Executive Master of Public Administration

at Golden Gate University USA

The Golden Gate University (GGU) MBA program will advance your leadership skills and business knowledge using an activity-based learning approach. Faculty members are seasoned professionals in their respective fields and will prepare you to lead in today's complex business environment.

GGU's MBA program builds your business acumen, leadership skills, and contextual knowledge throughout the practical degree design. It provides an integrated perspective of management, and allows you to tailor the program with one of several concentrations to meet your professional interests and goals. Concentrations include business analytics, entrepreneurship, project management and even the option to design your own.

Since launching the MBA program more than half a century ago, GGU has pioneered evening and online programs for working professionals to achieve their career objectives. You can proceed at your own pace in deciding how many courses to take in a given trimester and study fully in-person, completely online or a combination of both.

Students in the program come from the San Francisco Bay Area, the United States and more than 50 countries around the world. With our location in the heart of San Francisco's thriving business community, strong connections to Bay Area business leaders, and a distinguished community of more than 70,000 alumni, the educational experience and the networks available to you are unparalleled.

Golden Gate University is located at the nexus of finance and technology in San Francisco's business district. As the finance industry rapidly invents new paradigms in the face of economic change, GGU prepares students to be leaders in the global business world. The Masters of Science in Financial Analytics degree will equip you with the business analytics skills you need to address the challenges of today’s technology-intensive finance industry.

The MS in Financial Analytics is a specialized, technical program that provides in-depth exposure to principles and practices of corporate finance and business analytics. You’ll learn programming, data analysis, business valuation and financial modeling. You’ll leave the program with a highly developed and practiced ability to make strategic decisions using the latest tools in technology, data analysis, business and finance.

Our hands-on faculty are leading practitioners in the fields of business, finance, and technology from the Bay Area and beyond. Our current roster of adjunct faculty hold day jobs at Wells Fargo, J.P. Morgan, Facebook, BridgeBio, RGB Spectrum, and B. Riley FBR, Inc.

Learning Outcomes

Graduates of the MS in the Financial Analytics degree program will have the knowledge and skills to:

• Evaluate and explain financial decisions regarding the firm’s investment and long- and short-term financing strategies by applying financial theory, quantitative decision-making tools, and analytical methods.
• Apply economic analysis to the firm’s decision-making, considering the impact of markets, institutions, and international trends on these decisions.
• Define and measure business and financial risk. Describe the relationship between risk and return, and distinguish between expected and required returns. Explain how risk affects the valuation of real and financial assets, and describe techniques for managing risk.
• Interpret and analyze individual business problems using data, selecting the best analytic approach and appropriate tools for extracting value from the data available. Use visual outcomes of analytics to communicate effective messages and recommendations for management teams.

The Master of Science in Accounting Data & Analytics (MSADA) bridges advanced accounting concepts with data analytics, and will equip students with essential skills and knowledge to compete in the evolving realities of the profession. The MSADA develops students’ understanding of accounting and analytics’ concepts beyond theory through practical application positioning students to become leaders in their field. Students will explore the use of innovative technologies and business automation processes to increase operational effectiveness and efficiencies to drive better decision-making.

In the MSADA and certificate programs, students can gain essential skills that in-demand accounting professionals need in today's data-rich environment. The MSADA offers concentrations in CPA applied accounting, advanced analytics for accountants, essentials of leadership, or taxation. The Advanced Analytics for Accountants Concentration is a STEM-designated degree program.

Plus, graduate certificates are available in Accounting Data & Analytics, Accounting Foundations, Advanced Analytics for Accountants, and CPA Applied Accounting.

This MSADA program satisfies the 150-hour education requirement to become a licensed Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and the CPA Applied Accounting Concentration offers live instruction to guide students through the CPA exam.

Advanced Analytics For Accountants Concentration

This concentration is designed for accounting and tax professionals who seek to use analytics to improve strategic planning and decision-making. Students will expand their knowledge of data analytics through the practical application of business tools increasingly used in the accounting profession. Building upon the topics covered in the introductory course on data analytics for accountants, students will gain key skills utilized in the analysis and communication of business accounting data. Topics covered in this concentration include statistical analysis through the utilization of programming languages Python and R; relational data bases, data-mining, and business intelligence systems; and effective communication through the use of visualization tools. This program is a STEM-designated degree program.

This degree program provides students with the academic and clinical training required to practice relationally informed clinical work and to prepare alumni for employment in a variety of mental health settings, including community mental health agencies, hospitals, schools, and private practice. Our students learn to practice from a stance of cultural humility and to maintain ethical and best practice standards.

Golden Gate University offers a license-eligible Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology. The program maintains a strategic partnership with the Psychotherapy Action Network, an organization that aims to organize, formulate initiatives, and collectively advocate for mental health policy that is based on the complexity of the individual and not simply on the identification of discrete symptoms. This is consistent with our program philosophy, which envisions psychotherapy as a complex process of individual growth and change and the therapeutic relationship as a key element in successful treatment.

