Industrial Pharmacy and Master of Business Administration
The Duquesne MBA/MS in Industrial Pharmacy joint degree is offered cooperatively by the Palumbo-Donahue School of Business and the School of Pharmacy.
A combined 72 credits for these two degrees, 30 credits for the MS in Industrial Pharmacy and 42 credits for the MBA, is reduced to 61.5 credits through credit-sharing.
How to Apply
Students may begin their study in either the School of Business or the School of Pharmacy.
However, students must apply and be accepted to both programs of study.
Tuition Information
While the student is enrolled in both the MS in Industrial Pharmacy and the MBA programs,
the MS in Industrial Pharmacy tuition rate will apply for all terms except any term
during which a student is enrolled exclusively in MBA courses. During those terms,
the MBA program will take priority and the graduate business tuition rate will apply.
Curricula Details
Benefit from a curriculum that integrates critical business and technical experiences
to prepare graduates for management positions in pharmaceutical manufacturing.
Program Information
The Duquesne MBA/MS in Industrial Pharmacy joint degree is offered cooperatively by the Palumbo-Donahue School of Business and the School of Pharmacy.
Program Type
Dual Degree
Degree
Master's
Required Credit Hours
61.5
“The graduate degrees I earned from Duquesne University set me up for success
in my professional career. Through my coursework, I strengthened the skills necessary
to be both an effective leader and teammate.”
MS in Industrial Pharmacy
A course designed to integrate the principles of formulation of pharmaceutical drug
products with the unit operations required for their manufacturing. Students will
learn how liquid (emulsions and liposomal formulations) and solid oral (tablets and
capsules) dosage forms are designed and manufactured. Formulation strategies related
to effective drug delivery as well as industrial processing will be discussed. Theory
and current methods related to liquids mixing/blending, emulsion preparation, liposomal
encapsulation, comminution, dry mixing/blending, granulation processes, tableting,
encapsulation, and film coating will be discussed. Students will also be exposed to
issues concerning manufacturing scale-up and packaging. Offered fall term, odd years. Hybrid Course, Lecture. Offered fall only, odd years.
A course designed to provide a general appreciation of the regulatory aspects of industrial
practice (including the federal patent system) associated with the transition from
a new bioactive substance or composition to a finished product. Class, two hours.
Offered spring term, odd years. Lecture. Offered spring only, odd years.
A combination laboratory and lecture course designed to provide students with an opportunity
to develop hands-on experience with pharmaceutical manufacturing equipment, formulations,
and common release testing procedures. Didactic sessions will focus on developing
the skills necessary to perform a risk assessment (as part of a quality risk management
system) and draft a batch record for routine manufacturing of a drug product. Regulatory
underpinnings of these practices will be discussed. Successful completion of the course
requires execution of the completed and approved batch record and characterization
of a quality attribute of the product. Offered spring term, even years. Lecture/Lab. Offered spring only,even years.
A course designed to prepare the pharmaceutics graduate student to operate processing
equipment in the Duquesne University Industrial Pharmacy Laboratory according to established
standard operating procedures and university/school safety protocols. The successful
student will become familiar with approved standard operating procedures (SOPs); complete
formal training for specific processing equipment including assembly, operation, and
disassembly/cleaning; and achieve certification for operation of pharmaceutical processing
equipment according to School policy. Offered fall term, odd years. Lecture/Lab. Offered fall only, odd years.MBA - Master of Business Administration
This course provides graduate business students with an introduction to fundamentals
of accounting for corporations. Topics will include the accounting cycle, an introduction
to the basic financial statements of a corporation and determinations of corporate
profitability and solvency. Online. Offered every semester.
The course is a prerequisite for ECON 520 and covers introductory topics in both microeconomics
and macroeconomics. Online. Offered every semester.
