ONLINE MBA: STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP Specialization

 

Increase your earning potential with the online MBA’s Strategic Leadership specialization.

 

You will develop skills in critical thinking, negotiation and conflict resolution, perspective-taking, managing emotions, strategic persuasion and developing a global mindset.

 

Your degree’s comprehensive focus will enhance today’s top-paying leadership and administrative careers. Complete your Strategic Leadership concentration with nine credits, or choose the Strategic Leadership major with 15 credits.

With Your MBA in Strategic Leadership, You Will:

  • Understand key concepts and theories related to strategic leadership, individuals, groups, teams, organizations and institutions.
  • Understand strategic thinking, acting, influence and change.
  • Develop the ability to organize information to see relationships and solve multiple interrelated problems.
  • Improve your ability to understand and predict the behavior of others in competitive situations and formulate successful strategies.
  • Explore the skills and capacities needed to influence others, manage change, set strategic direction and build teams and support networks.
  • Navigate the complex analytical and human dimensions inherent in any leadership role.

Strategic Leadership Concentration

Your degree’s online courses will be taught be faculty with years of leadership experience. You will learn how to use strategic leadership skills to make sound, evidence-based business decisions. Complete your Strategic Leadership concentration with nine credits, or choose the Strategic Leadership major with 15 credits.

 

SAMPLE COURSES

BUAD 672 Strategic Leadership & Change - 3 Credits

Examines the organizational processes that influence the ability of organizations to successfully manage change and innovation. Designed to impart theoretical understanding as well as practical tools and frameworks for the management of change and innovation. 

 

BUAD 673 Advanced Topics in Leadership and Teams - 3 Credits

Offers an in-depth perspective of leadership and an analysis of teams and teamwork. Emphasizes the practical application of theoretical concepts.

 

BUAD 678 Leading Across Boundaries - 3 Credits

Leading Across Boundaries focuses on cultural similarities and differences worldwide and how they impact managers’ effectiveness. Attention is given to general cultural dimensions as well as specific global mindset competencies. This course will focus on cultural similarities and differences, and interpersonal interactions with people who are different from us. By understanding this, students will uncover and improve their own global leadership skills. 

With strategic leadership skills from this specialization, you can move into leadership positions in virtually any career path you choose. The median annual wage for leadership and management positions in the U.S. was $102,450 in May 2021, which was the highest of all the major occupational groups.1 You could become a director of leadership development, strategy consultant, senior strategic analyst, director of thought leadership, director of strategic planning and operations, executive director and more.

Answers to Common Questions

You can earn your degree in as few as 16 months full-time, or complete the program part-time at your convenience.

Yes. The online MBA at the University of Delaware is delivered through the Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics, which has been accredited by AACSB International (the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business) for more than 50 years. AACSB accreditation is the highest standard of accreditation for business schools in the world, and a distinction fewer than 5% of business schools worldwide have earned.

You can transfer up to nine credits from another AACSB accredited MBA program that have not already been used toward a completed degree. Contact an admissions counselor for more information about transferring your prior credits.

You do not need to officially declare a major or concentration until graduation although we suggest that you meet with your advisor to be sure that you are on the right track to earn the major or concentration that you want.

 

You are not required to choose a major or concentration. If you want to pursue a General MBA, you may choose five unrelated graduate elective courses for a total of 15 credits.

 

You can also choose from the following options. Please keep in mind that the actual credit count may vary depending on your course waivers and course transfers.

  • MBA with a major and a concentration: 15 credits for the major + 9 credits for the concentration (the program will be 53 credits).

  • MBA with a double major: 15 credits for the 1st major + 15 credits for the 2nd major (the program will be 59 credits).

  • MBA with a double concentration: 9 credits for the 1st concentration + 9 credits for the 2nd concentration (the program will be 47 credits).

Course waivers are granted for certain courses only and may be granted when all of the following criteria are met:

  • You have earned a bachelor’s degree from an AACSB-accredited institution within the past 5 years.

  • You have successfully completed at least 6 credits of undergraduate coursework in the related discipline with a grade of “B” or better in each course.

  • Except as noted below, at least 3 of the above credits are in a course at the intermediate level.

 

All course waivers are subject to individual review and require the submission of syllabi for all non-UD courses. Meeting the above guidelines does not guarantee that a course waiver will be granted.

 

Students in the MBA program may have up to 12 credits of course waivers and 9 credits of course transfers but no more than 12 credits combined between the two. A minimum of 32 graduate credits must be taken at the University of Delaware.

MBA Course Waiver Guidelines Effective 6/1/23

If you have moved away, you can continue with your Lerner MBA in most cases by taking online courses as part of the hybrid MBA option for on-campus students.

 

Under certain conditions, we may be able to accept graduate credit from other institutions:

  1. The institution must be AACSB-accredited;

  2. The class must carry a grade of B or better (not a B-); and

  3. The class must have been completed within the past five years.

 

Per University policy,

  • Only 9 graduate credits may be transferred in.

  • Credits are not transferred until the student has completed nine credits of graduate work at the University of Delaware.

  • Only earned credits transfer, not earned grades.

  • Courses must have been conducted over a ~14 week semester in order for all credits to transfer. Credits from schools on 10-week quarters will be transferred at 2/3 value.

  • Students who wish to transfer credits to the University of Delaware must provide a course syllabus (not a course description) for each course being considered and official transcripts showing the courses and grades. You may need to contact your prior institution for copies of course syllabi.