Traineeship is an integral part of our program, providing an opportunity for students to apply the skills learned in class to the clinical encounter. Students are required to complete 300 face-to-face clinical hours under clinical supervision and to concurrently attend our practicum seminar over the course of at least three trimesters.

Our curriculum meets the MFT licensure requirements as set forth by section 4980.36 of the California Business and Professions (Cal. B&P) code. The program satisfies all the educational requirements set by the California Board of Behavioral Science Examiners and provides some hours of supervised experience fulfilling part of the practical experience requirements. Our curriculum also meets the educational requirements for Licensed Professional Clinical counselor (LPCC) licensure as required by section 4999.33 of the California Business and Professions (Cal. B&P) code. The curriculum also meets the educational requirements for MFT and/or LPCC licensure in some other states. If you intend to pursue licensure outside the state of California or are completing the program, including the traineeship, outside the state of California, speak with a faculty member in the Department of Psychology to discuss the licensure requirements in your state of interest prior to beginning the program.

Learning Outcomes
Graduates of the Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology will possess the skills and knowledge to:

• Demonstrate comprehensive and integrative knowledge of the field of counseling psychology relevant to mental health professionals, including human development, psychopathology, and group, family, couple, and individual dynamics.
• Demonstrate knowledge of ethical and best practice standards that exist for professionals in their field.
• Demonstrate the capacity and willingness to practice psychotherapy from a stance of cultural humility.
• Demonstrate the capacity to practice individual, couple, family, and group psychotherapy from a relational and systemic lens.
• Demonstrate knowledge of research designs and parameters of psychological research, particularly within the field of counseling psychology, and the capacity to critically assess psychological research.

Gain Cutting-Edge Leadership Skills

Golden Gate University’s breakthrough leadership programs are based on extensive input from corporate partners, industry groups, leading scholars, and leverage the university’s decades-long successes in developing high achieving leaders in the innovative crucible of the San Francisco Bay Area.

Learn From Instructors Who Teach What They Do

Courses are taught by instructors who also work in some of the Bay Area’s largest and most successful organizations. They bring cutting-edge knowledge from the field to the classroom, teaching skills that are immediately applicable to the real world.

Future-Proof Your Career

The pace of change across industries is quickening. New technologies are disrupting established businesses at an accelerated rate. We are operating in an ever interconnected global world. Jobs once performed by professionals will soon be automated or outsourced. What was certain today well may be uncertain tomorrow. Are you prepared for how management and leadership will evolve as a result?

Finance Concentration

This concentration is designed to prepare students for a finance specialty. Whatever goal students have in the world of business, from corporate management to consulting and entrepreneurship, the study of finance gives them the grounding in decision-making techniques that will help ensure the financial health of their enterprise in the competitive global market. Students learn capital budgeting, capital structure, investment management, and short-term capital management. Our unique method combines a theoretical knowledge of finance with extensive hands-on learning that uses real-life case studies and our state-of-the art computer labs to give students the abilities to be an effective and competent manager in any organization.

The skills students acquire throughout the course of their studies prepare graduates to assume leadership roles in industrial-organizational psychology in small, medium, and large organizations in a variety of fields — technology, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, entertainment — or work at global consulting firms. Graduates are also well-prepared to pursue doctoral study in industrial-organizational psychology and related disciplines.

Learning Outcomes

Graduates of the Master of Arts in Industrial-Organizational Psychology will possess the skills and knowledge to:

• Understand the main theoretical frameworks of industrial-organizational psychology with emphasis on organizational behavior, team and individual functioning, and leadership in a global context.
• Examine the dynamic and evolving nature of professional practice with focus on careers in industrial-organizational psychology, as well as human resources, executive coaching, and management consulting.
• Learn assessment tools to measure and diagnose individual, team, and organizational performance.
• Explore contemporary challenges such as diversity in organizations, managing generational differences, and the growing role of human resources technology.

The Master of Science in Business Analytics presents students with an understanding of the many possibilities for applying data analytics to business problems. Data analytics, and the implications of this strategic discipline, give practitioners new opportunities for discovering insights that can support the strategic goals and decision making of the organization. The discipline has grown so fast that it is impossible to address all of its elements, so this degree should be viewed as a "toolkit" of statistical and analytic theory, processes, tools, and techniques, which can be integrated into the business depending on the discipline and needed outcomes.

The MSBA is relevant to multiple audiences, including: the business manager charged with using data analytics to derive value from data and/or leveraging analytics teams to get that value; the subject matter expert (SME) in a business discipline charged with using analytics on the job; the budding business analytics data scientist requiring understanding of a myriad of data analytics tools from which to draw, and the IT professional responsible for supporting the analytics infrastructure and addressing issues of data security, privacy and ethics. Students completing the MSBA will have earned 39 units including three units of graduate statistics.

The Master of Science in Business Analytics presents students with an understanding of the many possibilities for applying data analytics to business problems. Data analytics, and the implications of this strategic discipline, give practitioners new opportunities for discovering insights that can support the strategic goals and decision making of the organization. The discipline has grown so fast that it is impossible to address all of its elements, so this degree should be viewed as a "toolkit" of statistical and analytic theory, processes, tools, and techniques, which can be integrated into the business depending on the discipline and needed outcomes.

