Business Administration, Bachelor of Science
City University of Seattle’s BSBA is designed to cultivate highly competent analytical thinkers, decision makers, and innovative problem solvers in administrative roles who can operate effectively within a VUCA world. Infused with simplicity, applicability, and timeliness, the contents of the program are developed to equip students with essential management skills that align strongly with the existing and emerging demands of what the World Economic Forum has described as the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Growing trends in artificial intelligence (AI), the internet of things, automation, big data, and cloud computing technologies are driving this dramatic transition. These knowledge areas and trends are no longer futuristic concepts or desired skills; they are our reality and professionals who understand and utilize them will be more valued.
The increasing complexity and uncertainty within the business environment renders the decision making process an almost impossible task. The BSBA’s core courses address this vital challenge by familiarizing students with relevant concepts and practices in business fundamentals and in emerging technologies and markets in a synergistic manner. This generative integration enables students to master the art of “making decisions under uncertainty” by becoming competent in concepts including experimentation and organizational learning, strategic management, engineering complex systems, trend analysis, extracting patterns of behavior from large datasets, market forecasting, and automation of processes and judgment. In addition, course designers and instructors prioritize the transformation of complex developing subjects such as AI into highly comprehensible and applicable knowledge to ensure the program is not exclusive to a specific group of students.
Students can select from a number of applicable and trending emphasis areas to expand the knowledge gained in the core courses. The emphasis areas include Data Analytics for Business Decision Making, Engineering Self-Organization, Management, Project Management, Specialized Study, and Electives. The BSBA provides promising options to its graduates by preparing them for higher levels of education (e.g., MBA and DBA) and by strengthening their foundation in subjects that secure success in a wide range of professional settings.
Program Outcomes
The Bachelor of Science in Business Administration will prepare students to:
Demonstrate working knowledge of the breadth of strategic and operational aspects of running a business.
Demonstrate the ability to develop and express ideas, while applying a variety of delivery models, genres, and styles.
Demonstrate the ability to analyze issues, ideas, artifacts, and events to inform well-developed strategies for success in global business.
Demonstrate the ability to reason in an ethical manner and to reflect core beliefs and core competencies in authentic contexts.
Demonstrate the ability to reason and solve problems and inform decisions through the analysis and use of data.
Successfully develop and manage a diverse team.
Admission Requirements
City University of Seattle's undergraduate admission requirements, found under Admissions in the catalog menu, apply to this program.
Total Required Credits (180 Credits)
Lower – Division Requirements (90 Credits)
Students must meet General Education requirements. This is typically completed within the 90 required lower division credits. See the General Education Requirements section of this catalog for more detailed information.
For this program, Quantitative/Symbolic Reasoning is met through the course MATH 138 College Algebra or higher.
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General Education Requirements
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Total Credits
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College Composition (CC) I** & II
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10 Credits
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Quantitative/Symbolic Reasoning (QSR)
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5 Credits
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Humanities (HU)
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10 Credits
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Social Sciences (SS)
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15 Credits
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Natural Sciences (NS)
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15 Credits
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**If College Composition I is waived through transfer or articulation, students must take an additional 5 quarter credits from a humanities discipline.
Upper-Division Requirements (90 Credits)
Foundations of Business Operations Core (25 Credits)
| BUS 310 | Business Communications (HU) | 5 |
| BUS 315 | Financial Accounting * | 5 |
| BUS 317 | Finance * | 5 |
| BUS 320 | Technology and Operations Management | 5 |
| BUS 330 | Economic Analysis for Business Decisions (SS) | 5 |
Emerging Technologies, Methods, and Markets Core (20 Credits)
| BUS 420 | Artificial Intelligence (AI) Business Applications | 5 |
| BUS 424 | Fundamentals of AI | 5 |
| BUS 426 | Business Analytics for Decision Making (NS) | 5 |
| BUS 430 | Marketing and Competitive Analysis | 5 |
Organizational Systems, Complexity, and Strategy Core (20 Credits)
| BUS 300 | Business Dynamics | 5 |
| BUS 402 | Managing Organizational Systems and Complexity * | 5 |
| BUS 304 | Organizational Behavior and Leadership (SS) | 5 |
| BUS 495 | Strategic Management * | 5 |
Upper Division Electives (25 Credits)
Emphasis Area (25 Credits)
Choose one of the emphasis areas listed below:
Data Analytics for Business Decision Making Emphasis
Data Analytics for Business Decision Making Emphasis extends key topics in the core technology courses to help students enhance their practical knowledge of advanced techniques in artificial intelligence and business analytics. Courses in this category enable students to generate data-driven decision-making solutions for achieving and maintaining market differentiation by unlocking the value in their proprietary data. In particular, students gain the capacity to identify and harness the hidden insights (i.e., patterns) within massive amounts of data generated through social networking channels and internal business processes that are otherwise impossible to discern. This cohesive body of knowledge and skills is applicable to a variety of business functions, such as customer relationship management, marketing, human resource management, organizational management, and project management.
