Program Length: 3 Years of Coursework
Program Director: Zhen Zhang
The Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA) curriculum is designed to develop high inquiring minds in business research and practice. Students learn to integrate business disciplines and business ideas. Consistent with the mission of the College of Business, the Doctorate in Business Administration degree program would afford the graduates the opportunity to further their career objectives. The DBA will provide the graduates the necessary tools to become well qualified to take on consulting, research, management duties, and teaching should they wish to do so.
DBA Program Goals:
- Developing a highly inquiring mind in business research and practice.
- Ability to integrate business disciplines and business ideas.
DBA Program Outcomes:
- Critical thinking.
- The ability to utilize a holistic solution for complex business problems.
- An understanding of the interrelationships between the theoretical and functional areas of business.
- The ability to innovate and generate solutions for unstructured and complex problems.
Program structure and coursework
The Doctorate in Business Administration program consists of a minimum of 54 semester hours of coursework followed by additional semester hours of dissertation units. All requirements for the DBA degree are to be completed within eight years. Students are expected to complete the course work in three years and begin to write a dissertation after that. Students take coursework in clusters offered mostly on Saturdays or weeknights on the central campus. They take prescribed sequence of courses that are instructed and coordinated by a faculty team made up of both full-time department faculty members and practitioner adjunct faculty members. Students take courses per term for the first three years and continue to register for dissertation units until graduation.
DBA students who successfully complete the first two years of coursework with at least 36 semester hours are eligible to apply for a Master of Arts in Business degree.
Bilingual English/Mandarin Instruction (Cohort Only)
The bilingual online Doctor of Business Administration “DBA” will be offered by the University of La Verne in the US working in partnership with THH Zhidao Education, which is designed for senior executives leaders working full-time in China who seek to contribute to their professional and organization’s success.
The requirements of this DBA Program, Bilingual English/Mandarin will be the same as the US version DBA Program except for the languages of the delivery. Students participating in the online bilingual Mandarin and English Doctor of Business Administration, offered in partnership with Zhidao Education, will not be required to demonstrate English proficiency.
Admission Requirements
Prerequisites: Applicants should possess a master’s degree, ideally in Business Administration or a closely related field. Applicants must also have a minimum of three years of work experience.
Program’s Starting Date: Students accepted into the DBA program will begin their coursework in the Fall Semester.
Admission: Applicants are evaluated in a two-stage process
First stage applicants are initially screened based on:
- Bachelor's degree transcript.
- Master's degree transcript.
- Statement of Purpose
- A resume
Applicants advancing to the second stage will be required to schedule a personal interview (in-person or via zoom).
Letters of recommendation may be required if a definitive decision cannot be made on the basis of the application materials. A standardized test score (e.g. GMAT or GRE) and additional transcripts may be required if recommended by the Faculty Admissions Committee. The department considers all of these measures in deciding on admission.
Plan of Study Grid
| First Year |
|---|
| DBA 681 |
Nature of Inquiry |
3 |
| DBA 656 |
Advanced Topics in Leadership and Management |
3 |
| DBA 628 |
Applied Managerial Economics |
3 |
| DBA 651 |
Seminar in Organizational Behavior |
3 |
| DBA 675 |
Quantitative Research I: Applied Regression Analysis |
3 |
| DBA 643 |
Ethics & Social Responsibility |
3 |
| | Semester Hours | 18 |
| Second Year |
|---|
| DBA 635 |
Finance |
3 |
| DBA 615 |
Innovation & IT in Business |
3 |
| DBA 665 |
Marketing Theory |
3 |
| DBA 674 |
Qualitative Research |
3 |
| DBA 694 |
Seminars in Strategic Management |
3 |
| DBA 684 |
Dissertation Seminar A |
3 |
| | Semester Hours | 18 |
| Third Year |
|---|
| DBA 685 |
Dissertation Seminar B |
3 |
| DBA 686 |
Dissertation Proposal Devlp |
3 |
| DBA 676 |
Dissertation Data Analysis |
3 |
| DBA 687 |
Dissertation I |
3 |
| DBA 688 |
Dissertation II |
3 |
| DBA 689 |
Dissertation III |
3 |
| | Semester Hours | 18 |
| | Total Semester Hours | 54 |
Dissertation Units 1 - 16
Students must be continuously enrolled in either DBA 699C Dissertation Seminar I or DBA 699D Dissertation Seminar II until they successfully complete their dissertation and their degree is posted.
Post Coursework Semesters 7 - 8
DBA 699C Dissertation Seminar I (One semester hour per semester as needed)
Post Coursework Semesters 9 - 16
DBA 699D Dissertation Seminar II (Two semester hours per semester as needed)