Master of Business Administration

The MBA is a 12–24-month program for the experienced professional or recent graduate wanting to increase their leadership potential and quantitative skills.

Goals and Objectives

The goal of the MBA program is to equip students with additional skills and competencies needed to function effectively in managerial and other roles in an organization. In support of that goal, the program has identified three student learning outcomes that represent particular knowledge, skills, or abilities that are crucial for each student to master.

Program Student Learning Outcomes

• Upon successful completion of the proposed MBA program, the student will:
• Apply knowledge of current theory and techniques of the major business disciplines.
• Demonstrate critical thinking skills and multi-disciplinary problem-solving.
• Analyze data to solve business problems.

Program Structure

Students have the opportunity to begin the program at one of two start dates each year, one in January and one in August. Full-time students can complete the degree in 12 months. There is a part-time student option that supports a 24-month completion schedule. Students wishing to complete the program through the part-time pathway should contact the Program Coordinator for more information.

Admissions Requirements

To be eligible for admission, the student must have completed a baccalaureate degree from an accredited institution with a minimum 2.5 cumulative GPA.

Residency Requirements and Transfer Credits

A minimum of 24 graduate credit hours must be earned at Kentucky Wesleyan, including the final 15 credits for the degree. A maximum of six graduate credit hours will be accepted as transfer credits in the MBA in which a grade of C or better has been earned. The MBA student must complete the degree within 5 years of their start date.

Course Delivery

1. MBA students will move through the program as a cohort based on start date and enrollment intensity. 
2. Classes will be delivered concurrently as synchronous online, asynchronous online, and in-person.

The MBA Learning Process

The MBA degree program does not make the acquisition of theory and knowledge an end in itself. Instead, learning processes are highly diverse and focus on participant-centered learning designs that enhance the development of long-term career managerial skills and abilities; these designs include lecture/summaries, peer and team learning, simulations, management development experiences and exercises, software applications, individual and group presentations, and multiple-level writing assignments. Computer integration is applied throughout the curriculum. Clarity of both written and oral communication is a critical component. The course material and faculty members’ individual styles determine the choice of teaching/learning methodology.

The learning process is intensive and reinforces individual study with class and small group work, using participative and interactive methods. A typical learning activity in the MBA program is made up of three phases. Initially, students work individually, studying assigned materials, completing exercises, analyzing information, extracting pertinent facts, and identifying issues or concepts that require further depth of understanding. They then work in small groups to broaden their outlook by testing their opinions and drawing on the experience and viewpoints of other class members. Teamwork is a vital part of the program. Team members discuss materials, prepare assignments, and carry out projects. This teamwork fosters the development of skills in problem-solving, communication, and leadership. Finally, in the class sessions guided by an experienced faculty member, students explore new concepts and techniques, share experiences, and are challenged to present their analysis, defend their viewpoints, and propose new approaches to resolve problems. To benefit fully from the educational experience, students must commit themselves unreservedly to the process. Performance in class requires a high level of preparation in addition to assertiveness and sensitivity to other points of view.

MBA Degree Completion Requirements

The student must:

Complete all coursework with a minimum grade of C and a grade point average of 3.0 or higher;

Apply for candidacy after completing a minimum of 15 credit hours and before completing 21 credit hours; and

Earn 30 semester hours of credit and fulfill all course requirements within a maximum time limit of five years of matriculation.

Partnership with Rize Education

Kentucky Wesleyan College proposes to expand its MBA offerings through the addition of new concentrations delivered in partnership with Rize Education. These concentrations in high-demand fields such as Artificial Intelligence, Business Analytics, Cybersecurity, Finance, and Healthcare Administration will complement KWC’s existing general MBA by offering students career-connected pathways that align with emerging employer needs.

Courses taught through the partnership are offered by other Title IV–eligible institutions in the Lower Cost Model Consortium. These institutions are responsible for vetting and hiring qualified faculty, ensuring academic rigor and accreditation compliance. Kentucky Wesleyan faculty retain oversight to ensure alignment with institutional standards and expectations.

