Business Administration, Information Assurance Concentration (MBA)

Master of Business Administration (MBA)

The purpose of the Master of Business Administration (MBA) program is to offer an educational experience in business and management at the graduate level. The program is designed to provide breadth in exposure to the basic business disciplines and to facilitate the integration and application of knowledge of the various disciplines to the management of innovation. It is an interdisciplinary and interdepartmental degree program offered by the Graduate Division and the academic departments of the College of Business. Ethical concerns and international issues are emphasized throughout the curriculum.

Objectives and Outcomes

During the MBA program, students will:

• Examine the theory, principles, and knowledge necessary to manage modern business enterprises effectively;
• Work effectively in teams to formulate solutions to complex business problems;
• Develop an awareness of the issues and questions faced by those in leadership positions;
• Cultivate the particular skills necessary for the management of innovation;
• Design and communicate solutions to case studies and real-world problems.

Admission Requirements

To qualify for admission to the MBA program, applicants must meet the admission requirements of the Graduate School of the University and the admission requirements of the Graduate Division of the College of Business. Any applicant who holds a bachelor’s degree, or equivalent, from an accredited college or university will be considered for admission regardless of the undergraduate field of study. An applicant for admission should understand that graduate work is not merely an extension of undergraduate work. Graduate study operates at a significantly higher level of rigor, demands scholarship of a higher order, and places more emphasis on research and student responsibility.

Once the admission requirements of the Graduate School have been met, the MBA Admissions Committee will grant admission to those individuals who demonstrate significant accomplishment and/or high potential for success. The decision of the Admissions Committee is based on a combination of the applicant’s previous academic record and the applicant’s score on the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT). In some cases, at the discretion of the Associate Dean of Graduate Programs, the GRE may be accepted in place of the GMAT. If accepted, the GRE score will be converted to a “GMAT equivalent” using the score comparison tool provided at the following link: www.ets.org/gre/institutions/about/mba/comparison_tool. Applicants with a composite score (equal to 200 x UGPA + GMAT score) of at least 1,100 (1,150 when calculated using the GPA from the applicant’s last 60 credit hours) and who have an undergraduate GPA of at least 2.75 and a GMAT score of at least 450 are eligible for unconditional admission to the MBA program. GMAT Score may be up to 5 years old at the time of application. Applicants who do not meet the requirements for unconditional admission may be considered for conditional admission to the MBA program. The Committee may also consider significant business experience as an indicator of an individual’s ability to complete the program.

Recipients of the Louisiana Tech Graduate Certificate in Communications Systems are not required to submit a GMAT score when applying to the MBA program.

For information, contact the Associate Dean of Graduate Programs and Research, College of Business, Louisiana Tech University, Ruston, LA 71272 or refer to our web site business.latech.edu/graduate

Foundation Requirements

Students entering the MBA program with undergraduate degrees, other than business need to demonstrate a knowledge base sufficient to enable them to complete graduate-level work in business. At a minimum, each student is presumed to be computer literate and to have had recent college-level course work in the following core areas:

• economics (ECON 202 , or ECON 494 );
• financial and managerial accounting (ACCT 201  and ACCT 202 , or ACCT 494 );
• business finance (FINC 318  or FINC 494 );
• business calculus (MATH 222 , or QA 390 , or QA 494 );

The 494-level foundation courses are self-paced, pass/fail courses which may be used to satisfy certain MBA foundation requirements. Registration in these courses requires the permission of the Associate Dean of Graduate Programs and Research.

The Associate Dean of Graduate Programs and Research of the College of Business determines the acceptability of all work submitted in satisfaction of the foundation and prescribes appropriate courses to be taken to remove any deficiencies.

MBA Curriculum

The MBA curriculum consists of a central group of courses known as the Business Core and is supplemented by special coursework in Business Advanced Analytical Skills. Depending on the student’s individual professional needs, electives in the form of Application of Business Analytical Skills can be added to yield a concentration to the MBA.

MBA with a Concentration in Information Assurance (36 hours)

The MBA with a concentration in Information Assurance (IA) offers students a highly distinctive MBA experience by combining the power of the MBA with specialized knowledge of IA. IA courses as a concentration in the MBA follow National Security Agency guidelines and will meet 4011 and 4016 certification requirements. This concentration prepares students for managerial positions in systems and network security and consists of the Business Core (21 hours), the Business Advanced Analytical Skills (3 hours) consisting of MGMT 595 , and four of the following five courses comprising the Application of Business Analytical Skills (12 hours) (CIS 521 , CIS 522 , CIS 523 , CIS 524 , CIS 525 ).