The faculty in UAB’s highly ranked Master of Business Administration Program in the Collat School of Business specialize in teaching students the skill sets they need to solve the complex problems facing modern business leaders.
There has perhaps never been a time when the skills future business leaders will need are so uncertain. How has artificial intelligence changed the way companies approach strategy? How do executives see new technologies affecting their workforces and reshaping their hiring needs? How are students responding to new AI tools? What do alumni wish they knew about reacting to this changing world?
A year ago, the UAB MBA faculty were tasked by Collat Dean Christopher L. Shook, Ph.D., with reenvisioning the degree for the rapidly changing needs of businesses. The faculty used the same approach they teach their students: Start with your stakeholders. The task force members, led by Paul DiGangi, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Management, Information Systems and Quantitative Methods, fanned out across the city to talk with business owners and executives. They interviewed current students. And they tapped into the extensive network of UAB MBA alumni around the world.
New MBA launched in fall 2025
The answers they found led directly to the redesigned MBA curriculum that is launching with the fall 2025 semester. The program has taken a “stackable,” flexible approach — layering a range of market-driven graduate certificates on top of a core curriculum so that students can customize their training to their specific needs. As it has been for the past decade, the MBA program is available in person, online or in a hybrid format; all classes are available online. The degree can be completed in as little as 12 months full time or 24 months part time.
The redesigned curriculum “was very much driven by what employers told us about their needs and what students and former students said they wanted to build upon from the previous curriculum,” said Karen Kennedy, Ph.D., senior associate dean and professor in the Collat School of Business. “It is more flexible, with more opportunities for specialization.”
Instead of offering a separate AI certificate or degree, “we have infused AI into every area of our program,” Kennedy said. “It’s a technology that our faculty and students are constantly using, and it is relevant across all the disciplines that we teach in the MBA program.”
Certificates allow students to specialize
The new MBA curriculum starts with “a core of 24 credit hours of courses that help students understand what is going on in business today,” Kennedy said. “Then they have the opportunity to stack a certificate onto that, to give them an area of specialty.”
The core curriculum includes courses in leadership, financial forecasting and navigating complex economic environments, among others. A new class focuses on business analytics and AI, two of the top areas of business concerns today. Another new course, on managing disruptive technologies, prepares students to lead their organizations through the opportunities and challenges presented by generative AI — and whatever revolution comes next.
The remaining 12 credit hours allow students to focus on areas of specialty, including certificates in finance, marketing, entrepreneurship, the business of health care and business analytics. Several of these certificates involve collaborations with other schools on campus, Kennedy says. For the Business and Health certificate, for example, students can take classes in the School of Health Professions’ highly ranked Health Services Administration program and in the School of Public Health.
Students can earn certificates independently
Students who already have MBAs can earn certificates independently, Kennedy adds. Previously, the MBA program offered concentrations, but earning these required additional credit hours beyond the 36 hours for the MBA itself.
“The stackable format gives students an opportunity to build on their particular field,” Kennedy said. “Students want to see how their business education is connected to their area of interest. With these certificates, they can do exactly that.”
UAB’s MBA program enrolls students three times a year: in fall, spring and summer. Learn more about the program and apply online.