MBA programs with specialization are growing more quickly than non-specialized MBAs. From 2016–2021, enrollment in specialized MBA programs grew by 19%, compared to 13% growth in general
MBAs (AACSB, 2022). Given the MBA market is crowded, specializations will give Kentucky Wesleyan College a clear, marketable differentiator.

By leveraging the Rize partnership, Kentucky Wesleyan can provide concentrations that are academically rigorous, cost-effective to launch, and aligned with both regional employer demand and KWC’s mission to prepare ethical, career-ready leaders.

MBA Degree Requirements

Required Courses:

• MBA 505 Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management – 3 Credit Hours
• MBA 510 Managerial Accounting – 3 Credit Hours
• MBA 515 Managerial Economics – 3 Credit Hours
• MBA 605 Leadership and Business Ethics – 3 Credit Hours
• MBA 610 Managerial Finance – 3 Credit Hours
• MBA 615 Marketing Management – 3 Credit Hours
• MBA 630 Capstone Course – 3 Credit Hours

General Track:

• MBA 520 Business Statistics – 3 Credit Hours
• MBA 620 Business Analytics – 3 Credit Hours
• MBA 625 The Legal Environment of Business – 3 Credit Hours

Artificial Intelligence Specialization:

• MBA 632 AI Governance and Ethics – 3 Credit Hours
• MBA 634 Generative AI for Managers – 3 Credit Hours
• MBA 636 Business Use Cases for AI – 3 Credit Hours

Business Analytics Specialization:

• MBA 620 Business Analytics – 3 Credit Hours
• MBA 638 Storytelling with Data – 3 Credit Hours
• MBA 640 Python for Business Analytics – 3 Credit Hours

Cybersecurity Specialization:

• MBA 642 Information Governance, Risk Management, and Compliance – 3 Credit Hours
• MBA 644 Network Architectures for Cyber Managers – 3 Credit Hours
• MBA 646 Cyber Risk Management and Strategy – 3 Credit Hours

Finance Specialization:

• MBA 648 Capital Markets and Investment – 3 Credit Hours
• MBA 650 Financial Statement Analysis and Valuation
• MBA 652 Frontiers of Finance – 3 Credit Hours

Healthcare Administration Specialization:

• MBA 654 Structure & Economics of the U.S. Healthcare System
• MBA 656 Management of Healthcare Organizations
• MBA 658 Data Analysis for Healthcare Management

MBA Course Descriptions

MBA 505 Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management (3 credit hours)

Focuses on the development of skills necessary to analyze and deal effectively with individual and group problems in organizations. Theories and case analyses provide guidance in decision making. Topics include motivation, job satisfaction, group dynamics, interpersonal communication, organizational culture, recruitment, compensation, organizational learning, evaluation, and change management.

MBA 510 Managerial Accounting (3 credit hours)

Examines corporate financial accounting in general and how accounting information informs management decisions. The course reviews basic concepts and accounting practices used in all aspects of management, including planning, implementation, control, and evaluation. Cost analysis for routine decision making is also discussed.

MBA 515 Managerial Economics (3 credit hours)

Provides a detailed analysis of how micro- and macroeconomic concepts can be applied to corporate decision making to maximize the firm’s profit and enhance its ability to compete both domestically and in the global marketplace. Topics covered include basic microeconomic concepts, risk analysis, competitive pricing strategies, exchange rates, international trade, government policies, technology transfer, labor and capital.

MBA 520 Business Statistics (3 credit hours)

This course will teach you how to develop insights and make decisions from data sets. It will provide a foundation for an understanding of statistics and help you gain confidence leveraging statistics to create strong business cases and make intelligent business decisions. This course examines the use of descriptive statistics, probability, confidence intervals, hypothesis testing, analysis of variance, regression and correlation analysis, t-tests, and applications of technology for statistical analysis, including the interpretation of the relevance of statistical findings for business problem solving and decision making.

