Brennan School of Business

Mission

The Brennan School of Business provides ethics-centered management education for students who are either entering business professions or continuing their professional development. The curriculum provides students with an enduring foundation in business and leadership skills as well as an understanding of the best in current business practices resonant with the university’s core values of Caritas et Veritas.

Core Values of the Brennan School of Business:

Ethical business behavior
Compassionate leadership
Global perspective
Entrepreneurial mindset

Goals

The Brennan School of Business was created to fulfill the mission of Dominican University by providing value-centered intellectual development and professional preparation in the business disciplines for motivated students. The purpose of the business program, like that of the university, is to foster the personal, social, and professional development of its students through excellent teaching, careful mentoring, and rigorous programs of study.

The Brennan School of Business has six specific goals that flow from its mission:

To expose students to the theories, concepts, and scholarly literature of business.
To assist students in developing value-centered, ethical perspectives.
To enable students to acquire an understanding of current management thought, technology, and methods through in-depth study of the business disciplines, particularly as they apply to entrepreneurial and global organizations.
To enable students to demonstrate and apply their knowledge and understanding in solving business problems, particularly through the use of case study analyses and information systems technology.
To instill in students confidence in their own abilities and decision-making skills and the ability to work effectively as part of a team.
To advance theory and knowledge in the field of management through faculty and student scholarship and research.

Taught by a faculty of well-prepared academicians and distinguished practitioners, the curriculum takes a broad interdisciplinary approach to business education. The undergraduate program enables students to choose from among four business majors and three separate concentrations. The programs offered by the Brennan School of Business all reflect the university’s commitment to liberal arts and professional learning. The business school is dedicated to providing students with academic instruction that is not only grounded in liberal arts education but also distinguished by its rigor and challenge. A primary purpose of the business program is to prepare graduates to have an understanding of ethical precepts and a commitment to socially responsible behavior. Through its international business curriculum and programs, the Brennan School of Business also supports and extends the university’s dedication to cultural and ethnic diversity. Finally, the Brennan School of Business supports the university’s goal of graduating intellectually curious and engaged students who will carry with them an enthusiasm for lifelong learning as cultural traditions and the professional environment constantly change and evolve.

Academic Goals and Outcomes

The business curricula provide students with the opportunity to expand their knowledge and to develop the tools for managing companies and organizations in an ethical manner with consideration for all stakeholders.

Goal 1: Students will appreciate the ethical foundation of effective long-run business decisions and promote social responsibility and ethical leadership in managerial decision making.

Objective: Successful students will demonstrate an understanding of fundamental approaches to moral reasoning, including knowledge of contemporary ethical issues in global settings.
Objective: Successful students will demonstrate an understanding of the role and appropriateness of social responsibility within the business environment.

Goal 2: Students will communicate effectively in written and verbal formats.

Objective: Successful students will effectively prepare and deliver class presentations.
Objective: Successful students will demonstrate an ability to write analytical papers.

Goal 3: Students will utilize technology and electronic learning to address business applications.

Objective: Successful students will demonstrate competency in the use of and/or ability to develop software packages that focus on business applications.
Objective: Successful students will demonstrate competency in applying models to systematically collect, store, and disseminate information.

Goal 4: Students will utilize quantitative and analytical methods as well as critical-thinking skills in business applications.

Objective: Successful students will demonstrate competency in developing a hypothesis (thesis, topic) and in effectively researching information that will lead to appropriate conclusions.
Objective: Successful students will demonstrate the ability to interpret graphical and empirical data, utilize software to analyze data, and/or develop various system solutions that focus on business applications.

Goal 5: Students will utilize a global perspective in the evaluation of contemporary business issues.

Objective: Successful students will demonstrate an understanding of the economic, financial, managerial, and/or technological implications of a firm operating internationally and/or domestically.
Objective: Successful students will demonstrate an understanding of the role of small businesses, entrepreneurs, and technology in the economy and the potential problems they may experience.

The faculty’s work in defining these academic goals and objectives enables the students in the Brennan School of Business to benefit from a coherent system of management education. This educational system is designed not only to help them learn business concepts but also to prepare them for success throughout the course of their professional management careers.

