Business Administration | Programs | Case Western Reserve University

Doctor of Business Administration

About the Program

Specifically designed for experienced professionals looking to further their careers in management practice and/or academia, the Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) program at Case Western Reserve University’s Weatherhead School of Management will prepare you to effect change within an organization—and in the world—through social, intellectual, and economic impact. As the first interdisciplinary doctoral program of its kind (formerly known as the Doctor of Management), our rigorous, three-year doctoral program will help you use both research methods and theory to understand and shape solutions to today’s business problems.

What to Expect

Through three on-campus and three virtual residencies per semester, you’ll re-tool, reinvent, and transform yourself through enhanced analytical and critical thinking. You’ll take courses focusing on global economic and political issues, sustainability, design, and leadership over the course of three years. And you can choose to continue on to a fourth year to pursue a PhD in Management: Designing Sustainable Systems to increase the theoretical depth and impact of your research.

Our key pedagogical approach for the DBA program is cohort-based learning, with about 20 highly experienced professionals admitted to the program each year. This allows you to form close connections with our renowned faculty and your peers within the program and beyond.

This was built for business executives like me, so the program really understood some of the constraints and challenges that executives at a certain mature point in their career need.

Betty Moon ’08, Financial Services Industry Advisor, SAP America Inc.

A really important aspect for me has been the cohort experience. There's several dozen individuals who have their own passion around their research interests but [the faculty] have the same level of commitment to helping all of us get through it in a way that brings out our best as students, as practitioners, [which] was quite remarkable.

Candace Steele Flippin ’16, Executive Research Fellow, Weatherhead School of Management

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Beyond the Classroom

If you’re looking to conduct multidisciplinary and applied research that you can bring into real-world practice and/or disseminate in the academic realm, consider our Engaged Practitioner Scholar program, also known as EPS@Weatherhead. Through the program you’ll focus on:

Research: Leverage a network of alumni, faculty and research resources to conduct practitioner-scholar research projects.
Education: Participate in workshops on relevant methods and topics.
Dissemination: Present your work at conferences and publish findings in journals.
Networking: Make connections within the practitioner-scholar community through an alumni network and the Executive DBA Council.

By the Numbers

1st

interdisciplinary doctoral program of its kind

years to complete a DBA

students in each cohort, on average

20,000+

Weatherhead School alumni around the world

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Admissions Requirements

Our program thrives when we have students with diverse perspectives and a range of educational, professional and life experiences. We look forward to learning more about you!

To start your application, you’ll need: