The Department of Finance, Economics and Management Information Systems offers, specialization in these three areas under the Business degree program.
Finance Specialization
Finance is the art and science of managing money. It is an important function of all organizations as well applicable to individuals. Finance is closely related to both accounting and economics. It is somewhat more quantitative than the functions of management and marketing.
Many popular career opportunities exist in finance. The financial service industries including commercial and savings banking, insurance, investments and brokerage, personal financial planning and real estate. These finance-based industries are commonplace in all develped societies. All require talents in budgeting, cash management, credit administration and funds procurement - all finance functions and important duties of the treasurer or financial manager. Further carrer opportunites are growing rapidly in international finance for those interested in political and exchange rate risk that arises from conducting business in different currencies.
Successful financial management involves maximizinh the effective use of the assets of the business entity in order to maximize the value of the firm, generally its profitability. Again, the relationship to accounting is extremely important - the accountant prepares the numbers that evidence how a firm has done - the financial manager uses those accounting numbers to make decisions about how to manage the firm in the future.
Economics Specialization
Perhaps more than any other science, economics is about how change influences the lives of individuals, businesses and nations. The later is so evident as one considers the collapse of the former Soviet Union and the continued expansion of economic reforms, towards free-markets, in 1996 in Russia. Why do some proper and others fail?
Available courses will cover both traditional macro and micro theory. In micro we look at national and international fluctuations, monetary policies, the deleterious effects of the national debt, budget deficits and the field of money & banking. In micro we look at how firms operate, the functions of supply and demand and various types of competition, to name just a few inportant subjects.
Enthusiastically we support the goals of the university, as stated on page 7 of the university catalogue, encouraging an understanding of our system of democratic capitalism, a system of free-markets and limited government, the finest system in the world, but always as undergirded by our cherisshed Judeo-Christian values. Job opportunities abound in business, government and teaching.
Management information Systems Specialization
The technology used in our society today is increasing at a fantastic rate. Computers and microprocessor-controlled devices are being used in every single facet of life from medical laboratories to automobiles, from telephones to the lathes on the floors og machine shops and steel mills, even from our wristwatches to televisions and VCRs.
Rather than the classical programmer or technician, today's business schools must turn out graduates who have a background in all business functions and competency with the new business tools of the day - many of which have been computerized.
The MIS specialization emphasizes business applications and their use in adding competitive advantage to the firm. Rather than a technical education in programming, this specialization helps prepare L.U. graduates for a career working with the myriad of computerized applications available to organizations in the world today. Some of the areas included in this comprehensive program are office automation, database management, spreadsheets and word processing, basic programming and data structures, systems analysis and available to our graduates in almost every field of employment.
