MBA Emphases
Our MBA program offers areas of emphasis in accounting, entrepreneurship, finance, and information technology, and renewable energy. You need a total of 9 credits for either an emphasis or general electives in the MBA Program at the University of Nevada, Reno. Students who graduated from the College of Business at UNR cannot enroll in 600 level courses if they took them at the 400 level at UNR.
Note that MBA students can also pursue other areas of emphasis by taking graduate courses of their choice outside of the College of Business.
Also note that BADM 792 (Internship) and BADM 793 (independent study) are among the available courses to MBA students as either electives or as courses for an emphasis. For BADM 793, you need to have a faculty advisor from the College of Business. Prior to registering for BADM 792 or BADM 793, you should contact the MBA Office to discuss the details of the work involved and to get the contact information of a faculty advisor. Once the scope of the work for BADM 793 is worked out, the MBA Office will provide you with the information on how to register in the course.
There are two areas of accounting emphasis in the MBA Program: Financial and Tax. Other combinations are possible for this emphasis.
Financial Emphasis
The study of financial accounting concerns the rules, practices, and conventions, referred to as Generally Accepted Accounting Practices (GAAP). GAAP is the standard used by companies who report their financial results to external parties including financial institutions, regulators, and shareholders. A solid understanding of GAAP is helpful for a career in the areas of finance, administration, and accounting. The 3-course financial emphasis will give you a solid understanding of current GAAP.
Advisor: Dr. Sonja Pippin
Email: sonjap@unr.edu
- ACC 601 - Financial Reporting I (Prerequisite: BADM 710)
- ACC 602 - Financial Reporting II (Prerequisite: ACC 601)
- ACC 603 - Financial Reporting III (Prerequisite: ACC 602)
Tax Emphasis
The 3-course tax emphasis offers the MBA student both a thorough grounding in the Federal income tax regulations governing individuals and business entities and an analytical framework through which to analyze decisions with tax implications.
Faculty Advisor: Sonja Pippin
- ACC 610 - Federal Taxation (Prerequisite: BADM 710)
- ACC 611 - Taxation of Flow-Through Entities (Prerequisite: ACC 610)
- ACC 789 - Federal Income Taxation: Policy Issues (Prerequisite: ACC 610)
Entrepreneurship involves turning an idea into profit. This can occur with a startup or within an existing business. To see profit in an idea requires a breadth of business understanding, and to obtain profit from an idea requires the ability to execute. An emphasis in entrepreneurship provides grounding in evaluating business ideas and much detailed exposure to the practical steps necessary to form and execute a business plan.
Faculty Advisor: Professor Mark Pingle
- BADM 794 - Value Creation and Measurement
- BADM 791 - Special Topics (Social Entrepreneurship & Non-Profit Management)
- ENT 601 - New Venture Creation
- ENT 602 - Entrepreneurial Finance
- ENT 603 - Applied Entrepreneurship
- ENT 651 - Entrepreneurship Jumpstart
- ENT 693 - Special Topics in Entrepreneurship
The general areas of study in finance are: corporate finance, investments, financial markets and institutions, and real estate finance. The areas involve decisions within the firm, analysis of a wide range of securities for inclusion in an individual or institutional portfolio, and an understanding of the types of markets securities trade in and their regulation. The finance emphasis offers courses in each of these areas.
