Graduate Certificates

This certificate will help equip students with the essential skills and knowledge in data analysis, statistical modeling, and data-driven decision-making within the context of business operations. Additionally, this certificate program helps individuals gain expertise in harnessing data to drive strategic insights and improve organizational efficiency.

Twelve semester hours of course credit distributed as shown below are required to earn a Graduate Certificate in Business Analytics. Each course is three semester credit hours.

Required course, three semester hours:
QBA 501 – Data Analytics for Business Decisions (pre-requisite for all courses)

Two courses, at least six semester hours, from the following:
QBA 601 – Data Analytics and Visualization
OM 615 – Corporate Data Management
OM 614 – IT Strategy and Leadership

One course, at most three semester hours, from the following:
FIN 611 – Financial Modeling
MKT 614 – Marketing Analytics

Note: Not all courses are available every semester.

Corporate Data Management | OM 615. Corporate Data Management is the process, technology, and skillset that enables organizations to reliably leverage “data” as a valuable strategic asset. Companies are increasing their Reliance on data as a differentiator and competitive advantage; however data “unrefined” is of little value. Companies must understand how to store, transform, provision, secure, and manage data as a long-term renewable asset. Therefore, this course is designed to enable future business executives to understand the foundational elements of managing corporate data.

Data Analytics for Business Decisions | QBA 501. In today’s technology-driven society, there is access to unprecedented amounts of information. The significantly enhanced ability to acquire and manipulate quantitative data places new demands on a manager’s decision-making toolbox. It is essential to understand just how to look at this data in ways that allow decision-makers to make sense out of it all. This course utilizes a variety of techniques, including descriptive statistics, probability and probability distributions, sampling and sampling distributions, confidence interval estimation, hypothesis testing, and regression analysis and forecasting. Additionally, it explores basic elements of data visualization through a variety of business discipline perspectives; e.g., marketing, economics, production, and operations management, human resources, etc.

Data Analytics & Visualization | QBA 601. This course introduces students to various techniques and methodologies of using data to communicate information and ideas for strategic and operational business decision making. The course introduces students to the various data sources and data structures which may be encounter in the enterprise consumed by business intelligence (BI) tools for reporting. Students learn fundamental data design and modeling principles. This course will also expose students to data manipulation and query languages such as Structured Query Language (SQL). Students will learn BI scripting and how to use various technologies to analyze data and develop data visualizations in BI dashboards. The course discusses various data types encountered in the enterprise such as categorical, hierarchical, relational, temporal, and spatial data and the visualizations that can be used to display them.

Financial Modeling | FIN 611. Financial modeling is the quantitative representation of the relationships among the variables of financial problems. A well-designed financial model captures the interdependencies among the variables at hand and makes it easy to answer “what-if” questions. Developing good financial models requires combining knowledge of finance and modeling skills. Because the financial principles supporting the models we build are covered in other finance courses, we will only spend a little time on the financial theory behind each model. Financial and statistical functions as well as more complex Excel and VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) operations, such as using data tables, working with matrices, loops and arrays, and generating random numbers, will be introduced as necessary. No prior VBA knowledge is expected. The corporate finance and investment models we will focus on include: cost of capital, financial statement modeling, capital budgeting, portfolio construction methods including mean-variance portfolio optimization, value at risk, equity options valuation, and bond portfolio management. The overriding goal of this course is to get the students to the skill level where they can model and solve most finance problems they will face in the business world.

IT Strategy & Leadership | OM 614 – This course presents an overview of the information technology function with emphasis on IT strategy and leadership. The course will demonstrate how IT delivers value to an organization by highlighting key aspects of the IT management process. This includes describing the IT planning, application development, and infrastructure support processes including measuring value. We will also examine future technology trends, how to monitor the technology landscape and how to evaluate new technologies for appropriate business value. The course will provide a brief history of IT in business along with an overview of how competitors, suppliers and customers are using technology. We will also discuss and study emerging issues such as cybersecurity, international regulations and privacy. The intent of this experience is to prepare you to take a responsible role in your organization when managing or interfacing with this critical and dramatically changing organizational function. The course combines traditional classroom lectures, readings, guest speakers, cases and projects to facilitate learning. This includes discussion of concepts, frameworks, terms and tools that are needed by business leaders to strategically and appropriately leverage information technology to support the business. Throughout the term, IT leaders will be invited to discuss their perspective of the IT function and share their experience in how to facilitate effective communication between business and IT leaders. Lastly, we will critically examine ethical issues and social impacts of emerging technology.

Marketing Analytics | MKT 614. This course takes a fully hands-on and experiential approach to expose students to the usage and interpretation of a variety of marketing analytic methods and tools. Emphasis is placed on gaining skills in transforming various types of data into powerful insights capable of driving key marketing and business decisions.  Analytical approaches covered within the course include:

• • customer lifetime value analysis
  • the identification of consumer segments
  • perceptual mapping for the product positioning
  • pricing decisions
  • new product development
  • sales forecasting
  • others that impact important marketing-related decisions

Closely coached by the instructor, students will have the opportunity to use a powerful yet user-friendly Excel-augmenting software program to conduct complex analyses with relative ease. Engaging case exercises and a competitive simulation play a significant role in the course experience, giving students multiple opportunities to apply the concepts and methods learned to different scenarios faced by large and small companies.

