The University of Akron is among the 75 largest universities in the country with over 29,000 students representing 46 states and 80 foreign countries.
The College of Business Administration is integrally linked with the business community in Northeastern Ohio and around the world. Over 340 individuals from a diverse cross section of businesses and industries participate on college wide, departmental, institute and student organization advisory boards. This interaction provides the faculty with the latest trends in business and students with guest speakers, mentoring, internships and ultimately employment opportunities.
To support this there are a number of institutes and centers in the college which provide students with hands-on experience in the discipline of their choice. Among these are the Fisher Institute for Professional Selling, The Taylor Institute for Direct Marketing, the Fitzgerald Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies, the Institute for Global Business, the Center for Information Technologies & eBusiness, and the Suarez Applied Marketing Research Laboratories. These privately funded institutes, centers and laboratories provide students and faculty with state of the art resources and interaction with business practitioners to better hone and apply skills in real world business environments.
The College has 66 full-time faculty with over 80 percent holding doctoral degrees.
Our flexible graduate business programs are designed to accommodate both full-time and part-time students. However, most of the graduate business students are full-time workers or homemakers who are pursuing a master's program on a part-time basis. Graduate courses are offered in the evening between 5:20 and 10:40 p.m.
The Saturday MBA allows part-time students to complete the MBA in two years taking Saturday classes every two weeks. Our MBA Interdisciplinary concentration allows students to customize a concentration with classes outside of business. This is popular with non-business undergraduate students who wish to take additional coursework in their area of interest at the graduate level as well as students seeking a second master’s in business.
The MBA Program also has concentrations in finance, management, strategic marketing, health care, international finance, supply chain management, leadership and organizational change, global technological innovation, direct interactive marketing and international business. The flexible MBA was ranked in Businessweek, U.S. News and World Report and Princeton Review as a 2012 best business school.
The Master of Science in Management program offers information systems management and technological innovation options. The Master of Taxation program is a very narrow specialization with classes only in taxation. The Master of Science in Accountancy has options in professional accounting (CPA preparation) and Accounting Information Systems.
Joint programs with the School of Law are available.
Students with undergraduate degrees in business can receive waivers for all Gateway or foundation courses within the guidelines of the college's waiver policy. Full-time students are encouraged to apply for graduate assistantships. Approximately 40 assistantships are available each year.
