The Manderson Graduate School of Business, housed within the Culverhouse College of Business at The University of Alabama, is home to unique degree program offerings with a focus on business analytics.
The Master of Accountancy degree program is designed for students whose primary career interests are in accounting and assurance services. The program prepares students for professional careers in those fields by focusing on the development of interpersonal and communication skills. Graduates of the program should be well-prepared to sit for professional examinations in accounting.
Our applied economics students take courses in economic forecasting, macro- and microeconomic theory and policy, mathematical economics, and econometrics. Applied economics is designed primarily for students who want to prepare for a career in which they apply the skills of economic analysis. These industry jobs are typically in the financial sector or government agencies.
These students will take courses in applied regression analysis, applied multivariate analysis, mathematical statistics, statistical methods, and applied design of experiments. They are technically and theoretically proficient in the creation and application of sound statistical reasoning and complex model building. These students are ideal in positions where they develop statistical models, experiments, or output to drive decision-making.
The University of Alabama’s Master of Science in Business Analytics (MSBA) program focuses on teaching students how to use statistics, operations research/management science, data mining, machine learning, probability, algorithms, and data management in an integrative fashion to better understand, predict, and manage the behavior of systems and processes. Students will learn the principles of managing data and programming languages commonly used for analytics projects and gain hands-on experience in the use of cutting-edge analytics techniques to solve real-world problems.
The Master of Science in Finance degree is a specialized graduate degree concentrating on the valuation of financial assets, portfolio management, the role of financial intermediaries, the analysis of financial markets, and the behavior of corporations. An MSF degree possesses a strong quantitative component. The financial world is changing and becoming increasingly more complex. The financial records of the past are quickly becoming overshadowed by massive amounts of data. Whether it is through data validation or designing more accurate forecasts, our students are prepared with the analytical skills to find the answers that financial executives value.
The University of Alabama’s program in operations management focuses on the effective management of the resources and processes that produce and deliver the goods and services of any business. The program emphasizes the application of quantitative analysis to the design and management of business operations. The Master of Science in Operations Management provides advanced, specialized training in operations management and requires a capstone project to finish the degree.
The Master of Science in Marketing program is designed to give students advanced marketing skills and research project management experience to prepare them for careers with a wide variety of for-profit and non-profit organizations. The job market in the area of marketing analytics, especially, is exploding with opportunities. From retailers to packaged goods manufacturers to sports franchises, the creation of huge databases from opt-in websites and loyalty programs has created a need for employees who can combine a marketing mind with advanced analytical skills. Marketing and statistics coursework provides MSM students with a range of tools to help them make decisions from the analysis of many types of data. A Client-based Capstone Project provides an opportunity for student teams to apply their newly developed skills in actual real-world situations.
Students take courses in accounting, finance, marketing, management communications, strategy, operations management, project management, spreadsheet analytics, and economics in their core MBA classes. These students are ideal in positions where they manage a quantitative team as well as bridge the gap to executive management, thus allowing them to be the analytics promoter to internal consumers throughout the organizations.