• Robert Barr, M.S.D.S., Adjunct Instructor of Management
• Ginger Killian, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Marketing
• Tracy R. Kizer, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Marketing
• Jordan Lomas, M.B.A., Adjunct Instructor of Operations
• Brian Walkup, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Finance
• Keith Whittingham, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Management Science & Corporate Sustainability
• Garr S. Williams, Jr., M.B.A., Adjunct Instructor of Management

• Official Transcripts (all colleges/universities where 15+college credits earned)
• Statement of Purpose
• Recommendations
• Résumé

Questions? Contact Crummer Admission at graduate-business@rollins.edu or 407.646.2405.

Tuition for the Fall 2024 & Spring 2025 Graduate Certificate Program

The tuition for the graduate certificate program is $1,100 per credit hour. Crummer alums will receive a 50% discount. Rollins alums will receive a 35% discount on the first certificate. Other students get a 20% discount on the first certificate. 12 credits are required to complete a graduate certificate. Previous Crummer coursework may be applicable towards a certificate. Please contact admission for details on your specific applicable credits.

Questions? Please contact us at graduate-business@rollins.edu or 407.646.2405.

Fees
Parking: $140

Thank you for your interest in the Business Analytics Graduate Certificate.

We are excited to help you through your admission process and are here to answer any questions you might have. Feel free to contact us using the options below:

Phone:
407-646-2405 / 1-800-866-2405

E-mail:
graduate-business@rollins.edu

This certificate equips individuals with the entrepreneurial mindset, strategies, and practical tools necessary to thrive in the competitive world of entrepreneurship. Upon completion of this certificate, students will be able to apply and advance entrepreneurial skills learned to launch or expand a business. Students will gain greater knowledge of technologies, markets, customers and competitors while learning to create value for stakeholders through effective business modeling.

Twelve semester hours of course credit distributed as shown below are required to earn the Graduate Certificate in Entrepreneurship. Unless otherwise noted, each course is three semester credit hours.

Two courses, at least six semester hours from the following:
ENT 608 – New Venture Creation
ENT 613 – Raising Capital for Entrepreneurial Ventures
ENT 615 – The Entrepreneurial Venture
MGT 611 – Negotiations in Business

At most six semester hours from the following:
ENT 607 – Social Entrepreneurship
ENT 609 – Family Business in the 21st Century (1.5 credits)
ENT 614 – Commercializing Technology and Science
ENT 616 – Social Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Development
INTL 617 – International Entrepreneurship (1.5 credits)

Note: Not all courses are available every semester

Commercializing Technology & Science | ENT 614. This course provides the student with an understanding of challenges in using entrepreneurial ventures to commercialize products or services derived from governmental, non-profit, or large for-profit organizations who engage in developing new technologies or scientific breakthroughs.

The Entrepreneurial Venture | ENT 615. This introductory course serves as an overview of the entrepreneurial venture with a focus on the many ways entrepreneurial ventures compare to traditional companies. Several important topics are covered including the life cycle of a business, strategy development, managing growth, and exit strategies. The course also covers cash flow, bootstrapping, and early-stage financing for entrepreneurial ventures. These topics and others will be engaged in more deeply by students through guest lecturers and immersion trips to analyze entrepreneurial, early-stage companies.

Family Business in the 21st Century | ENT 609. Family-owned businesses are ubiquitous and growing in the US and around the world. They comprise 80-90% of all businesses and cover the spectrum of small mom and pops to multi-billion dollar, complex, global enterprises. Families control 35% of Fortune 500 companies. Regardless of the size, family businesses have long been and continue to be an economic engine. The origins of these family enterprises are often entrepreneurial and, as a result, these families can expand their holdings from the original operating business to other entities, including trusts, investment funds, holding companies, family offices, and charitable foundations. Given the dominant presence of family enterprises in the business world, students of business are likely to encounter, work for, work with, or be a member of a business family. While family enterprises can have much in common with non-family, private, or publicly held companies, there are characteristics that are unique only to family businesses.  This course is an introduction to the basic concepts specific to family enterprises such as governance, ownership structures, values-based decision making, succession planning, intra-family conflict management, and inter-generational dynamics, and will give students an understanding of the challenges and opportunities of family enterprises in order to be informed employees, owners and/or shareholders.

International Entrepreneurship | INTL 617. This course provides students with a practical, hands-on approach to launching a venture internationally. Students will study the processes of launching an entrepreneurial venture in one or more international markets. As part of the course, students will be able to:

• analyze the processes of international entrepreneurship from both theoretical and practical perspectives
• identify the main characteristics of successful international entrepreneurs
• understand the advantages and disadvantages of international expansion
• distinguish between traditional and new forms of international entrepreneurship
• identify and evaluate suitable sources of funds for international expansion
• create an appropriate international strategy and an expansion plan for an entrepreneurial firm.

