Business Administration DBA

Major: Business Administration
Degree Awarded: Doctor of Business Administration (DBA)
Calendar Type: Quarter
Minimum Required Credits: 60.0
Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) code: 52.1301
Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) code: 11-1021

About the Program

The Executive Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA) is a part-time doctoral program designed to equip executives and senior managers with the scientific methods to address complex industry and organizational challenges. The program integrates and leverages Drexel’s more than 120-year history of experiential learning to provide a broad theoretical perspective of current business issues as well as a strong foundation in applied research and analysis to enrich critical knowledge, skills and abilities. Through an integrative framework of empirical exploration and evidence-based decision-making, executives learn the “science of business” and develop successful, data-driven strategies and solutions that can be applied to their respective organizations.

The DBA’s cohorted format enables candidates to complete the program in 2.5 years (10 consecutive quarters) using a lockstep executive residency and online model. DBA candidates complete a minimum of 60.0 credits beyond the master’s degree. As part of the accelerated nature of the program and focus on complex business challenges, the program employs a mentored dissertation model. It is expected that applicants will have a minimum of 10 years of industry and/or leadership experience.

• 2.5-year, part-time, cohorted executive program
• Executive residency format with online components
• 16 courses, 60 credits post-master’s
• Mentored dissertation model
• Integrated, cross-disciplinary coursework
• Drexel DBA faculty collaboration from accounting, biomedical engineering, decision science and MIS, design, economics, finance, management, marketing and psychology

Upon degree completion, graduates of the DBA program will be able to:

• Demonstrate knowledge of both theoretical and applied business research methodology. 
• Integrate knowledge from business and non-business disciplines to generate novel ideas, strategies and practical approaches to address business issues faced by senior leadership in organizations.
• Demonstrate mastery of scientific inquiry methods that examine empirical support for theoretical frameworks as applied to business problems.
• Demonstrate an ability to address complex industry challenges using frameworks of empirical examination that build prescriptive conclusions and real-world knowledge.

Please contact Mark Dierkes, Director of Executive Program Recruitment, at med24@drexel.edu or at 215-571-3272 directly with any questions concerning required entrance exams (such as the GMAT), evaluation of undergraduate or graduate records (grades, scores, total years and subjects studied, etc.), and any other issues regarding application to the College.

Admission Requirements

The DBA provides a broad theoretical and practical perspective on current business issues as well as a strong foundation in applied research and analysis. The LeBow College of Business seeks applicants with a minimum of 10 years of senior industry and/or leadership experience, exceptional ability and the motivation needed to successfully complete the DBA. Admission into this part-time cohorted program requires a Master’s degree and is highly selective. 

In reviewing an applicant's credentials, the DBA admissions committee will consider:

• Completed Application Form 
• Prior Academic Accomplishments:  All course work taken prior to application will be reviewed. Applicants should have attained a minimum grade point average of 3.3 (on a 4.0 scale) for all graduate course work completed.
• Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT) or Graduate Records Examination (GRE):  DBA applicants are NOT required to submit scores from either the GMAT or GRE. However, individuals who have taken these exams prior may forward their scores in support of their application.
• Personal Statement: Explain how the applicant's educational and personal experiences have influenced the decision to pursue a DBA, professional objectives in attaining a DBA, and the applicant’s strategy (time, effort, and organizational and family support) to excel in the program.
• Essay(s): Please reference the program webpage for specific essay(s) requirement for the application.
• Letters of Recommendation: Two letters of recommendation must be submitted in support of the application. Applicants are strongly encouraged to seek recommendations from professionals who can assess the applicant's likelihood of success in an executive doctoral program.
• Current Resume or CV:  Include relevant industry positions, achievements or research.
• Interview: Upon request of the DBA admission committee, selected candidates will be requested to participate in an admissions interview.

Admission Procedures
The DBA Program admits students each fall. To be considered for scholarship and admission, the completed application must be received by the LeBow College of Business Office of Graduate Admissions no later than April 30th. It is the applicant's responsibility to ensure that all transcripts, essays/personal statements and letters of recommendation, as well as the application form and fee, are received by Drexel University by this deadline.

Please contact Mark Dierkes, Director of Executive Program Recruitment, at med24@drexel.edu or at 215-571-3272 directly with any questions concerning required entrance exams (such as the GMAT), evaluation of undergraduate or graduate records (grades, scores, total years and subjects studied, etc.), and any other issues regarding application to the College.

Degree Requirements

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Students participating in the Optional Global Immersion Experience will need a minimum of 63.0 credits to graduate.

Students not participating in the Optional Global Immersion Experience will need a minimum of 60.0 credits to graduate.

Dissertation 

DBA candidates are required to complete and submit doctoral dissertation for committee approval. The dissertation is an integral part of the DBA program and serves as a demonstration of academic excellence in applying the science of business with all its expected rigor to an important problem of interest to the industry, as well as providing insight based on theory and supported by appropriate methodological and statistical rigor.