MBA 605 Leadership and Business Ethics (3 credit hours)

Focuses on leadership and ethical issues in a diverse workforce. This course examines theories and practices that are relevant to effective management in a dynamic business environment. Topics include leadership theories, and interaction of business with government and society. Contemporary ethical issues and problems are considered via multiple case studies.

MBA 610 Managerial Finance (3 credit hours)

Focuses on basic financial principles and practices associated with modern corporations, especially as these practices relate to planning and control. Current theories and practices related to investment decisions are discussed. Topics include risk management analysis, corporate financial accounting and budgeting, project evaluation, decision trees, acquisitions and disinvestments, and financing new ventures.

MBA 615 Marketing Management (3 credit hours)

Explores the structure and processes of marketing from a managerial perspective, with special emphasis on the manager’s role in marketing decisions. Theories and practices are examined, with illustrations from case studies in product marketing through various media. Topics include strategic marketing, creating demand, product introduction, targeting, differentiation, segmentation, and supply chain management.

MBA 620 Business Analytics (3 credit hours)

The problems faced by decision makers in today’s competitive business environment are often extremely complex and can be addressed by numerous possible courses of action. Evaluating these alternatives and gaining insight from past performance is the essence of business analytics. This course is designed as an introduction to Business Analytics, an area of business administration that considers the extensive use of data, methods, and fact-based management to support and improve decision making. While business intelligence focuses on data handling, queries and reports to discover patterns and generate information associated with products, services and customers, business analytics uses data and models to explain the performance of a business and how it can be improved. This course discusses the benefits of employing analytics and a structured approach to problem-solving in management situations.

MBA 625 The Legal Environment of Business (3 credit hours)

An overview of the legal and social factors that affect the firm’s strategy, survival, and competitiveness. The course focuses on guidelines and constraints that affect the firm directly or indirectly and provides its basis for dealing with its employees, other firms in the environment, and its stakeholders in general. Special attention is paid to trade regulation, anti-trust laws, employer-employee relations, labor laws, corporate responsibilities, and compliance with regulations governing the operation of business organizations.

MBA 630 Capstone (3 credit hours)

A Capstone course taken during the student’s final semester in the program. This course is designed to apply knowledge gained from other core courses to issues of planning, formulating, and implementing business strategy. Prerequisite: Approval of Graduate Director.

MBA 632 AI Governance and Ethics (3 credit hours)

Alongside powerful data-driven solutions, AI opens Pandora’s box of ethical issues: data privacy, bias, transparency, and balancing automation with human oversight. AI governance may be the biggest ethical issue of our time, something essential for any manager to understand before implementing this new technology. Students will develop AI policies for ethics and compliance, mitigate AI-related risks, and communicate governance standards to stakeholders. (Prerequisites: None)
Offered: Fall Term A, Spring Term B, Summer Term B (Spring Term A in 2026 only)

MBA 634 Generative AI for Managers (3 credit hours)

Generative AI (GenAI) is ushering in a new age of productivity in business. Managers who ineffectively adopt it risk being outpaced by forward-thinking competitors. This course equips students to drive impact in any industry using GenAI tools. You’ll learn to engineer 4 effective prompts, integrate AI into workflows, and develop innovative GenAI solutions, as well as explore ethical considerations and future trends. (Prerequisites: None)
Offered: Fall Term A, Spring Term B, Summer Term A

MBA 636 Business Use Cases for AI (3 credit hours)

Just like you wouldn’t use a financial model to drive a marketing campaign, different business use cases require different AI tools. In this course, students will explore the potential and limitations of AI technologies, learning to identify business problems suitable for AI solutions and build effective AI implementation strategies. By the end of this course, students will address key challenges and solutions in AI implementation. (Prerequisites: None)
Offered: Fall Term B, Spring Term A, Summer Term B

MBA 638 Storytelling with Data (3 credit hours)

