Program Overview
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The Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) degree is a 48-credit online doctoral degree program. The DBA degree program prepares business, management, education, and consulting professionals to engage and address the dynamic opportunities and complex challenges emblematic of the 21st century global business environment. The degree's scholar-practitioner, interdisciplinary curriculum is a dynamic academic and experiential learning model integrating seminal topics from the liberal arts and sciences with contemporary theories, models, and tools and best practices associated with 21st century leadership, culture and change. The culmination of the program is a Scholar-Practitioner Field Project.
The DBA degree is designed to enable business students and professionals to advance their careers toward becoming executive leaders, educators, and consultants. This program offers two-degree completion options, course work in preparation from higher educational instruction and general consultancy, and a final Scholar-Practitioner Field Project.
Program Highlights:
- Low-Cost Educational Resources: A portfolio of academic and applied course resources organized using a high-quality cost-effective blend of e-books, articles, and Open Educational Resources (OER).
- Unique Curriculum Design: Scholar-practitioner, interdisciplinary curriculum comprised of five unique content domains including: Inquiry Systems and Models: Critical Thought and Action in Global Leadership and Organizations, Integrated Orientations: Leadership Business and Culture Leadership, Culture and Research Methods; Instructional and Consultative Practice, and Scholar-Practitioner Field Project.
- Scholar-Practitioner Field Project: The degree culminates in a student selected, mentor-guided applied field project where students can apply what they have learned in their course work to the industry or field of interest. This project may result in publication or conference presentation.
- Personalized Instructional Delivery: While our adult-centric and seminar-oriented cohort design is within a fully distance learning environment, students will have access to one-on-one mentorship from University leadership.
- A Concierge Student Engagement Model: We partner with the degree program student throughout their doctoral experience, delivering highly responsive and focused attention, service, and guidance.
Download our Degree Program Profile Sheet for an overview of our DBA program.
Admissions Requirements:
Students are eligible for degree program admission and course enrollment using the following admissions criteria:
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Why is earning the DBA degree important and how will it influence your personal and/or career goals?
- In what ways have you prepared for the rigors and benefits associated with doctoral education?
- Identify one research interest and discuss how possible findings may be influential and contribute to the literature?
Credit Transfer
- A total of six doctoral level credits may, under certain conditions, be transferred to the DBA.
- Transfer credit accepted only through evaluation by the dean, School of Business and Management.
Program Progression
- Students admitted to the DBA degree program progress through the DBA curriculum with the cohort to which they were admitted.
- Student earning a C grade in a course will follow the C grade policy.
- DBA students who withdraw from a DBA course, or who fail to enroll during a consecutive term will be assessed on an individual basis for their ability to remain in the DBA program.
- The program must be completed within seven years of admission into the program.
Graduation Requirements
- DBA students must earn a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher and be in good standing at TESU to be certified for graduation.
- All program requirements must be successfully completed, including the final Scholar-Practitioner Field Project.
Getting Started
Once admitted to the program, follow the steps on our Getting Started page to create an account with Online Student Services, access your Academic Evaluation, and make an advising appointment.
Careers Overview
The Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) degree enables personal and professional growth. The degree can be transformative, enabling those who have earned it to occupy leadership positions in industry, higher education, and consultancy. If the degree uses a scholar-practitioner curriculum design, the interplay between theory informing practice and practice informing theory provides a competitive advantage more thoroughly integrating what students learn and how the learning is applied in the workplace.
The 21st century global market offers unprecedented career opportunities. As the world-of-work evolves, traditional job designs and organizational structure are rapidly morphing, resulting in the need for highly educated executives skilled in leading and managing organizations and their members through the tumultuous and continuous change that is characteristic of the first decades of this millennium.
Acquiring the adaptive and adoptive knowledge, competencies, and skills necessary to compete and succeed in contemporary global markets are frequently found in doctoral degree programs. For business and management professionals, the Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) is often the degree of choice. Professionals earning the DBA degree will be prepared to fill or create their next occupational role. The intentionality, discipline, and capabilities necessary to earn the DBA are a powerful professional differentiator enabling occupational competitive advantage.
Occupations aligned with earning the Thomas Edison State University DBA degree:
- Chief Executive Officer
- Chief Human Resource Officer
- Vice President of Organizational Development
- Vice President of Training and Development
- Chief Human Capital Officer
- Vice President of Academic Affairs
- Dean and/or Professor in Higher Education
- Lead Consultant of Change Management
- Entrepreneur
Enable personal and professional growth…earn the Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) degree.
Click here to learn more about Thomas Edison State University’s Doctor of Business Administration degree or email Associate Dean, Dr. Robert W. Bigelow at rbigelow@tesu.edu.
Dr. Michael Williams
Written by Dr. Michael Williams
Dr. Michael Williams is the Dean of the School of Business and Management and joined the University in 2012; he was named dean in March 2013. His professional background includes more than 25 years of higher education, executive-level development and coaching, consulting, and teaching. He is frequently sought as a keynote speaker and presenter, having led strategic initiatives for national and international corporations, including J.B. Hanauer & Co. (Royal Bank of Canada), and C3I, Inc. (Oracle). He earned a doctoral degree and master's degree from Fordham University, a master's degree from Rutgers University, an MBA from DeVry University, and a master's degree from Touro College.