Curriculum

Part-Time only

• 36 points (credits) for degree completion
• Combination of online and on-campus residencies
• Fall intake 
• Complete in 16 months 
• Mentor-led Master's Project
• Executive Mentorship Program (one mentor per student)

Core Courses (Required for all Students)

The Executive M.S. in Technology Management is an executive format program framed by 4 multi-day intensives. Activities during intensive study connect directly to the other program components. Throughout the program, coursework is supported by a leading-edge online learning platform designed to enhance and extend the face-to-face intensive study experience. Full participation is critical for degree completion.

Required or core courses provide all students, regardless of their backgrounds, with the knowledge and skills technology executives must have to succeed in today’s fast-paced global environment. Through the study of relevant theoretical frameworks, strategies, and tools, students acquire the ability to consider technology challenges from varied perspectives. Case studies help students to apply these theories, strategies, and tools to develop solutions to challenges they face in their own industries and work environments and become highly effective leaders.

Elective Courses

Electives include courses designed expressly for the program’s areas of focus. Students may also select related courses offered at the university that may help them advance their professional and academic interests.

The curriculum includes elective courses in SIX areas of focus: C-Level Management, Data Management & Analytics, New Business Ventures, Cybersecurity, Digital & Business Transformation and Media & Entertainment.

The Mentor-Led Master’s Project

The Master’s Project demonstrates students’ ability to apply their coursework towards a specific technology solution based on the area of focus chosen by the student — usually in the form of a product or service — to a complex, real-world business challenge, objective, or scenario. A unique feature of the M.S. program and this project is the pairing of each student with an executive mentor drawn from the program’s vast network of CIOs and technology executives. Faculty approve students’ proposals for the Master’s Project during the first term of study. By a “draft” process, students are then matched with a mentor, who is interested in the student’s project. Then one-on-one work with the executive mentor over 3 semesters of the program develops and strengthens the idea into a project plan that will ultimately produce a complete and entirely portable professional asset. Master’s Projects are based on real-world business opportunities or challenges and are often centered on a business scenario the student knows firsthand from his or her own professional experience.

Executive Seminars

Over the course of the program, and in partnership with the program’s community of faculty, peers, and industry leaders, students research, develop, test, and refine their Master’s Project solutions over three sequential academic terms, completing three chapters in succession: product or service realization, strategic planning and marketing, and operations management. These online Executive Seminars immerse students in additional knowledge regarding current trends and issues in high-level technology management, taught by multiple instructors, all of whom are industry experts in one of the program’s areas of focus.

After each Executive Seminar, mentors review and discuss the progress of the Master’s Project with the student, offering the opportunity to seek advice about any aspect of the Project, from logistical business concerns to strategies for presentation and defense of the project before a review panel. Every student must “defend” each chapter orally in front of a panel of executives.

Mentor Activities

The mentor approaches and critiques the Master’s Project from the perspective of a seasoned executive, providing business context, identifying practical problems, honing solutions, challenging assumptions, offering guidance and contacts, and managing expectations. Meetings with the mentor simulate the real-world experience of working out complex solutions with a senior colleague.

Online Coursework

Many courses are enhanced through a highly interactive online experience that uses the School’s innovative distance learning platform. Students and faculty communicate through a unique social networking function in ways that extend and enhance the impact of traditional learning experiences. Courses typically include a combination of live events, asynchronous community-driven activities, and self-study. The online component does not substitute for the in-person intensive study and coursework.

Intensive Study

The intensive study component is an essential part of a student’s development and preparation for a career as an executive. The face-to-face sessions provide group discussions and debates so that students can challenge their own views and benefit from the diversity of ideas put forth by their colleagues. Students are provided access to senior IT executives who present contemporary issues facing the profession. The experience allows students to assess their own views and develop new perspectives on their leadership style. Intensive study also offers students the opportunity to network with industry leaders, get to know fellow students from around the world, and build a lifelong network of alumni, mentors, and faculty from the program.