The MSBA is relevant to multiple audiences, including: the business manager charged with using data analytics to derive value from data and/or leveraging analytics teams to get that value; the subject matter expert (SME) in a business discipline charged with using analytics on the job; the budding business analytics data scientist requiring understanding of a myriad of data analytics tools from which to draw, and the IT professional responsible for supporting the analytics infrastructure and addressing issues of data security, privacy and ethics. Students completing the MSBA will have earned 39 units including three units of graduate statistics.

Management Concentration

The Management concentration is designed for aspiring and current managers who are charged with using data analytics to derive value from data and for leveraging analytics teams to achieve that value. Emphasis in on applying soft skills to meet these needs.

Gain Cutting-Edge Leadership Skills

Golden Gate University’s breakthrough leadership programs are based on extensive input from corporate partners, industry groups, leading scholars, and leverage the university’s decades-long successes in developing high achieving leaders in the innovative crucible of the San Francisco Bay Area.

Learn From Instructors Who Teach What They Do

Courses are taught by instructors who also work in some of the Bay Area’s largest and most successful organizations. They bring cutting-edge knowledge from the field to the classroom, teaching skills that are immediately applicable to the real world.

Future-Proof Your Career

The pace of change across industries is quickening. New technologies are disrupting established businesses at an accelerated rate. We are operating in an ever interconnected global world. Jobs once performed by professionals will soon be automated or outsourced. What was certain today well may be uncertain tomorrow. Are you prepared for how management and leadership will evolve as a result?

Project Management Concentration

This concentration is designed for the student who must be able to apply data analytics tools and techniques to information that the organization can use for strategic decision-making. Students taking this concentration will be introduced to specialized analytics tools and technologies.

The Master of Science in Finance is a specialized, technical program providing in-depth exposure to the principles and practices of corporate finance and investment management. The main objective of the program is to provide the specialized knowledge needed to add immediate value to your organization as a financial manager or investment adviser.

Located in the heart of San Francisco's Financial District, Golden Gate University provides networking and internship opportunities through its 68,000-strong alumni network and relationships with the local financial community.

The MS in Finance program has been certified by the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Institute as a University Affiliation Program. This membership signals to employers that the MSF curriculum is closely tied to the practice of financial management, and helps to prepare students for the CFA exams.

The MS in Finance does not attempt to provide the broad overview of business that is typical of an MBA. Instead, it focuses on the specific areas of compelling interest to financial managers, security analysts, corporate bankers, and portfolio managers. This degree is intended for students who have made a professional commitment to this key business discipline, and who are interested in equipping themselves with a comprehensive array of analytical tools and techniques.

You can choose to earn this degree entirely online or through a combination of online and in-class courses that are taught by the same professors and present the same material as the traditional format.

Learning Outcomes

Graduates of the MS in Finance program will have the knowledge and skills to:

• Evaluate and explain financial decisions regarding the firm’s investment and long- and short-term financing strategies by applying financial theory, quantitative decision-making tools, and analytical methods.
• Apply economic analysis to the firm’s decision-making, taking into account the impact of markets, institutions, and international trends on these decisions. Understand whether or to what extent a financial market satisfies the conditions of an efficient market.
• Define and measure business and financial risk. Describe the relationship between risk and return, and distinguish between expected and required returns. Explain how risk affects the valuation of real and financial assets, and describe techniques for managing risk.
• Evaluate the corporate governance structures of firms and examine the interactions, from a governance perspective, among firm management, financial markets, and stakeholders.
• Describe and evaluate the ethical implications of financial decision-making and financial practices, assess alternative recommendations for solutions to ethical financial problems, and offer appropriate resolutions to those problems.

The Master of Science in Human Resource Management degree program is recognized as being fully aligned with the curriculum guidebook of the Society for Human Resource Management. Our students learn how to consider the perspectives of employees and employers, the ways to effectively manage people, and the importance of employee engagement and development. Students study trends that managers and employees are likely to face in the future, and learn about legal requirements in dealing with employees.

Some students in the program choose to take an internship in Human Resources Management, in lieu of one course, which allows them to gain meaningful "hands-on" HR experience. In some cases, these internships parlay into a job offer upon completion of the degree.

Learning Outcomes

Graduates of the Master of Science in Human Resource Management will be able to:

• Craft strategic solutions that align stakeholders, HR practices and business needs for successful organizational performance.
• Build ethical, sustainable and scalable partnerships with organizational business units that support enhanced employee satisfaction, efficiency and effectiveness.
• Identify and apply relevant federal, state and local laws and regulations to prevent and solve problems and ethically minimize risk.
• Assimilate, manage and analyze demographic and business data and metrics using Human Resource Management Systems (HRMS) to enable effective human-capital recommendations and decision-making.
• Promote and facilitate inclusion and employee engagement as a means of expanding and improving people’s contributions.