Negotiations in Business | MGT 611. The purpose of this course is to help you develop an analytical understanding of negotiation and the management of differences so you can become more effective problem solvers in the face of conflict. This is a course in critical thinking and decision-making. The need for bargaining and dispute resolution skills arises wherever joint decision-making is necessary. The context may be bi-lateral, or it may involve three or more interested parties, each with veto power over any solution. As in most decision-making, the aim of effective negotiation is not simply to reach an acceptable outcome for all participants but to create optimum value in the deal-making process for all participants. In that light, students with an interest in managing any enterprise, including all areas of business, non-profits, and government, should find the lessons of this course useful. Negotiating skills are as critical as technical skills for effective managers. Moreover, managers are increasingly confronted with conflicting viewpoints offered by subordinates as firms emphasize employee participation in the operation of the enterprise. The effective manager will secure cooperative resolution to such conflict using negotiation skills.

New Venture Creation | ENT 608. This course examines the entrepreneurial process of starting and scaling an enterprise from an idea and business model into a company. Such a process covers a wide variety of activities, philosophies, and skills, all centered on recognizing and seizing opportunities and creating and growing new ventures. The course is directed toward turning an idea and business model into a high-growth company.

Raising Capital for Entrepreneurial Ventures | ENT 613. This course starts with forming a company and deciding how to allocate the initial equity among the founders, then funding the early stage of the startup by the founders, friends, and family investors. Each class session covers a different phase of capital raising including placing a valuation on the company for each phase and the terms that are typically found in deals with angel investors, venture capital investors, strategic partners, and others. Teams negotiate the terms for each type of financing with the instructor playing the role of the investor. Other sources of capital are discussed including grants from governmental agencies, loans from small business investment companies, and, at a later stage, loans from commercial banks. We then take the company through an initial public offering.

Social Entrepreneurship | ENT 607. This course is a survey of critical, contemporary, innovative management models and methodologies encapsulated under the umbrella of social entrepreneurship. Social entrepreneurship is a rapidly developing and changing field in which business and nonprofit managers design, grow, and lead mission-driven enterprises with measurable social impact. As the conventional lines between nonprofit enterprises, government, and business blur, it is essential to understand the opportunities and challenges in this new landscape.

Social Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Development | ENT 616. This course combines seminar-style classroom activities to augment the end-of-term international travel, which, when combined, gives students experiential learning on organizing and managing a grant-based initiative to develop an ecosystem that supports social and commercial entrepreneurship.

• Pete McAlindon, Ph.D., Entrepreneur-in-Residence
• William Grimm, J.D., Executive-in-Residence for Entrepreneurship & Negotiation

• Official Transcripts (all colleges/universities where 15+college credits earned)
• Statement of Purpose
• Recommendations
• Résumé

Questions? Contact Crummer Admission at graduate-business@rollins.edu or 407.646.2405.

Tuition for the Fall 2024 & Spring 2025 Graduate Certificate Program

The tuition for the graduate certificate program is $1,100 per credit hour. Crummer alums will receive a 50% discount. Rollins alums will receive a 35% discount on the first certificate. Other students get a 20% discount on the first certificate. 12 credits are required to complete a graduate certificate. Previous Crummer coursework may be applicable towards a certificate. Please contact admission for details on your specific applicable credits.

Questions? Please contact us at graduate-business@rollins.edu or 407.646.2405.

Fees
Parking: $140

Thank you for your interest in the Entrepreneurship Graduate Certificate.

We are excited to help you through your admission process and are here to answer any questions you might have. Feel free to contact us using the options below:

Phone:
407-646-2405 / 1-800-866-2405

E-mail:
graduate-business@rollins.edu

Thank you for your interest in the Crummer Graduate School of Business at Rollins College.

We are excited to help you through your admission process and are here to answer any questions you might have. Feel free to contact us using the options below:

Phone:
407-646-2405/1-800-866-2405

E-mail:
graduate-business@rollins.edu

Tuition for the Fall 2024 & Spring 2025 Graduate Certificate Program

The tuition for the graduate certificate program is $1,100 per credit hour. Crummer alums will receive a 50% discount. Rollins alums will receive a 35% discount on the first certificate. Other students get a 20% discount on the first certificate. 12 credits are required to complete a graduate certificate. Previous Crummer coursework may be applicable towards a certificate. Please contact admission for details on your specific applicable credits.

Questions? Please contact us at graduate-business@rollins.edu or 407.646.2405.

Fees
Parking: $140

• Official Transcripts (all colleges/universities where 15+college credits earned)
• Statement of Purpose
• Recommendations
• Résumé

Questions? Contact Crummer Admission at graduate-business@rollins.edu or 407.646.2405.