Ashland University MBA students have the option of using their nine hours of elective credit to earn a specialization in a specific area of business. Students can earn specializations in one of two ways. A student can select a specialization from the current list on this page. Alternatively, a student can propose a customized specialization, and seek approval from a faculty mentor and from the chair of the graduate business program. In either case, each student must complete the Request to Obtain MBA Specialization form.  Completed forms should be submitted to the MBA Office at 401 College Avenue, Ashland, Ohio 44805 or faxed to 419-289-5910.

Specialization courses may only be taken after completion of nine hours in the Phase II portion of the program. Students may only receive credit for a course taken below in the specialization listed, unless noted otherwise.  Courses can not "double count" toward two specializations.  Each student who begins the MBA program after January 1, 2006 will require 37 credits above the Phase I foundation level in order to graduate with a specialization.

Current MBA Specializations 

Specialization requirements are listed below.  Click here for course descriptions.

Specialization in Project Management

Required: MBA 530 Foundations of Project Management (3)

Plus 6 additional credits chosen from:

MBA 531 Increasing Organization Capacity in Project Management (3)

MBA 533 Advanced Topics in Communications for Project Managers (3)

Specialization in Entrepreneurship

Required:   MBA 540 Entrepreneurship and Intrapreneurship: Essentials in Building a Competitive Edge for Success (3)

Plus 6 additional credits chosen from:

  MBA 541 Business Information Systems For The Small Business (3)

  MBA 542 Business Tax Planning (formerly titled Corporate and Individual Taxation) (3)

  MBA 543 Entrepreneurial Law (3)

  MBA 544 Small Business Management (3)

  MBA 516 Seminars (three seminars at 1 credit each) on topics relevant to and

  approved for entrepreneurship.

Specialization in Human Resource Management

Required:   MBA 550 Fundamentals of Human Resource Management (3)

Plus 6 additional credits chosen from:

  MBA 551 Labor Relations and Collective Bargaining (3)

  MBA 552 Training and Development (3)

  MBA 553 Compensation & Benefits (3)

  MBA 516 Seminars (three seminars at 1 credit each) on topics relevant to and

  approved for human resource management.

Students taking this specialization should take MBA 510 Organizational Behavior as part of their Phase II Business Core, unless they have significant academic and professional experience in this area.

Specialization in Finance

Required:   MBA 560 Investments (3)

Plus 6additional credits chosen from:

  MBA 561 Emerging Financial Markets (3)

  MBA 562 Global Finance (3)

  MBA 564 Financial Markets Tour (either Chicago or New York City) (3)

  MBA 516 Seminars (three seminars at 1 credit each) on topics relevant to and

  approved for finance.

Students taking this specialization should take MBA 505 Financial Management as part of their Phase II Business Core, unless they have significant academic and professional experience in this area.

Specialization in Global Management

Required:   MBA 567 Multinational Management (3) taken prior to any related electives

Plus 6 additional credits chosen from:  

  MBA 561 Emerging Financial Markets (3)  

  MBA 562 Global Finance (3)

 MBA 568 International Business Study Tour (3)

  MBA 516 Seminars (three seminars at 1 credit each) on topics relevant to and

  approved for global management.

Students taking this specialization must take MBA 509 International Business Management as part of their Phase II Business Core, unless they have significant academic and professional experience in this area.

Custom-Designed Specializations

MBA Specializations also may be earned by one of the following two approaches:

A. Independent Research Project option

This specialization option requires the approval of both the graduate business chair and the MBA 601/602 faculty mentor.

Successfully complete MBA 601/602 Independent Research Project (6)

Plus 3 additional hours chosen from:

  MBA 514 Special Topics elective course deemed relevant to the research project

  MBA 530-599 specialization course deemed relevant to the research project

  MBA 516 Seminars (three at 1 credit each) on topics relevant to the research project

B. Custom-designed Specialization option

This specialization option requires the approval of both the graduate business chair and a faculty mentor with expertise in the discipline represented by the specialization topic.

Propose and complete an approved, custom-designed specialization consisting of a minimum of 9 hours of MBA elective courses, including MBA 514 Special Topics elective courses, MBA 530-599 specialization courses and a maximum of 3 hours of MBA 516 Seminars.