Seattle University MBA Program: A Comprehensive Overview

In today's rapidly evolving business world, organizations seek leaders who can connect profits to purpose, inspire teams, and foster strong relationships with customers, investors, and communities. The Albers School of Business and Economics at Seattle University is dedicated to developing such leaders through its MBA programs. These programs equip students with technical business skills and the soft skills and ethical framework necessary to navigate and lead in dynamic times.

The Albers School of Business and Economics: A "Diamond in the Rough"

Located in the heart of the Seattle Metro Area, the Albers School of Business and Economics at Seattle University is a "unique" and "well-structured" program with a strong "Jesuit tradition" on a "beautiful campus in an economically thriving city." Albers boasts a diverse cultural set of faculty, students, and staff. The Seattle location is particularly advantageous for MBA students, given the presence of major American companies like Amazon, T-Mobile, Microsoft, and Starbucks. The Albers MBA program builds a "strong sense of community," with a unique "focus on social justice" and "strong core values" integrated into every aspect of the school.

Key Features of the Albers MBA Programs

Values-Centered Education: Grounded in Jesuit values, the school fosters ethical, inclusive, and innovative leadership, equipping professionals not only to succeed in business but also to act with integrity and social responsibility.
Cross-Functional Skill Development: Seattle University's MBA program is designed to equip students with cross-functional skills and knowledge essential for leadership roles. The Online MBA program at Albers enables professionals to develop comprehensive expertise in HR, marketing, finance, project management, team leadership, and global business strategy while maintaining their current professional commitments. The cross-functional skill set gained includes Leadership Challenges woven throughout the curriculum.
Industry Connectivity: As a student at the Albers School of Business and Economics, you have a gateway to the Pacific Northwest tech community through the Albers Mentor program, New Tech Northwest, and partnerships with the Puget Sound region’s top business professionals. Albers is connected to over 81,000 alumni in 42 states and 88 nations.
Experienced Faculty: Faculty of the Albers Online MBA program have top-level experience in industries ranging from finance to information technology, manufacturing to transportation, and more. The tenured professors have published research and commentary in numerous top-tier journals, reflecting the diversity of their expertise.
Flexibility and Convenience: Students praise the "convenience and flexibility" of the program, calling it a "great program for working professionals." Classes are offered at night in two locations, and students are allowed up to five years to finish coursework, which helps for students who work full-time and have families.
Strong Sense of Community: The Albers MBA program builds a "strong sense of community," and its unique "focus on social justice" and "strong core values" are baked into "every aspect of the school."
Exceptional Placement Center: Students say that "the placement center at Albers is exceptional" and "holds numerous events for networking and career advancement." Seattle University is an advantage because of its location. Seattle is an economic powerhouse of the West Coast, and the school uses those connections to help students.
Student-Centered Approach: At Albers, you’re never just a number. Small class sizes and accessible faculty enable personalized mentorship and meaningful engagement.

Available MBA Programs at Albers

Albers offers four distinct MBA programs, each tailored to different stages and goals in your career:

Early Career MBA

The Early Career MBA is a one-year, full‑time, in‑person cohort program designed for recent graduates with non‑business bachelor’s degrees and less than three years of work experience. Classes occur mornings in fall, winter, and spring, with evening classes in the summer to accommodate internships. The program includes career seminars, Albers Executive Speaker Series attendance, and the Albers Mentor Program. The Early Career MBA program is designed to provide students with a strong academic foundation, guided professional development and the hands-on experience needed to succeed in a variety of careers and industries. In Seattle University's Early Career MBA program, you will learn as much from your peers as you will from your instructors. Skilled in both industry and scholarly research, our expert faculty merge theory and hands-on experience in the classroom.

Benefits:
- Develop cross-functional business knowledge and high-demand leadership skills.
- Learn solid business skills and explore career possibilities through MBA course work.
- Develop the broad-based critical thinking skills and business knowledge that employers are seeking in new employees.
- Learn as much from your peers as you will from your instructors.*Over 70% of Albers graduates work within the state, helping to facilitate internships and career connections. Albers is connected to over 81,000 alumni in 42 states and 88 nations.

Professional MBA

The Professional MBA is a flexible, part‑time evening MBA designed for working professionals aiming to advance in their careers, launch a business, or pivot industries. It focuses on cross‑functional business knowledge, leadership skill-formation, and building strong connections within the Seattle business community. The Professional Master of Business Administration program is designed to prepare you for leadership responsibilities in business. The Albers School of Business and Economics has consistently ranked among the top business schools nationally and in the Pacific Northwest. Faculty of the Albers PMBA program have top-level experience in industries ranging from finance to information technology, manufacturing to transportation, and more. The Professional MBA core integrates multiple business disciplines, training you to solve complex business problems using a multi-disciplinary approach. Albers’ PMBA connects you with networks and resources to help you excel in the next step of your career. Among them is a dedicated career center that offers the acclaimed Albers Mentor Program. The Behavioral and Analytical core modules are each taught in a unique mini-cohort format.

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Benefits:
- Advance your career-getting promoted, taking the plunge to start your own business, or exploring career opportunities that were once impossibilities.
- Customize your degree according to your interests and career goals.
- Maximize your investment and minimize your cost.
- The top job outcome amongst graduates is CEO with an average salary of $147,063.