Financial Management is about decisions firms make in two broad areas: the investments
it makes and how it pays for them. The first involves expenditures for physical capital,
human capital, technological capability, brand capital, and so forth. The second involves
raising money in financial markets. In business decision making, the objective is
to maximize shareholder wealth. Why the emphasis on shareholders? Among stakeholders
generally (i.e., customers, employees, suppliers, government, communities, etc.),
shareholders alone possess a uniquely comprehensive and long-term view of the firm’s
viability as an ongoing enterprise. This perspective arises from the residual nature
of shareholders’ claim to earnings and assets. Wealth is created when the return from
investing business resources exceeds their opportunity cost. FINC 501 Finance Fundamentals
provides an introduction to fundamental topics which are prerequisite for FINC 530
Financial Management: • Financial Statements and Ratio Analysis • Financial Statement
Forecasting • Time Value of Money Pre-Requisite: ACCT 501 for level GR with minimum
grade of C (may be taken concurrently). Online. Offered every semester.
This course provides the necessary foundation in probability and statistics necessary
for students looking to go on to study the application of statistics to business.
In this course, students will learn the rules of probability, how to identify and
use common probability distributions, and how to conduct basic hypothesis tests. Online. Offered every semester.
In this course, students will learn how to apply statistical methods of inference,
produce and interpret statistics that attempt to answer typical business questions,
and use probability theory and statistical methods to draw conclusions. Students are
required to arrive having a working understanding of basic probability and statistics
up through and including hypothesis testing. This course places heavy emphasis on
the application of statistical techniques to business problems and the interpretation
of results for a non-technical audience. Pre-requisite: STAT 501 for level GR with
minimum grade of C. Lecture, Online. Offered every semester.
The primary responsibility of all managers is to make decisions in situations in which
there are multiple competing objectives. This course introduces students to a set
of tools that can be applied to scenarios in a variety of business environments. Specifically,
this set of tools will include data summarization, data visualization, optimization
methods, Monte Carlo simulation, multi-criteria decision analysis, and decision trees.
Subsequent courses in the program will utilize these analytical methods within their
specific decision environments. Pre-Requisite: STAT 501 for level GR with minimum
grade of C (may be taken concurrently). Lecture, Online. Offered every semester.
This course examines the ways in which leaders, managers, and employees can improve
employee performance and commitment – key factors underlying competitive organizations.
Guided by an examination of contemporary research and real-world cases, students will
develop the knowledge and tools needed to help them navigate the opportunities and
challenges inherent in managing themselves and others to generate enduring social
and financial value, while incorporating long-term sustainable business objectives
into the vision for the firm. Lecture, Online. Offered every semester.
This course provides graduate business students with a deeper understanding of the
accounting cycle used in companies to produce both internal and external financial
information. Special emphasis is placed throughout the course on understanding, analyzing
and interpreting financial statements and related information. Additionally, students
will be introduced to decision making tools such as ratio analysis and challenged
to utilize them to critically evaluate financial information and make effective decisions.
The basics of corporate sustainability reporting will also be covered. PR: ACCT 501
for level GR with minimum grade of C. Lecture, Online. Offered every semester.
The course covers selected topics in microeconomics. It emphasizes the integration
of microeconomic theories and tools from a managerial perspective. The applied aspect
of the course comes from analyzing case studies and studying empirical evidence of
the theories. Topics include both traditional topics in microeconomics (quantitative
demand analysis, elasticities, production and costs, market structures and profit
maximization), in addition to advanced topics (game theory and pricing strategies).
Pre-Requisite: STAT 510 for level GR with minimum grade of C (may be taken concurrently). Lecture, Online. Offered every semester.
The purpose of this course is to provide business professionals with the knowledge
needed to manage and utilize information systems and technology within a business
organization. As information systems have become critical to the success of modern
business organizations, knowledge of information systems has become a key success
factor for all business professionals within the organization. This course provides
comprehensive and integrative coverage of essential new technologies, information
system applications, and their impact on business models. Moreover, this course emphasizes
the conceptualization of information systems as structured technology configurations
working collectively to serve the information needs of an organization. Lecture, Online. Offered every semester.
Supply Chain Management (SCM) is the business process that has evolved from the integration
of the traditional business disciplines of forecasting, demand planning, materials
planning, purchasing, production, operations management, transportation, inventory
management, warehousing, packaging, materials handling, customer service, and related
information systems. SCM focuses on efficient and effective customer satisfaction
from the exchange of goods, services and information to complete the business transaction
from supplier’s supplier to customer’s customer. This course provides insight into
the goals and best practices of each business discipline included in the SCM process,
and how these disciplines integrate to ensure a competitive advantage and corporate
success. Students will assess industry specific differences in managing the flow of
materials, goods, services, information and cash via the processes, technologies,
and facilities that link primary suppliers through to ultimate customers for both
service and product industries. Pre-requisite GRBR 503 for level GR with minimum grade
of C and STAT 510 for level GR with minimum grade of C. Lecture, Online. Offered every semester.