Undergraduate Admission Process

Students who wish to complete a major in accounting, business administration, economics, or international business must be admitted to the Brennan School of Business. Admission is open to students who have completed 12 credit hours, are in good academic standing at the university, and who have completed prior business courses sufficient to meet one of the following criteria:

Completion of at least one business course (accounting, business administration, or economics) at Dominican University or an equivalent business course at another institution, and enrolled in at least one additional business course at Dominican University.
Completion of at least two business courses at Dominican University.
Completion of at least four equivalent business courses at another institution.

Application forms are available in the Brennan School of Business Office in Lewis 203.

All students, whether or not they major in one of the business disciplines, are welcome to enroll in business courses. However, no more than eight business courses (in accounting, business administration, and economics) may be taken without declaring a major in one of the business disciplines.

Course Prerequisites

Many business courses have prerequisites. These prerequisites are waived only in exceptional circumstances and only with the consent of the department chair or the dean of the Brennan School of Business

Accelerated MBA Program

Qualified students may be able to complete the bachelor’s degree and the Master of Business Administration degree in a total of five calendar years. During the undergraduate program, the equivalent of the six MBA foundation courses may be taken. Students are encouraged to apply to the Accelerated MBA program before the end of their junior year. Accepted students may enroll in two MBA courses during their senior year, one course each semester, and credit will be given toward the undergraduate degree. The remaining ten graduate business courses may be taken upon completion of the undergraduate degree.

For more information on these programs, please contact the Brennan School of Business at business.dom.edu or (708) 524-6810.

Commitment to Ethics and Integrity

Since its founding, the Brennan School of Business has insured that all its academic programs provide students with an understanding of the concepts and theories of ethical decision making as well as numerous opportunities to practice and apply those concepts during their study. This is done through a variety of curricular and co-curricular programs, ranging from case study analyses and service learning courses to student-sponsored lectures and off-campus volunteer programs. The first endowed chair in the Brennan School of Business was designated by its donors to be the Christopher Chair in Business Ethics. This chair has enabled the business program to place an ever-increasing focus on ethical business practices, through annual lectures, workshops, and other faculty and student initiatives that ensure that ethics are taught and practiced in every part of the curriculum.

Realizing that students who matriculate in the Brennan School of Business must conduct themselves in accordance with the highest standards of academic integrity during their course of study, the following academic integrity policy has been developed to guide their actions.

Academic Integrity

Whatever the assignment, students are encouraged to engage in critical thinking and to use quoted or paraphrased material in ways that appropriately support their own ideas. In written or oral work, a student may make fair use of quotations, ideas, images, etc., that appear in others’ work only if the student gives appropriate credit to the original authors, thinkers, owners, or creators of that work. This includes material found on the internet and in electronic databases. Student plagiarism is the deliberate presentation of the writing or thinking of another as the student’s own. Failure to maintain academic integrity will not be tolerated.

The following definitions are provided for understanding and clarity:

Inappropriate attribution of sources.

Use of quotation marks, but failure to provide a citation for the material.

Providing a citation for material, but failure to use quotation marks for material that appears in others’ work. Please note, quotation marks are used when three or more consecutive words are taken directly from others’ work. Exceptions are made for commonly used phrases such as “triple bottom line” or “corporate social responsibility.” When in doubt, be safe and use quotation marks.

Paraphrasing others’ work without providing a citation to that work.

Paraphrasing is presenting others’ ideas or thoughts but doing so entirely in one’s own words. Attribution must always be given in a citation at the end of the paragraph, even if the name of the author/s is included in the body of the text.

Direct plagiarism.

This entails using others’ material word-for-word and presenting it as one’s own work without any indication that the words are those of another.

Simply changing one or two words or phrases does not materially change the character of this form of plagiarism, which is the most serious.

Whatever the assignment, it must be clear that the student is using the quoted or paraphrased material in support of his or her own ideas, and not taking credit for the quoted/paraphrased material.

Cheating entails the use of unauthorized or prohibited aids in accomplishing assigned academic tasks. Obtaining unauthorized help on examinations, using prohibited notes on closed-note examinations, and depending on others for the writing of essays or the creation of other assigned work are all forms of cheating. A student who assists another in cheating will be held to the same standard.

Academic dishonesty may also include other acts intended to misrepresent the authorship of academic work or to undermine the integrity of the classroom or of grades assigned for academic work. Deliberate acts threatening the integrity of library materials or the smooth operation of laboratories are among possible acts of academic dishonesty.