- Corporate Finance (BADM 741, BADM 746, FIN 604, and FIN 693 Valuation)
- Investments (BADM 743 and BADM 744)
- Financial Markets and Institutions (BADM 745, BADM 749 or FIN 610, and FIN 620)
- Real Estate Finance (BADM 748 or FIN 693 Real Estate Fundamentals)
Faculty Advisor: Hongchao Zeng
Pre-requisite: BADM 741
- FIN 604 – Financial Management Theory and Practice
- FIN 610 – Financial Derivatives
- FIN 620 – International Finance
- FIN 693 – Advanced Seminar in Finance: Valuation
- FIN 693 – Advanced Seminar in Finance: Real Estate Fundamentals
- BADM 742 – Research Methods of Finance
- BADM 743 – Investment Management
- BADM 744 – Securities Analysis and Portfolio Management
- BADM 745 – Commercial Bank Management
- BADM 746 – Corporate Treasury Management
- BADM 748 – Real Estate Finance, equivalent to FIN 693 Real Estate Fundamentals
- BADM 749 – Seminar in Finance, equivalent to FIN 610
The Information Technology emphasis helps students learn how innovative information systems help organizations achieve sustainable strategic advantages. In addition, this emphasis explains how organizations can both protect and leverage their existing technology, properly implement new projects, and manage the organizational change that accompanies new systems. Independent study encourages the application of coursework to real world organizational issues.
MBA students who select an emphasis in Information Management can tailor their program to focus on specific interest and work needs. Some suggested three course clusters are:
- Project Management (IS 645, IS 746, IS 788)
- Business Intelligence/Analytics (IS 675, IS 682, IS 685)
- Management of IT (IS 752, IS 788, 789)
Other clusters are possible, drawing from 600 level and 700 level IS courses, subject to prerequisites and approval by the MBA coordinator and the IS program.
Faculty Advisor: Associate Professor Dana Edberg
- IS 645 – Project Management: Principles and Practice
- IS 670 – Computer Security, Controls, and Information Assurance
- IS 746 – Project Management: Advanced Topics (Pre-requisite: IS 645)
- IS 752 – Issues in the Current Technical Environmental (Pre-requisite: BADM 750)
- IS 788 – Digital Transformation (Pre-requisite: IS 301 or BADM 750)
- BADM 793 – Independent Study in information systems (Pre-requisite: Approval of Faculty Advisor and the MBA Office)
Renewable energy development has received increased attention in the last decade as government policymakers and entrepreneurs seek opportunities to profitably reduce reliance on fossil fuel usage both for energy security and environmental reasons. These online courses address select topics that business managers and entrepreneurs in the renewable energy field must consider when assessing new markets and making the business case for developing new energy capacity.
MBA students may take three of the renewable energy courses to complete a MBA emphasis in renewable energy. Course offerings will vary based on enrollment and availability of instructors.
Faculty Advisor: Victor Vasquez
The courses in the Graduate Renewable Energy Certificate program include the following:
- ENGR 600 - Alternative Energy Fundamentals (recommended pre/co-requisite for other GREC courses) - Offered in Fall, Spring & Summer semesters
- ENGR 610 - Renewable Energy Policy - Offered in Fall semesters
- ENGR 620 - Renewable Energy in the Home and Local Community - Offered in Summer semesters
- ENGR 630 - Wind Energy - Offered in Summer semesters
- ENGR 640 - Principles of Sustainability for Business Application - Offered in Spring semesters
- ENGR 650 - Solar and Renewable Energy Utilization - Offered in Fall semesters
- ENGR 670 - Geology of Geothermal Energy Resources - Offered in Spring semesters
The North American professional sports industry is projected to increase in value to over $80 billion by 2022 (PwC Sports Outlook, 2018). The Sports Management Program in the College of Business focuses on the business-side of the sports industry.
Faculty Advisor: Cary Groth
- SPTM 650 - Fundamentals of Sports Management
- SPTM 651 - Sports Ethics and Law
- SPTM 664 - Sport and Concert Arena Management
Alternatively, current MBA students can apply separately to the Executive Certificate in Sports Management program. Students completing the Executive Certificate program complete these classes for a Sports Management emphasis:
- SPTM 720 - Leadership in Sport Management (3-units)
- SPTM 730 - Sports Operation & Management (3-units)
- SPTM 740 - Fiscal Sustainability & Revenue Generation in Sports (3-units)
- SPTM 791 - Applied Seminar in Sports (1-unit)
- SPTM 792 - Sports Industry Internship (1-unit)