Business Administration, Bachelor of Science
Department Chair:
Carlena Ficano
Faculty:
Ramin Kasamanli; Jaeseong Lim; Pinki Srivastava; Pauline Stamp; Aaron Stephens, Weian Wang, Weiwei Zhang
Adjunct Faculty: Dan Butterman; Robert McKertich; Sean Shannon
Majors
Integrative Business Administration
Quantitative Business Administration
Minor
Business Administration
About
The goal of the two-track (Integrative and Quantitative) major in Business Administration is to provide a broad and deep learning experience for our students that builds a solid core business foundation and then intentionally incorporates coursework across the liberal arts to complement that core.
We believe that all business is the business of something, and we recognize that students are drawn to our major with a range of interests, abilities, and personal and professional aspirations. Students with interest and facility in the area of analytics have the opportunity to pursue a Quantitative B.S. Business Administration track that includes coursework in quantitative business methods and information systems and culminates in a senior project that applies quantitative business methodology to a student-initiated research question. Students exploring career options in operations research, business systems, and finance among other fields, are likely to pursue this track.
For students interested in pursuing careers in the more qualitative aspects of business, including but not limited to marketing, advertising, sales, international business, and human resource management, we propose the Integrative B.S. Business Administration track that has students combine the business core with a minor or major in a discipline other than Business consistent with their professional goals and personal passions.
Regardless of the major track selected, Hartwick’s Business Administration program provides students the opportunity to acquire and grow the skills and competencies needed in the workplace—intellectual, technical and interpersonal. Students learn to integrate management theories and multiple business application functions within the organization and consider the industry, economy, and other global environments.
Many of our courses feature business simulations, case studies and projects—all of which require much thought and effort. Successful students learn how to face challenges, analyze risky situations and make informed decisions. Most importantly, they learn the implications of living with the outcomes of their decisions and that decisions made in today’s business environment often do not turn out as expected.
Much of a student’s work occurs in teams. Business administration best practices suggest that teamwork and intense interaction with co-workers are essential. Activities that demand interpersonal skills, team building, communication, leading and following help students learn how to work with their colleagues. The traditional approach to business education, which depends on theories focused at specific parts of business administration, is not the approach we take. We believe that students will better understand how business works if they learn in all courses to integrate individual values and organizational needs as they manage people, performance, productivity and quality in order to achieve ethical organizational goals.
The major begins with BUSA 101 Introduction to Business, normally taken in the first year. Here, students learn the major functional areas of business. Running a simulated company and competing against other student-run companies or analyzing an existing company through public data bases and personal interviews may be part of this experience. Other required introductory courses in Accounting and Economics are often taken in the first year. In the sophomore year, students are encouraged to take core courses in Marketing, Finance, Business Information Systems, Quantitative Business (Quantitative track only) and Organizational Behavior.
In the junior and senior years, students complete three electives of their choice (at least two of which must be 300- or 400-level BUSA courses; one may be a 300- or 400-level course in ACCO, FINA, or ECON) and, if they pursue the Integrative track, a minor in a second field. Finally, in their final year, students take BUSA 480, Business Policy and Strategy, or BUSA 490, Senior Project, the program’s capstone courses.