Business

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The global business world is ever-evolving, and Penn State Lehigh Valley’s Bachelor of Science in Business is specially designed to prepare you for careers that are built to last. Whether you want to pursue a career in management, marketing, or finance, or go the entrepreneur route and start your own business, you’ll be guided by first-rate faculty members with decades of accumulated professional experience and close ties to the continually growing Lehigh Valley business community. Better still, you’ll be earning a brand-name degree with near-limitless potential around the world.

Overview

PSU-LV’s Business program gives students access to the unique business environment of the Lehigh Valley, setting it apart from other business degrees offered both within the University and at other colleges. You can choose a specific area of business to focus your studies while engaging in collaborative learning experiences that are solidly rooted in theory and practice. The multifaceted course offerings include Microeconomic Analysis and Policy, Business Information Systems, Negotiation Skills for Business Professionals, Leadership and Motivation, and International Business Operations.

Outside the classroom, you can join the campus Business Society, which promotes professional development, or nurture your entrepreneurial interests through the campus’s Lehigh Valley LaunchBox business accelerator. And you’ll be exposed to a large network of alumni who can serve as mentors, as well as internship opportunities at numerous local companies. If your focus is more globally minded, you can pursue a study-abroad experience.

Students enrolled in the Business program can choose from six areas of focus:

Accounting Option

This option prepares you for a career in accounting with its emphasis on financial and managerial accounting, auditing, and taxation. You’ll be prepared to pursue a career as a CPA, corporate controller, treasurer, budget director, or consultant. By the time you graduate, you’ll meet the requirements to sit for the Certified Public Accountant (CPA) examination, and will be able to pursue other professional certifications, such as Certified Management Accountant (CMA) and Certified Internal Auditor (CIA). Courses within the option include Financial Accounting, Auditing, and Taxation.

Business Analytics Option

The Business Analytics option prepares students to pursue careers in applying business analytics techniques to implement appropriate decision-making outcomes using data for companies.

Financial Services Option

This option prepares you for careers in a wide range of financial service organizations, among them banks, credit companies, wealth management firms, real estate companies and insurance brokerages. It’s also perfect for entering a wide range of industries as a financial analyst. Courses include Investment and Portfolio Analysis, Principles of Taxation, Risk Management, and Accounting.

Health Services Option

With this option, you can pursue a degree focused on the health sciences. Healthcare is one of the largest industries in the U.S. and the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates that with the overall growth of the industry, the demand for managers and administrative workers is bound to increase. Courses include Financial Decisions in Healthcare Organizations, Health Systems Management, Principles of Managed Care, and Population Health.

Individualized Option

This versatile option allows you to pursue an approved business-focused interdisciplinary program of study. Here, you can pair business with information technology, psychology, entrepreneurship, international business and management, and other coursework, allowing you to focus on your unique interests and/or career plans.

Management and Marketing Option

This option prepares you to pursue careers to function in community and regional centers of commerce. Its dual emphasis allows you to select courses in both disciplines as a foundation for leading small businesses or divisions within large organizations. You can take courses in human resource management, leadership, international management, retailing, global marketing, market research, communications, and ethics.

Graduates of our Business program go on to pursue careers as:

Marketing Managers
Business Analysts
Sales Managers
Government Service Executives
Account Executives
Business Development Managers

Testimonial

“The business program gave me access to a group of faculty members who were passionate about academia but also understood the corporate world and had either succeeded at major corporations earlier in their careers or had their own successful companies. My Penn State education has made possible things that I dreamed of doing during my childhood. I couldn’t be prouder to call myself a Nittany Lion.” – Ray Hernandez ’14, education adviser for Inchainge, B.V., a value chain leadership organization based in Utrecht, the Netherlands.

Suggested Academic Plans

Suggested Academic Plans (SAP) provide the possible order of courses students might follow as they pursue a particular degree. SAPs are proposed schedules only. Individual student's schedules might look different if – in consultation with an academic adviser – the student has created a different plan. Care should be taken when changing the order of courses, as the SAP takes into account prerequisites and course controls. For the final work regarding the courses needed for graduation in a particular major, all students should consult the University Bulletin and their degree audit.

Suggested Academic Plans