Storytelling is one of the oldest and most powerful tools for action, and this course empowers MBA students to transform raw data into compelling narratives that drive business decisions. By the end of this course, you’ll be able to create data queries and visualizations, integrate data into business planning, and effectively communicate your findings, helping organizations turndata into a strategic tool for competition and innovation. (Prerequisites: None)
Offered: Fall Term A, Spring Term B, Summer Term A

MBA 640 Python for Business Analytics (3 credit hours)

Managers who hope to stay competitive in business analytics need to be able to scale their analytics—and Python provides that solution. This course covers Python’s significance in business analytics, setting up the Python environment, and learning basic syntax. You’ll leverage three of Python’s essential libraries—NumPy for numerical data, Pandas for data manipulation, and Matplotlib for data visualization—to use data to solve complex business problems. (Prerequisites: None)
Offered: Fall Term A, Spring Term B, Summer Term B (Spring Term A in 2026 only)

MBA 642 Information Governance, Risk Management, and Compliance (3 credit hours)

Companies storing information are responsible for keeping it safe—and face consequences if they don’t. Who’s at fault after an attack and who must be informed? This course covers corporate governance principles, risk identification methods, business regulations, accountability, and audits. In a data-driven world, business leaders must handle data responsibly, and by the end of this course, you’ll learn how to manage the growing legal obligations around cybersecurity. (Prerequisites: None)
Offered: Fall Term A, Spring Term B, Summer Term A

MBA 644 Network Architectures for Cyber Managers (3 credit hours)

In order to ensure a house is safe, we need to know how it’s built. It’s the same for cybersecurity: to ensure systems are secure, we need to understand their design and the unique security challenges of different network architectures and data storage solutions. By the end of this course, you’ll be able to critique security for various network designs, including IT and OT systems, cloud environments, data storage, and IoT networks, in terms of cyber risk. (Prerequisites: None)
Offered: Fall Term B, Spring Term A, Summer Term B

MBA 646 Cyber Risk Management and Strategy (3 credit hours)

Cyberattacks today are inevitable—but the extent of the damage may rely on how much you, as the manager, are prepared. By the end of this course, you’ll know how to create risk management strategies before, during, and after cyberattacks, developing incident response plans, understanding frameworks like NIST and MITRE ATT&CK, identifying proactive and reactive protection techniques, and debriefing with ‘hotwashes.’ (Prerequisites: None)
Offered: Fall Term A, Spring Term B, Summer Term B (Spring Term A in 2026 only)

MBA 648 Capital Markets and Investing (3 credit hours)

Investing involves risk—but this course teaches you how to manage that risk and make the right decisions to build and protect your wealth. What portfolio decisions are safer? How can companies thrive by balancing debt and equity? How can options mitigate risk? By the end, you’ll have the financial acumen to make informed investment decisions, optimize portfolio performance, and master strategies for risk management, capital allocation, and sustainable financial growth. (Prerequisites: None)
Offered: Fall Term B, Spring Term A, Summer Term B

MBA 650 Financial Statements Analysis and Valuation (3 credit hours)

Financial statements are a gold mine that, when analyzed correctly, can reveal a company’s financial health and potential for future profitability. And valuing a company is a critical skill in finance that both influences investment decisions and drives financial success. Through financial statement analysis, financial ratio analysis, risk assessment, pro forma financial statements, and advanced valuation techniques like DCF and comparable company analysis, students will gain the quantitative expertise to make informed investment decisions. (Prerequisites: None)
Offered: Fall Term A, Spring Term B, Summer Term B (Spring Term A in 2026 only)

MBA 652 Frontiers of Finance (3 credit hours)

Finance isn’t a static field, and understanding disruptors like blockchain and cryptocurrency allows you to capitalize on opportunities that are revolutionizing financial operations. Students will describe and evaluate blockchain, analyze cryptocurrencies, and assess decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms. By course end, students will be ready to explore blockchain and crypto career opportunities and lead discussions on these cutting-edge technologies. (Prerequisites: None)
Offered: Fall Term B, Spring Term A, Summer Term A (Spring Term B in 2026 only)

