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Rady School of Management

Lisa Ordóñez, PhD, Dean

UC San Diego’s School of Management was established in 2001 and was named the Rady School of Management in January 2004. It matriculated its first MBA degree students in fall 2004 into the FlexMBA, a program for executives and working professionals; its first full-time MBA students in fall 2005; and its first PhD students in fall 2009. The school is pioneering the education of tomorrow’s business leaders through an innovative curriculum led by internationally recognized faculty. The school leverages UC San Diego’s strengths as a preeminent research institution, especially its outstanding programs in science, engineering, medicine, economics, and international relations.

The Rady School moved into its permanent home, Otterson Hall, in June 2007. In May 2012, the Rady School opened Wells Fargo Hall, an eighty-one thousand square-foot campus expansion. These new facilities, located on the north side of the UC San Diego campus, provide a state-of-the-art learning facility for graduate management students.

Degree Programs

The Rady School offers a master of business administration (MBA) program in several formats to accommodate the educational needs of a broad range of students. These formats include a full-time MBA program and the FlexMBA, specifically designed for working professionals and offered in FlexWeekend and FlexEvening formats. The FlexEvening and FlexWeekend MBA formats are designed to meet the educational needs of working professionals who have gained or anticipate gaining managerial or leadership roles in their organizations or are looking to start their own company. The Full-Time MBA is designed for those in early or mid-career seeking career growth or change. The MBA program emphasizes the business issues faced by innovation-driven organizations, with a particular interest in science- and technology-driven innovation and change. It provides a thorough grounding in the fundamentals of business and management in a global environment and builds on this with a distinctive curriculum focused on the implications of management principles and business realities for organizations driven by innovation. Special emphasis is placed on the ways in which ideas and innovations move into the marketplace. The school’s MBA program enables students to develop

  • knowledge of business fundamentals and their application to real-world situations
  • analytical skills for evaluating information and making rigorous decisions
  • an understanding of organizations and of the skills essential to collaborating with and managing people effectively
  • an integrated understanding of the complex global, technological, and governmental environments in which organizations operate
  • advanced abilities to assess the implications of cutting-edge scientific and technological developments for business and to move ideas from development to the marketplace
  • effectiveness in communication, collaboration and teamwork, and leadership
  • a commitment to ethical behavior and to integrity in business practice

The Rady School’s master of finance (MFIN) is a STEM-designated program that emphasizes quantitative methods, empirical work, and financial econometrics. UC San Diego has a rich tradition in empirical and theoretical econometrics with some of the most widely-used empirical models developed from the research of UC San Diego faculty. The emphasis on rigorous empirical data-driven methods differentiates the Rady School’s MFIN program from those specializing in financial engineering.

The master of science in business analytics (MSBA) at the Rady School is a STEM-designated program that provides the required skills to succeed in data-rich business environments. The program offers rigorous, hands-on training to prepare students to use data and analytics to identify business opportunities, generate insights, and create value for both customers and companies. The Rady School’s MSBA program can be completed as a full-time student in as few as eleven months. Students enrolled in the FlexWeekend program can complete the degree in seventeen months.

The Rady School’s master of professional accountancy (MPAc) prepares students for a wide range of accounting career opportunities that span public accounting firms, corporate accounting departments, and not-for-profit and governmental organizations. The foundation of the MPAc experience at Rady includes outstanding faculty, integrative accounting knowledge, team projects, emphasis on communication and teamwork, case studies, professional seminars, guest speakers, simulations, and hands-on experiences.

The Rady School PhD program is a full-time course of study, designed to prepare candidates for an academic career. Students begin active research at an early stage and work closely with faculty throughout the program. The small program size offers opportunities for rigorous interdisciplinary training and individual mentoring for highly qualified doctoral candidates. Most students complete degree requirements in four to five years, including defending their dissertations (depending on the student’s background and progress). Strong domains of academic and research interests include behavioral science, finance and capital markets, marketing, operations, management science, applied economics, and strategy.

The Rady School also offers nondegree executive education for executives and working professionals as well as a limited number of undergraduate and graduate courses designed for students who are seeking some exposure to business disciplines while majoring in other degree areas. These courses focus on project management, business practices, and bringing innovation to the marketplace. Information on course offerings is available on the school’s website.

Faculty

Under the leadership of Dean Lisa Ordóñez, the Rady School is attracting faculty members who are world-renowned experts in their respective fields. Information on faculty is available on the school’s website.

For further information, refer to the Rady School of Management website at http://rady.ucsd.edu/ or contact Rady School Admissions at (858) 534-0864 or by email at RadyGradAdmissions@ucsd.edu.