The dissertation process is comprised of a series of lockstep courses, culminating in two major milestones: defense of the proposal and defense of the completed research. The dissertation will need to show relevance, be tied to appropriate scientific literature, and have appropriate methodology and analysis to support the conclusions. Each student will be assigned a dissertation chair, who will guide the student through the process starting in year one, and committee who will evaluate the proposal and the completed research. Both proposal defense and completed research defense must attain a passing grade for the degree to be conferred. There are no qualifying or candidacy exams.

Sample Plan of Study

Non-Global Immersion Option 

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3rd year terms are less than the 4.5-credit minimum required (considered half-time status) of graduate programs to be considered financial aid eligible. As a result, aid will not be disbursed to students this term.

Global Immersion Option

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3rd year terms are less than the 4.5-credit minimum required (considered half-time status) of graduate programs to be considered financial aid eligible. As a result, aid will not be disbursed to students this term.

Facilities

The 12-story, 177,500-square-foot home for LeBow College of Business is located at the heart of the Drexel University campus, at the intersection of Woodland Walk and Market Street, where it forms a gateway to Drexel and a backdrop to the historic statue of A. J. Drexel (Moses Ezekiel, 1904). The diagonal massing of the lower floors follows Woodland Walk and combines with the new Papadakis Integrated Sciences Building (Diamond & Schmitt, 2011) to energize the University’s central quadrangle. The building’s tower will mark the LeBow College and Drexel campus from all directions while the open, glassy Market Street façade will showcase the College’s student activities to passersby.

The building’s organization unites the school’s various constituencies around a five-story-high atrium ringed by classrooms, student lounges, events spaces, and offices. The atrium is immediately accessible from main entrances at the three corners of the building. An open stair within the atrium leads to a 300-seat auditorium and 100-seat lecture hall one floor below and to a divisible multipurpose room and additional classrooms above. The building’s upper floors contain faculty offices interspersed with seminar rooms and group study rooms. The top floor houses the Dean’s suite and a boardroom and conference suite that opens to east- and west-facing terraces.

The building’s warm masonry and glass exterior reflects the emerging vocabulary of the next generation of Drexel buildings. Sophisticated solar shading devices allow maximum transparency between the inside and outside while supporting the building’s high environmental aspirations.

Key Building Features

• Five-story atrium
• Finance trading lab with Bloomberg Terminal Room
• 300-seat auditorium
• 160-seat event space
• 100-seat lecture hall
• 45-seat seminar rooms
• 44-seat computer classrooms
• 60-seat classrooms
• Executive MBA classroom
• 24-seat classrooms
• Special areas for experiential learning simulations and business consulting
• Videoconferencing capabilities
• Integrated teaching technology in all classrooms
• Recording studio to support LeBow College’s online programs
• Extensive areas for students to gather socially and for collaborative study, including student collaboration rooms, two quiet study areas, and 3,500 square feet of student social space
• EMBA Alumni Lounge for the exclusive use of EMBA alumni
• Behavioral Studies Lab
• Starbucks
• Green Globe certifiable, meeting worldwide sustainability standards

Gerri C. LeBow Hall brings together faculty, students, and staff in a state-of-the-art building on the University City campus. Please visit the LeBow College of Business webpage, the Behavioral Lab webpage, and the Finance Trading Lab webpage to learn more about Gerri C. LeBow Hall.

Program Level Outcomes

• Employ an understanding of audience, purpose and context to communicate effectively in a range of situations using appropriate media.
• User divergent (e.g., generation of novel ideas, thinking out of the box, brainstorming) and convergent thinking (e.g., critical thinking, evaluation of ideas, quantitative and qualitative analysis, scientific reasoning) to generate novel and relevant ideas, strategies, approaches or products.
• Assess their own ethical values and the social context of ethical problems, recognize ethical issues in a variety of settings, think about how different ethical perspectives might be applied to an ethical problem, and consider the consequences of alternative actions.
• Possess the skills and knowledge to access, evaluate and use information effectively, competently, and creatively.
• Establish goals and monitor progress toward them by developing an awareness of the personal, environmental and task-specific factors that affect attainment of the goals.
• Make appropriate use of technologies to communicate, collaborate, solve problems, make decisions, and conduct research, as well as foster creativity and life-long learning.
• Engage in, reflect upon, and demonstrate open-mindedness toward all issues of diversity at the local, national and international level.
• Develop a vision, translate that vision into shared goals, and effectively work with others to achieve these goals.
• Apply knowledge and skills gained from a program of study to the achievement of goals in a work, clinical, or other professional setting.
• Make meaningful contributions in their chosen field, participating in use-inspired (e.g., inspired by and applied to real-world problems) research, scholarship or creative activity as an individual or in a collaborative effort. 
• Create and sustain a healthy, engaged, public life.

DBA Interdepartmental LeBow Faculty