MBA Online

MBA Program Mission Statement

The mission of the Cumberland University MBA program is to equip qualified adult learners with an enhanced set of skills and knowledge that can be deployed in the successful management of a business and/or technology related enterprise. The MBA curriculum is designed to afford students the opportunity to work both independently and in teams, to hone both analytical and communication skills, and to assimilate and deepen their understanding of the following core elements of an advanced business education: Marketing, Management, Finance, Managerial Accounting, and Strategic Leadership. This mission is achieved by using a blend of traditional classroom learning experiences, online eLearning experiences, and extra-classroom assignments.

MBA Program Learning Goals

Faculty members are committed to help persons accepted into the MBA Program at Cumberland University to meet four learning goals:

1. To demonstrate advanced business and economics knowledge and high ethical awareness;
2. To demonstrate advanced decision making skills;
3. To demonstrate advanced competence in gathering and analyzing organizational information from internal and external sources using technology and literature;
4. To demonstrate advanced competence in the synthesis, evaluation and communication of information.

The core curriculum for the MBA program (as defined by the nine core courses) is designed to achieve the four learning goals above. Students must also earn nine credit hours of electives in addition to the 27 hours of required core courses. Students may choose to take any three MBA electives to earn the degree; or they may elect to concentrate their 3 electives in one of three optional tracks. These are as follows:

Track 1: General Business 

Track 2: Social Entrepreneurship 

Both for-profit and non-profit organizations are seeking ways to better support social causes and their missions.  Cumberland University’s Social Entrepreneurship Program addresses the needs of both types of organizations:  Professionals in non-profit organizations searching for new strategies to fund their missions as well as those in for-profit organizations seeking ways to support a strategically relevant non-profit organization or cause.  View each business model from a hybrid perspective.  Four courses are offered in this track from which the student selects three electives.

 Track 3:  Healthcare Administration

 Healthcare is now viewed as a business product to be managed and marketed in a highly regulated competitive environment.  Furthermore, high and stable growth in the healthcare industry provides a fertile job market for “non-medically” trained business students with a concentration in healthcare administration.  Cumberland University’s online healthcare administration concentration provides an introduction to the healthcare industry while tailoring two traditional functional areas of business to the healthcare environment:  marketing and human resource management.   A business degree provides a balance of skills and competitive strategies with the gifts of compassion and competence of healthcare professionals.

Thesis Option

A thesis option is also available. Students who wish to pursue this option will complete the nine required core MBA courses (27 hours) but will not be required to complete the 3 elective courses (9 hours). Instead these students will complete a minimum of 9 hours of thesis work. Each student thesis will be directed by a member of the full time MBA faculty and approved by a thesis committee, which consists of at least 3 appropriately credentialed faculty members.

Application Regulations

The rules and regulations found elsewhere in this Catalog and in the Cumberland University Student Handbook apply to MBA students. These regulations include, but are not limited to, admissions, registration, schedule changes, withdrawal from class and/or the University, graduation participation, grade-point average, release of information, student services, class availability, use of English, class attendance/preparation, grade reports, enrollment, certification/verification, change of name/address, and academic misconduct. 

Admission Requirements:

Transfer of Course Credit into the MBA Program

No more than six semester hours of course credit can be transferred for graduation credit into the MBA Program. A transferred course must be a graduate-level course and have been earned by the requesting student at a regionally accredited college or university with a grade of "B" or better. The transferred course must be similar in content to a course offered in the Cumberland University MBA Program, and the transferred course can only be used as a replacement for the similar MBA course with the MBA Director’s approval. A minimum of 30 semester hours of Cumberland University MBA courses must be successfully completed at Cumberland University. 

Required Courses

 Survey.

36 credit hours minimum required for graduation