UNC Kenan-Flagler Announces New STEM-Designated Program

A number of business schools in the U.S. are offering STEM-designated programs that allow students on an H-1B visa to get a 24 month extension as part of the training that directly relates to their field of study.

We recently compiled a list of some of the top business schools across the U.S. that offer STEM-designated programs, including Wharton, MIT Sloan, Columbia Business School among many more, and now we have yet another school joining the list.

The new STEM-Designated concentration on offer

In mid-December 2019, UNC Kenan-Flagler announced a STEM-designated concentration in Business Analytics and Management Science for full time MBA students. The concentration, which is designed for students interested in developing their analytical skills, will provide a broader perspective of statistical modeling, data management and data visualization. The concentration will also prepare students for roles in industries including (but not restricted to) energy, retailing, consumer packaged goods, fintech, biotechnology and healthcare.

Talking about the concentration, Rajdeep Grewal, the Townsend Family Distinguished Professor of Marketing, says: 

Our focus is on strategic decision-making to prepare our graduates to use analytics to lead companies. Today managers are inundated with data that comes in large volume at immense velocity and in diverse, structured and unstructured forms. Through the concentration, our students will develop a deep understanding of business problems and the analytics skills to make informed, data-driven strategic decisions.

Vinayak Deshpande, a faculty for the concentration, adds:

Courses build the data analytic toolkit for business applications and business acumen to apply and refine them for a diverse set of business functions.

Business Analytics and Management Science will be essential for students in gaining an understanding of business-relevant math and science concepts. Students will also learn how to navigate large volumes of data, and apply the same knowledge in a diverse set of business functions.

Course offerings within the concentrations

The course offerings within the concentration vary from subjects including data analytics, marketing analytics, value chain innovation, investments, business modelling and many more. These courses will help students improve their skills in data analytics across different business functions, be it traditional business or emerging sectors.

Employment opportunities

According to the employment reports provided by UNC Kenan-Flagler for the class of 2019, 21% graduates worked in technology, 20% in financial services and 17% in consulting. From this, a select number of companies, including Adobe, Amazon, Apple, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Barclays, Capital One, Cisco, Dell, Deloitte Consulting, Ernst & Young, Google, McKinsey, Novartis, Schlumberger and Walmart employed graduates who did not have permanent U.S. work authorization. Employment opportunities post the completion of the Business Analytics and Management Science concentration includes companies such as Amazon, Apple, Dell, Deloitte Consulting, Google, and many more. 

Faculty

The concentration will be taught by distinguished faculty such as Eric Ghysel and Vinayak Deshpande, among many others. Eric Ghysel is the Edward Bernstein Distinguished Professor of Economics and Professor of Finance at UNC Kenan-Flagler, and teaches empirical finance and PhD courses. Ghysel’s most recent research report focuses on Mixed Data Sampling, and his expertise lies in subjects including data analytics, quantitative methods, technology and much more.

Vinayak Deshpande is a professor and Area Chair of Operations and Mann Family Distinguished Scholar at UNC Kenan-Flagler. With research interests in supply chain collaboration, service parts management, and addressing security and privacy issues in supply chains, Deshpande has worked in industries such as defence, aviation, airlines, computers and automobiles. His expertise lies in subjects including supply chain management, product development, sustainability and more. Vinayak Deshpande has also been awarded a Dantzig Dissertation award for his PhD dissertation, which he wrote on operations management, while also being honored as an Edelman Award Laureate for an outstanding example of management science and operations research practice.

For more details on the concentration, you can check out the full details on UNC Kenan Flagler’s website.