Leadership Executive MBA (LEMBA)

The Leadership Executive MBA (LEMBA) is a 20‑month, in‑person, cohort program structured into six compact two-three‑day modules per quarter, ideal for senior-level executives with demanding schedules. It offers one-on-one executive coaching, multidisciplinary exposure, and a curriculum that blends core business fundamentals with deep personal leadership development. The LEMBA program is ranked #20 in Executive MBA programs nationwide and consistently ranked among the top 30 executive programs since 2016. Seattle University's tradition of educating the whole person means that the Leadership Executive MBA program delivers more than just the increased level of business acumen you'll find at top business schools. To accommodate even the most demanding schedules, Seattle University's Leadership EMBA degree program meets once a month in compact, three-day modules. In Seattle University's Leadership Executive MBA program, you'll learn as much from your peers as you will from your instructors.

Benefits:
- Sharpen your strategic thinking, enhance executive decision-making, and deepen your understanding of global business dynamics.
- Immediately integrate newfound knowledge into your current role.
- A powerful network for collaboration and insights.

MBA in Sport and Entertainment Management

The MBA in Sport and Entertainment Management is a specialized program at the intersection of business and the vibrant sports and entertainment industry. It leverages experiential learning, industry mentor access, and a focused curriculum to prepare leaders for this dynamic field. The MBA in Sport and Entertainment Management is available in both in‑person and online formats, catering to different learning needs and geographic flexibility.

Online MBA

Designed with flexibility in mind, the online MBA helps you take your career to the next level. The Online MBA program from Seattle University is designed to offer a hands-on learning experience-even while studying remotely-and to connect you with contemporary business leaders who understand the value of purposeful and sustainable innovation.

*Online MBA students have the option of taking a study tour course in place of OMBA 5310. For two weeks, students will learn about international business topics alongside students in our on-campus programs. Each trip will have at least one 3-credit class associated with it. The course subjects and locations vary every year, but previous trips have included China, the European Union, Peru, and Italy.

Curriculum Overview

The Albers Online MBA curriculum includes several courses that will help you develop quantitative and analytical skills to make sound business decisions. To ensure that you get the most benefit from these courses, all students are required to complete three short online refresher courses from Harvard Business Publishing covering algebra, probability, and statistics. At the end of each course, you may take the assessment as many times as you need. When you successfully complete the assessment, you’ll receive a certificate to show your achievement.

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The curriculum is split into the Analytical Core and the Behavioral Core. The analytical side covers accounting, finance, economics, and statistics, which gives students a much stronger foundation in the numbers side of business than they had before. The behavioral side focuses on management, ethics, and leadership.

Some of the courses offered include:

Ethical Leadership: Provides students with an understanding of the social and natural environments within which moral issues in business arise. Introduces students to both the ethical concepts and ethical principles, and the reasoning and analytical skills needed to resolve those moral dilemmas.
Corporate Finance: Introduces tools and techniques used in corporate financial management. Emphasis on financing and investment decisions in the presence of risk and conflicting goals among stakeholders. Topics include financial statement analysis, capital structure, time value of money, valuation, risk/return tradeoff, and capital budgeting.
Managerial Economics: Introduces economic principles and applies them to business and policy issues. Central themes include assessing resources, understanding competitive markets, understanding market power and how it changes optimal business strategies, appreciating the problems of market failures and inequities springing from market allocations, and important macroeconomic principles.
Leadership and Team Development: Fosters leadership skills and team development through a combination of traditional learning activities (readings, classroom experiences) and an experiential learning laboratory.
Risk Management: The focus of this course is on managing known and unknown risks to a firms’ value creation.
Marketing Management: Helps develop essential knowledge and skills for effectively planning, implementing, and controlling marketing activities, including the psychological and quantitative aspects. The focus is on the application of basic marketing concepts and principles as well as strategic decision-making for achieving and sustaining competitive advantages in the marketplace.
Supply Chain Management: The strategic importance of supply chain management to manufacturing and services. Activities will include case discussions, guest speakers, and simulated negotiations.
Management Accounting: Introduces principles and concepts of management accounting for strategic decision-making and focuses on the use of internal data and information and their impact on business efficiency and effectiveness.
Financial Management: Presents basic principles of corporate finance and develops tools for financial decisions and valuation in the presence of uncertainty, imperfect information, and conflicting incentives among stakeholders.
Business Conditions Analysis: A study of the domestic and global economic environment of business and its impact on management planning and decision-making. The determinants of business cycles, inflation, unemployment, interest rates, and exchange rates.
Data Management: Introduces the management and analysis of corporate data. Topics include conceptual data modeling, relational database systems, data warehousing, and data administration, as well as SQL.
Global Business Strategy: Investigates the role of management in developing and executing international and global business strategy.

Faculty Expertise

The faculty at SU “are amazing” and “willing to spend time with you so that you understand the materials.” Most of the teachers here “have worked in business so can relate real world experiences to classroom work.” Students say that the administration is “very open and willing to help” and provide “abundant” “opportunities to tweak the program” to student needs.

Examples of faculty and their research focus include:

Ajay Abraham, PhD: Pricing in the context of surcharges using experiments, meta-analysis, and eye tracking.
Ben Kim, PhD: Corporate data management, data mining, e-business, and global business management.
Geneva Sedgwick, JD, LLM: The intersection of human rights and innovative, entrepreneurial business, and education models.

Alumni Success

A huge advantage of Seattle University is the location. Seattle is an economic powerhouse of the West Coast, and the school uses those connections to help students. Some notable alumni include William Foley, Jr., the Chairman of Fidelity National Financial; Mohamed Ali Alabbar, Chairman of Emaar Properties; and Gary Brinson, founder of The Brinson Foundation.

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