We recently announced that we're developing MBA specializations in partnership with faculty from Harvard Business School, Cornell, Dartmouth, and the University of Texas at Austin. The specializations launching for Fall 2025 include AI, Business Analytics, Cybersecurity, Finance, and Healthcare Administration.
Program Documentation (syllabi, finalized learning outcomes, etc.) will be available in August 2024. In the meantime, we’re excited to share a preview of the programs thus far.
Rize’s program development process consists of three stages:
- Program Definition: Rize partners with top-tier program consultants to define cutting-edge programs based on the target roles, skills, and learning outcomes students need and employers want.
- Curriculum Development: Once programs are defined, our in-house instructional design team helps build the curriculum and courses, focusing on creating engaging online experiences specifically for students at small institutions.
- Academic and Industry Feedback: As a final step, we get feedback from industry experts to ensure the outcomes and skills we teach are what students actually need to be successful in their careers. We repeat this step on an annual basis to keep up with changing labor-market needs and industry developments.
Note: Rize MBA specializations are currently in Stage 2 of development. Topics are subject to change as we continue to get feedback from academic and industry experts.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
This accessible, low-code program empowers future managers to understand how to apply AI strategically to innovate and streamline business processes. At the end of this program, students will be able to articulate business use cases for different AI models (ChatGPT, predictive modeling, etc.) and their limitations, understand the foundation of those tools, methods to leverage AI both creatively and strategically, and how to ethically implement and optimize an AI strategy for a business.
Sample Learning Outcomes:
- Develop and refine prompt engineering techniques for LLMs such as ChatGPT and methods to assess the fairness and bias of results.
- Leverage predictive models to create better forecasts and drive decision-making.
- Ethically define, create and manage a plan for an AI project from start to finish using no-code AI platforms, from identifying which problems are best suited for AI to building and testing products to implementing the solution and articulating it to a non-technical audience.
- Apply ethical and governance frameworks to ensure the technology is used responsibly and safely.
Business Analytics
Today’s business environment is all about leveraging data to make decisions. This program prepares students for data-driven business communications, project management, and analyses with the goal of driving ethical and effective actions. They’ll start with a real-world problem, determine what data to collect, manipulate and interpret the data, create visualizations, and ultimately be able to tell a story to both technical and non-technical audiences.
Sample Learning Outcomes:
- Develop data analysis and modeling techniques using industry-standard tools such as Excel and Tableau to manipulate and interpret complex datasets.
- Effectively convey complex data-driven insights to both technical and non-technical audiences.
- Apply data analytics and machine learning to real-world problems, managing projects, and presenting data-driven solutions.
- Supervise the entire lifecycle of data projects, integrating ethical and legal considerations, validating model accuracy, and applying rigorous monitoring to drive ethical business outcomes.
Cybersecurity
Students in this program will be prepared for ‘Oversee and Govern’ and ‘Protect and Defend’ jobs within the government’s NICE Cybersecurity Workforce Framework. As such, students will learn to effectively manage cybersecurity for businesses: they’ll understand the risks associated with different network designs, maintain compliance to laws and regulations governing the space, develop strategies to mitigate risks within companies, and manage crises under pressure to ensure fast and comprehensive recoveries. (They’ll even learn a bit of white-hat hacking themselves!)
Sample Learning Outcomes:
- Create and implement comprehensive governance, risk management, and compliance plans that align with corporate performance goals, follow key regulations, and enhance organizational resilience.
- Design robust network architectures optimizing business-critical, mission-critical, and safety-critical functions, enhancing operational efficiency and system reliability.
- Effectively manage cybersecurity incidents from detection to recovery.
- Use ethical hacking tools and techniques to discover vulnerabilities within networks and systems and improve security.
Healthcare Administration
By the end of this program, students will be prepared to ethically and effectively manage within diverse and growing healthcare systems: clinics, hospitals, the public sector (Medicare/Medicaid), insurance, and consulting, to name a few. They will comprehensively understand the structure and economics of the US healthcare system, develop Excel modeling and cost accounting skills, understand key challenges for management of healthcare (such as optimizing revenue cycles, improving key KPIs, and retaining staff) and make data-driven decisions for healthcare organizations.
Sample Learning Outcomes:
- Analyze and predict the impacts of economic principles and policy changes on the US Healthcare system.
- Understand how to effectively manage healthcare organizations by analyzing strategic challenges, managing workforce and IT systems, optimizing revenue cycles, and implementing quality management processes.
- Manage, communicate, and action healthcare data ethically and effectively by creating dashboards, presenting patient-level data, and utilizing EHR data to support decision-making and improve healthcare outcomes.
- Analyze financial data, evaluate investment opportunities, and effectively communicate recommendations in order to make informed financial decisions for healthcare organizations.
Finance
By the end of this program, students will have comprehensive training in key financial principles and practices essential for strategic management. They will learn to analyze corporate financial statements, conduct present value analysis, build financial models, and evaluate risk and return. The program will also cover bond valuation, portfolio risk measurement, cost of capital, and financial instruments like futures and options. Finally, students will investigate innovations that are currently disrupting traditional finance: blockchains, cryptocurrencies, decentralized finance (DeFi), social finance, and the role of AI in investing.
Sample Learning Outcomes:
- Assess risk for individual stocks and diversified portfolios using covariance and correlation metrics to make informed investment decisions and optimize portfolios.
- Design corporate financial plans and budgets to support long-term financial goals and operational efficiency.
- Conduct present value analysis for complex investment projects to determine profitability and investment viability.
- Evaluate new financial technologies, including cryptocurrencies, robo-advisors, and AI investment strategies, and their potential to disrupt traditional finance.
- Communicate financial insights, analyses, and strategies effectively, demonstrating the ability to influence business decisions and drive financial success.
If you're interested in offering our MBA specializations on your campus, request a call with our Academic Partnerships team to learn more.
