Master of Business Administration

The PLU Master of Business Administration (MBA) is founded on the cornerstones of leadership, creative innovation, global awareness, and ethical responsibility. Students choose between a track in Business Administration or Management Science and Quantitative Methods. Our Business Administration track focuses on strategy, innovation and effective decision making. In the STEM-Designated Management Science and Quantitative Methods track, students will be introduced to the quantitative methods used in all areas of Business Analytics.

This transformative degree focuses on strategy and innovation and works to develop the next generation of global business leaders within their chosen career field.

Format

Our MBA is flexible to meet the needs of our diverse population and can be completed in a full- or part-time status. Classes are offered in the late afternoon and evening to allow students to continue to work or pursue internships. The degree can be completed in as few as nine months or extended over 21 months based on the number of classes taken each term. We want our students to fit the degree into their lives rather than revolving their lives around school.

The diversity of our student’s employment and academic backgrounds result in lively discussions and networking opportunities. Regular visits from industry executives in the classroom enhance the experience.

Areas of Emphasis

The MBA program offers optional areas of emphasis for students who would like to add a level of distinction to their degree.

Earn an emphasis in:

• Entrepreneurship & Closely Held Enterprises
• Healthcare Management Supply Chain Management
• Technology & Innovation Management

International Experiences

Successful business leaders are global citizens who understand the value of diverse perspectives. Our MBA students walk away with a truly global business perspective.

A unique part of our MBA program is a “Global Business Perspectives” course which includes an embedded 10-day faculty-led international experience. These experiences include visits with business leaders, nonprofit organizations, government agencies, MBA colleagues from local universities, and participation in cultural activities. Recent destinations include Peru, Germany, and China and participation costs are covered by PLU.

Students will gain a truly global business perspective and a predisposition for action and innovation. Below are some of our most recent student experiences.

PLU seeks to educate students for lives of thoughtful inquiry, service, leadership and care—for other people, for their communities and for the Earth.

Pacific Lutheran University purposefully integrates the liberal arts, professional studies and civic engagement in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. With distinctive international programs and close student-faculty research opportunities, PLU helps its 3,100 students from all faiths and backgrounds discern their life’s vocation through coursework, mentorship and internships at world-class Puget Sound-area businesses and institutions.

Founded in 1890 by Norwegian immigrants, PLU continues the distinctive tradition of Lutheran higher education through its commitment to the advancement of knowledge, thoughtful inquiry and questioning, the preparation of citizens in service to the world and to its ongoing reform. Located in the Parkland neighborhood of Tacoma, Washington, PLU is set in a region that also offers vast opportunities for outdoor recreation, culture and sports.

A WORLD-ENGAGED, PURPOSEFUL LEARNING ENVIRONMENT

To support students and faculty as they explore life’s big questions and engage in fulfilling and meaningful work, the university established the Wild Hope Center for Vocation. A distinctively hopeful exploration, the search for vocation that faculty and students undertake together endures even in the face of the untamed and unpredictable nature of the world in which we live.

The first American university to have Study Away classes on all seven continents simultaneously, PLU is also the first private university on the West Coast to receive the prestigious Senator Paul Simon Award for Campus Internationalization. An honoree on President Obama’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, PLU hosts an Emmy Award-winning MediaLab; a MacArthur Award-winning detachment of Army ROTC; and more than 100 clubs and activities, including 19 varsity athletic teams in the Northwest Conference of NCAA Division III.

The university consistently ranks among the top 20 in U.S. News & World Report’s Best Universities in the West and recently was named fourth in the West for Best Colleges for Veterans. It also ranks in the top 4 percent of Master’s universities nationwide by Washington Monthly College Guide. The university has produced 100 Fulbright Scholars since 1975.

PLU is noted for its commitment to diversity, justice and sustainability. For its record on Sustainability, the university was recognized with a Gold Award from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE). PLU seeks out students from every possible background—all religions, all races, all socioeconomic groups, all sexual orientations—from all over the world. For the 2018-19 academic year, 41 percent of incoming first-year students are the first generation in their families to attend college; 45 percent self-identify as students of color; and 34 percent are Pell Grant-eligible.

And for more than 40 years, PLU has been internationally known for its Holocaust and Genocide Studies program, which now includes the Kurt Mayer Endowed Chair in Holocaust Studies and the annual Powell-Heller Conference for Holocaust Education. In Fall 2014, PLU became one of only a handful of universities nationwide to offer a minor in Holocaust and Genocide Studies.

Another of the hallmarks of PLU is its nationally acclaimed School of Arts and Communication. Recent alumni are performing and creating on Broadway, in TV and film, as well as on stages and concert halls around the world, and at news and media organizations nationwide. The recently renovated $20-million Karen Hille Phillips Center for the Performing Arts is the premier performing arts center in the South Puget Sound region.

The university offers 44 majors and 54 minors, as well as graduate and professional programs in business administration, creative writing, education, kinesiology, marketing analytics, marriage and family therapy, and nursing.