Financial Management is about decisions firms make in two broad areas: the investments
it makes and how it pays for them. The first involves expenditures for physical capital,
human capital, technological capability, brand capital, and so forth. The second involves
raising money in financial markets. In business decision making, the objective is
to maximize shareholder wealth. Why the emphasis on shareholders? Among stakeholders
generally (i.e., customers, employees, suppliers, government, communities, etc.),
shareholders alone possess a uniquely comprehensive and long-term view of the firm’s
viability as an ongoing enterprise. This perspective arises from the residual nature
of shareholders’ claim to earnings and assets. Wealth is created when the return from
investing business resources exceeds their opportunity cost. FINC 530 Financial Management
provides an advanced discussion of the analytical techniques used to assess the impact
of business decisions on shareholder value. The course covers these topics: • Valuation—stocks,
bonds, corporate valuation • Interest rates and financial markets • Investment decision
making (capital budgeting analysis) • Risk, return and the opportunity cost of capital
• Market efficiency • Capital structure Pre-Requisite: FINC 501 for level GR with
minimum grade of C and ACCT 515 for level GR with minimum grade of C and STAT 501
for level GR with minimum grade of C. Lecture, Online. Offered every semester.
This course is designed to develop the legal literacy of MBA students by raising their
conscious awareness of potential legal problems or challenges as they discharge their
professional responsibilities. Because business decisions have legal implications,
it is important that managers understand the legal environment in which they must
function. In fact the significance of the law is so great it has been suggested that
modern organizations are immersed in a “sea of law.” As a part of an integrated professional
MBA program students will come to understand how law affects all aspects of business.
This is not a stand alone legal course. In this course we will bring a legal sensitivity
to the financial, managerial, organizational and strategic dimensions of business.
The larger goal of this course is to develop a legally astute manager. Although we
tend to think of the law as the exclusive province of lawyers, the reality is that
law is too important a matter to be entrusted to lawyers alone. To do so is in effect
an abdication of the business professional’s responsibilities. The legally astute
manager understands that success in business requires, among other things, the development
of critical thinking skills. There is no better context in which to develop those
skills than in the study of business law. Critical thinking skills honed in the study
of law provide a foundation for business professionals who must navigate across a
wide range of disciplines in order to achieve business success. Toward that end, MBA
students will examine substantive concepts relative to such matters as contract formation,
risk management, intellectual property, environmental management, employee relations
and corporate form and governance. As we live in a time in which the law, business
and society nexus is so significant, it would be foolhardy to underestimate the importance
of legal education in shaping our business leaders. Lecture, Online. Offered every semester.
This course teaches graduate students essential qualitative decision-making skills
for analyzing business issues with an ethical dimension. Conflicting and complementary
conceptions of the ethical decision making model are presented that demonstrate how
to critically reason through ethical dilemmas in business across all business functions.
These rational processes will enable students to effectively recognize, evaluate and
resolve ethical conflicts. Throughout the seminar, the analytical frameworks will
be applied to common ethical challenges to businesses. The purpose is for students
completing this module to be able to identify which ethical framework is most appropriate
for addressing a given real world issue and ultimately be able to apply that framework
to facilitate responsible decision making. Thus, the course begins with a detailed
description and application of each ethical decision making framework to ensure students
understand how and in what contexts these tools are utilized. Then, attention is paid
to the various individual, organizational, and institutional factors that affect ethical
misconduct in the workplace. Personal cognitive influences, common intra-organizational
pressures, regulatory factors, and market forces are discussed in terms of how they
moderate ethical behavior in business. Once students learn the sources of ethical
indiscretions in organizations, methods for constructing and manipulating organizational
environments to increase the likelihood of ethical behavior among the firm’s stakeholders
are offered. Lecture, Online. Offered every semester.
