OTTAWA, Kan. – Ottawa University has received approval from its institutional accreditor, the Higher Learning Commission, to offer a Doctor of Business Administration degree. The degree will initially be offered at its residential campus in Ottawa, Kan., beginning in the fall of 2022. This is Ottawa University’s first doctoral program.
“Ottawa University has an extraordinary Business, Education, and Arts & Sciences faculty, all with outstanding credentials and experience within the professions and the academy,” said Dr. Terry Haines, University Provost. “Our graduate-level business program has served thousands of students from around the world and our new doctorate in business administration will expand that transformational impact to an ever-growing number of future business and organizational leaders. I look forward to Ottawa’s work in providing this dynamic curriculum and in further serving our diverse business communities”
The Doctor of Business Administration degree was designed for those seeking to advance their careers in management, strategic and executive leadership, and consulting. The delivery for the 56 credit-hour degree coursework will include six, two-day, on-campus residencies each year of enrollment. Students will be able to continue their current employment while working on their doctorate. Graduates of this program will be expected to be at the forefront of strategic evidence-based management, an increasingly important skill for knowledge generation, and executives and scholar-practitioners expected to make significant contributions in business, leadership and the advancement of management practice and science.
“The establishment of our first doctoral degree is an important milestone in the evolution and growth of Ottawa University,” said William M. Tsutsui, President and CEO. “We owe thanks and congratulations to the team of faculty who collaborated to develop this timely program, and to President Reggies Wenyika and Provost Terry Haines, who spearheaded and supported the effort all along the way.”
“Ottawa University has a long innovative tradition of reaching and serving students with relevant degrees offered in accessible and flexible modalities,” said Dr. Marylou DeWald, Dean of the Angell Snyder School of Business. “Delivering the DBA in an executive format from the Ottawa, Kansas, residential campus will reinforce that innovative history while supporting our mission of preparing students for a lifetime of significance. With a storied 156-year history, moving the institution into the ranks of universities offering doctoral programming is not only logical, but quite simply, thrilling.”
An obvious next step for a university that has seen more than 1,300 graduate with their MBA degrees in the last 10 years, including a current enrollment of more than 600 in its business graduate programs, OU will begin the process of preparing to accept its first cohort of doctoral students. Prospective students will be expected to hold an MBA or an equivalent qualification in addition to relevant work experience. Details, announcements, and advertisements soliciting applications will be forthcoming.
DBA Program Details