| BUS 440 | Introduction to Data Science * | 5 |
| BUS 442 | Advanced Tools in Business Analytics * | 5 |
| BUS 444 | Predictive and Prescriptive Analytics * | 5 |
| BUS 446 | Data Visualization and Dashboards * | 5 |
| BUS 448 | Strategic Decision Making Under Uncertainty * | 5 |
Management Emphasis
The Management Emphasis is designed for students wishing to pursue a variety of management positions within strategic and tactical divisions of companies. Courses in this category help students gain a strong strategic vision and mindset. This is achieved by learning how to analyze organizations in terms of structures and systems to identify change and new alignments that maximize the fit between internal capacities (e.g., teams, processes, and resources) and the environment’s demands. A key objective of this emphasis is to cultivate managers, entrepreneurs, and small business owners who can create and sustain a competitive advantage and manage their business in new and unique ways. Accordingly, students learn about a wide range of markets and business scenarios; acquire analytical and problem-solving skills; become proficient in negotiation and conflict resolution; and master innovative decision-making and entrepreneurial thinking through cross-pollinating ideas. The above skills can be applied to a career in consulting, personnel management, strategy and innovation, global and small business, entrepreneurship, organizational behavior and leadership, change management, healthcare, project management, and operations and production.
| PM 444 | Negotiation and Competitive Decision Making | 5 |
| BUS 462 | Strategic Consulting | 5 |
| BUS 464 | Design of Effective Teams and Organizations | 5 |
| BUS 466 | Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management | 5 |
| PM 401 | Introduction to Project Management | 5 |
Project Management Emphasis
The Project Management (PM) emphasis augments the core curricula with a solid foundation in how to organize, lead, and schedule projects in a variety of disciplines. Courses in this category are informed by principles of system dynamics and by the Project Management Institutes’ (PMI©) Body of Knowledge (PMBOK®). This integrated and multidimensional design enables students to understand, analyze, and guide the nonlinear behavior of organizational systems while managing operations and project tasks. Students gain distinct skills in micro and macro approaches to Project Management by learning about the applications of key knowledge areas including systems thinking, systems archetypes, change and risk management, scheduling and cost management, PM toolbox, strategic decision-making, and art of negotiation. All of the Project Management courses qualify for PMI’s Professional Development educational/training Units (PDU®), which are a crucial qualification part of PMI’s coveted Project Management Professional (PMP®) certification. Demand for Project Managers continues to grow domestically and globally in a wide range of industries including aerospace, IT, software, construction, finance, manufacturing, healthcare, energy, production, and telecommunications.
| PM 401 | Introduction to Project Management | 5 |
| PM 442 | Introduction to System Dynamics | 5 |
| PM 444 | Negotiation and Competitive Decision Making | 5 |
| PM 404 | Project Scheduling and Cost Management * | 5 |
| PM 406 | Project Risk and Change Management | 5 |
Specialized Study Emphasis
The Specialized Study emphasis consists of five courses taken in a specific content area. Coursework may be completed through independent study, current course offerings, or developed for a specific industry or organizational setting. The Specialized Study emphasis is proposed by the student and approved by the Program Director prior to registration.
Examples of approved Specialized Study areas include:
- Data Analytics for Business Decision-Making
- Global Supply Chain Management
- Management
- Project Management
- Specialized Study