This course examines the role of marketing in creating exchanges that satisfy consumer
and organizational objectives thereby creating value for the firm. The course focuses
on formulating and evaluating marketing strategies. Students learn how marketing mix
decisions – product, place, promotion and price – are made as part of a cohesive strategy.
Contemporary concepts and theories will be presented with a focus on analytical and
financial models that will assist marketing managers in making better decisions. Emerging
perspectives on strategic sustainability, marketing management and the impact of digital
media are also emphasized. Pre-Requisite: ECON 501 for level GR with minimum grade
of C. Lecture, Online. Offered every semester.
Strategic sustainability advances students’ managerial skills for identifying, researching,
evaluating and communicating innovative opportunities involving the efficient and
effective management of financial, social, and environmental resources. Building on
our commitment to the Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME), this
course experience serves as a foundation for strategic sustainability, models and
tools across the curriculum. Students work individually, and in teams to frame problems,
research and develop training seminars, and manage resources for assigned topics.
The focus is inspiring innovation, and creating competitive advantage – both short
and long term – for organizations. Deliverables include presentations of mini training
seminars to peer, analytical life cycle assessment along with participation in class
discussions while applying critical thinking to identify productivity gains, cost
savings, revenue increases, and profit growth when implementing sustainable business
practices. The course is taught as a seminar where sharing learning, best practices
and sustainability knowledge across teams and individuals enables all to gain insight
to emerging issues beyond the scope of a single entity. Students work within an integrated
curriculum to analyze internal/external situations, drivers and risks; to identify
problems and opportunities; to evaluate return on investment from alternative courses
of action; and to value both short- and long-term prosperity. Students independently
learn about, apply, and reflect on proven models and methodologies while honing their
skills as a researcher, analyst, writer, and speaker. Pre-Requisite: GRBU 503 for
level GR with minimum grade of C. Lecture, Online. Offered every semester.
This course helps students acquire the knowledge and skills needed to interact and
manage effectively in a global business environment. Students will be exposed to international
aspects of organizational behavior, human resource management, labor relations, corporate
strategy, political risk and ethical issues. Overall, this course is designed to raise
students' international business acumen as well as their cultural intelligence. While
business is an increasingly global proposition, cultural differences impact everything
from how employees are hired to how they are led to how business strategies are formed. Lecture, Online. Offered every semester.
This is a dynamic course that provides an overview of executive leadership and opportunities
to interact with senior managers. The course draws on the collective experience and
wisdom of distinguished business leaders who visit the class to provide students with
executive perspectives on the challenges associated with thinking entrepreneurially,
strategic leadership, developing a vision and motivating organizational change. Students
use a variety of conceptual frameworks in leadership and related areas to assess and
evaluate these “executive insights” (e.g., via papers and projects) with an eye toward
developing their own leadership skills, particularly their ability to seize opportunities
and create effective solutions for the contemporary challenges facing business leaders.
Lecture, Online. Offered every semester.
This course addresses the process of planning and implementing business strategies.
In order to develop a future direction for an organization, this class builds on the
formulation of a company’s mission, industry analysis, an organization’s internal
assessment, innovation, and strategic planning. This course emphasizes corporate governance,
sustainability, and ethics in strategic management. Prerequisites: ECON-520 with minimum
grade of C, FINC-530 for level GR with minimum grade of C, and MKTG-535for level GR
with minimum grade of C. Lecture, Online. Offered every semester.
The second half of our integrative capstone sequence, the Capstone Project involves
students teams working with a real company client to develop a set of strategic recommendations
for advancing the business. In this course, students will assess the firm’s strategic
context and diagnose its internal operations as well as its products and/or services
as they relate to customer needs. In doing so, students will experience what it is
like to make high-stakes and impactful recommendations to top management under time
pressure and with high expectations for quality and analysis. Final deliverables for
each team include a detailed report that lays out specific action steps and metrics
(e.g., for productivity gains, cost savings, increased revenues/profit growth) as
well as a sophisticated presentation to company management that highlights the team’s
analysis and recommendations. Pre-Requisite: MGMT 540 for level GR with minimum grade
of C (may be taken concurrently). Lecture, Online. Offered every semester.