MBA 654 Structure & Economics of the U.S. Healthcare System (3 credit hours)

Healthcare systems are complicated structures beholden economically and legally to many different stakeholders and policies. When those factors change, they have consequences. Aspiring managers must be able to make informed decisions about what to do in the face of change. By the end of this course, aspiring healthcare system managers will be prepared to analyze the economic impact of policy changes on their institutions and tackle challenges such as hospital mergers, new payment models, regulated drug prices, and Medicaid insurance bids. (Prerequisites: None)
Offered: Fall Term A, Spring Term B, Summer Term A

MBA 656 Management of Healthcare Organizations (3 credit hours)

Should a hospital focus on pediatrics or heart surgery? How can clinics build and retain a strong workforce? What is the best strategy for negotiating with insurance companies? This course focuses on the management principles and practices that create successful healthcare organizations. Students will learn to navigate key management challenges, apply strategic analysis frameworks, and manage healthcare workforce and IT systems—all with an emphasis on ethical leadership, collaboration, and quality assurance. (Prerequisites: None)
Offered: Fall Term B, Spring Term A, Summer Term B

MBA 658 Data Analysis for Healthcare Management (3 credit hours)

Healthcare managers that can leverage data analysis make more informed decisions that lead to better outcomes. Data in a healthcare context brings solutions, but also unique challenges that managers must navigate to harness its potential. In this course, students will explore effective management and integration of data-driven decisions in healthcare. By the end, students will be able to strategize and communicate data insights to drive ethical impact in healthcare systems. (Prerequisites: None)
Offered: Fall Term A, Spring Term B, Summer Term B (Spring Term A in 2026 only)

MBA Faculty

Faculty members who teach in the MBA degree program bring a diversity of training and experience to their profession. They are, first and foremost, excellent teachers reflecting the continuing Wesleyan commitment to the personal and professional development of students. They are intellectually stimulating individuals immersed in current and future issues. They retain close links with business and industry through a rich heritage of service and outreach to the local and regional business community. The faculty’s ongoing involvement with practicing business leaders and executives assists in a continuous focus on both contemporary and future business issues.

Faculty members assume several major roles with MBA students. As teachers, their goals are to communicate course materials clearly and develop opportunities for real world applications. As role models, faculty work to continuously develop their expertise and enhance the student experience.

Faculty members advise and consult with students about professional and personal development as leaders and managers. They also engage students, both in and out of class, in self-development and reflection.

Program Calendar

Kentucky Wesleyan College MBA Academic Calendar	2025-2026	2026-2027	2027-2028
Fall Semester
Term 1	Aug. 26-Oct. 10	Aug 24-Oct. 9	Aug. 23-Oct. 8
Last day to drop/add	Aug. 29	Aug. 28	Aug. 28
Final date to withdraw from a course with a W on transcript	Oct. 3	Oct. 2	Oct. 1
Term 2	Oct. 20-Dec 5	Oct. 19- Dec. 4	Oct. 18-Dec. 3
Last Day to drop/add	Oct. 23	Oct. 22	Oct. 21
Final date to withdraw from a course with a W on transcript	Nov. 28	Nov. 27	Nov. 26
Spring Semester
Term 1	Jan. 12-Feb. 26	Jan. 11-Feb. 26	Jan. 18-Mar. 1
Last day to drop/add	Jan. 15	Jan. 14	Jan. 21
Final date to withdraw from a course with a W on transcript	Feb. 20	Feb. 12	Feb. 24
Term 2	Mar. 9-Apr. 24	Mar. 8-Apr. 23	Mar. 13-Apr. 28
Last Day to drop/add	Mar. 12	Mar. 11	Mar. 16
Final date to withdraw from a course with a W on transcript	Apr. 17	Apr. 16	Apr. 21
Summer Session
Term 1-SUM 2026	May 11-Aug. 14	May 3-July 30	May 1-July 28
Last day to drop/add	May 14	May 6	May 4
Final date to withdraw from a course with a W on transcript	June 29	July 23	July 21