis on using data analysis through case examples and hands-on use of data analytics tools. Through a marketing simulation game and the creation of a marketing plan, the students will have the opportunity to exercise and solidify their marketing knowledge. |
MB560: Cases in Financial Decision Making (3 credits)The central theme of this course is the shareholders' wealth creation. It builds on all previous MBA courses and integrates strategy, marketing, economics, accounting and finance. This course combines finance theory with practical applications and uses case studies to develop a deeper understanding of the complex issues involved in strategic financial issues confronting corporate management. It focuses on the major wealth drivers — growth, free cash flows and the cost of capital — in the context of various decision-making situations, such as financial planning, capital budgeting, optimal capital structure, and mergers and acquisitions. |
MB571: Healthcare Finance (3 credits)In health services organizations, bad financial management can cost more than money — it can cost lives, making financial acumen crucial for quality patient care. This course covers financial statement analysis, cost accounting, capital budgeting and financial modeling, equipping future managers to make informed decisions around challenges such as evaluating insurance designs, assessing service line impacts and analyzing new drug costs. |
MB572: Management of Healthcare Organizations (3 credits)Should a hospital focus on pediatrics or heart surgery? How can clinics build and retain a strong workforce? What is the best strategy for negotiating with insurance companies? This course focuses on the management principles and practices that create successful healthcare organizations. Students will learn to navigate key management challenges, apply strategic analysis frameworks, and manage healthcare workforce and IT systems — all with an emphasis on ethical leadership, collaboration and quality assurance. |
MB574: Structure and Economics of the U.S. Healthcare System (3 credits)Healthcare systems are complicated structures beholden economically and legally to many different stakeholders and policies. When those factors change, they have consequences. Aspiring managers must be able to make informed decisions about what to do in the face of change. By the end of this course, aspiring healthcare system managers will be prepared to analyze the economic impact of policy changes on their institutions and tackle challenges such as hospital mergers, new payment models, regulated drug prices and Medicaid insurance bids. |
MB575: Data Analysis for Healthcare Management (3 credits)Healthcare managers that can leverage data analysis make more informed decisions that lead to better outcomes. Data in a healthcare context brings solutions, but also unique challenges that managers must navigate to harness its potential. In this course, students will explore effective management and integration of data-driven decisions in healthcare. By the end, students will be able to strategize and communicate data insights to drive ethical impact in healthcare systems. |
MB590: Business Strategy (3 credits)Business strategy is a comprehensive course designed to equip students with the theoretical frameworks, analytical tools and practical skills necessary to develop and implement effective business strategies in a dynamic and competitive global environment. This course integrates concepts from various disciplines such as economics, finance, marketing and operations to provide a holistic understanding of strategic decision-making processes. |
MB600: Capstone (3 credits)As MBA students, participants have set a personal goal of improving their business skills and acumen. This final project is designed to add one more integrating experience to business knowledge. By completing a consulting project for a current business or client, each team will bring together the elements of finance, marketing, management, leadership and ethics into a well-thought-out plan, proposal strategy and recommendation. This Performance Learning-based project allows students to demonstrate the ability to apply and use knowledge learned in the program. |
MB610: Global Business Consulting (3 credits)To truly understand the global economy in which we live and work, we must immerse ourselves into our international world. Global Business Consulting is an intensive experience that begins with practicum sessions at Millikin and culminates with a one-week immersion with students at a leading foreign graduate school. Students will receive approximately 40 hours of instruction on issues of international business designed to raise the understanding of business practices outside the United States. This on-location experience will:
|