Courses

The listing of a course description here does not guarantee a course’s being offered in a particular term. Please refer to the published schedule of classes on the MyBU Student Portal for confirmation a class is actually being taught and for specific course meeting dates and times.

• QST IS 854: Digital Strategy for Business Leaders
  A digital strategy is an organization's roadmap for leveraging digital technologies - including artificial intelligence, cloud computing, data analytics, and emerging platforms - to innovate business models, enhance products and services, streamline operations, and foster meaningful interactions with customers, suppliers, and strategic partners. For business leaders, developing and executing a robust digital strategy is essential not only for competitiveness but also for resilience in a rapidly evolving market environment. This course equips students with practical tools and frameworks to effectively design, implement, and communicate digital strategies within complex organizations. Students will explore critical management practices such as agile project management, effective change management in digital transformations, strategic use of AI and data analytics, cybersecurity considerations, and financial modeling to evaluate digital investments. Through interactive case studies, simulations, and exercises, students will apply these concepts in practical contexts. Industry experts will provide insights into current challenges and opportunities, sharing real-world experiences and best practices. Instead of a traditional final exam, student teams will work collaboratively on projects to conceptualize, develop, present, and secure stakeholder support for their own comprehensive digital strategy initiatives.
• QST IS 858: Agile Project Management
  This course is designed to provide students with an overview of agile development methodologies. The course introduces the various methods currently used in the industry and then focuses on the primary methodologies used today, SCRUM and Kanban. Students will learn the tools of these agile development approaches and will be introduced to RALLY Project Management software, the leader in the industry for SCRUM. Students will learn to analyze requirements, create backlogs, schedule "stories" to be developed and delivered, hold standup meetings, and Retrospectives.
• QST IS 865: Integration of Generative AI in Business Practice
  This course provides students with a practical understanding of generative AI and how to strategically implement it across organizations. Through lectures, case studies, and hands-on exercises, participants will learn the fundamentals of generative AI and how it stands to transform industries. Given the wide applicability of these technologies, we will consider how to prioritize GenAI applications and develop roadmaps for integrating AI into various business functions. Students will explore best practices for managing AI projects and addressing legal, IP, and ethical considerations. The course will include insights from AI practitioners driving change in major companies through Gen AI. Despite its promise, realizing value through these technologies can be challenging. We will study the barriers to AI integration along technical, organizational, and operational lines. The class does not involve programming and is appropriate for the general MBA audience.
• QST IS 879: Business Modeling with Spreadsheets
  This course aims to sharpen students' ability to conduct quantitative analyses of business problems. The primary focus is on problem formulation and analysis -- identifying the key components of a decision problem, structuring it, translating it into a graphical chart, and then building the appropriate mathematical and spreadsheet models. These models are used to generate valuable qualitative and quantitative managerial insights. Students will be introduced to data management and decision tools such as Formula Diagrams, Linear Optimization, and Error Detection methodologies, as well as to Parametric Sensitivity Analyses. While each business problem is distinctive, a disciplined approach to problem solving can be incredibly useful across many career contexts. The concepts and exercises in this course will sharpen the student's professional ability to structure a messy problem and do some disciplined analysis on it. Developing these modeling skills requires the opportunity to brainstorm, reflect, and practice it on a wide variety of problems. Hence, the course includes intensive team-centered workshop sessions where all students get hands-on practice working with a group of peers to frame various problems in appropriate analytical terms, develop a solution approach, and critically reflect on the results. Examples will be drawn from Strategy, Operations, Technology Management, Marketing, and Finance to expose students to the broad applications of the concepts and tools learned in this class. Many of the up- to-the-minute Excel techniques covered in the course are now considered standard in industry, and developing a good understanding of them will deepen the student's ability to identify opportunities in which spreadsheet analytics can be used to improve performance, drive value, and support important decisions. Finally, students will learn the latest technologies for effectively linking spreadsheets to relational databases, and to manage reliably large scale spreadsheet development projects.
• QST IS 883: Deploying Generative AI in the Enterprise
  Graduate Prerequisites: MSDT Students Only - Most organizations today -- of all sizes and stages of maturity -- are undertaking internally and externally focused digital initiatives. The success of these programs varies widely and depends on numerous strategic, tactical and technical factors; that is, active management of not only the technology but also the organizational and product development lifecycle. Accordingly, this course will delve into the mechanics of Large Language Models, including their structure and functionality. Through practical exercises students will learn to deploy these models effectively in various business contexts, from enhancing decision-making processes to optimizing operational efficiencies. We will cover integration of Language Models with cloud-based platforms such as Azure and OpenAI's APIs. A focused exploration of query optimization and prompt engineering will equip students with the skills to fine-tune AI outputs for strategic use. Ethical and social implications of the technology will also be considered. Students will apply concepts -- including agile methodologies, design thinking, user experience, and financial modeling -- to architect and execute an AI-driven business project.
• QST IS 889: Data Management
  Graduate Prerequisites: MSDT Student Only - The ability to collect, organize, access, analyze and harness data is a source of competitive advantage for some and a competitive necessity for others. Getting an organization to the point where it has a data asset it can leverage is a non-trivial task. Many firms have been shocked at the amount of work and complexity that is required to pull together an infrastructure that integrates its diverse data sources and empowers its managers. This course will provide an introduction to the concepts and technologies that are involved in managing and supporting the data assets of your organization. We will cover data modeling, relational databases, including SQL, data warehousing and business intelligence.
• QST IS 890: Creating Successful Digital Products & Experiences
  Graduate Prerequisites: MSDT Students Only - Organizations of all sizes and stages of maturity are undertaking internally and externally focused digital initiatives. The success of these programs varies widely and depends on numerous strategic and tactical factors. In this class students will learn leading models, practices and tools used by top digital teams, and apply them, along with other skills learned throughout the MSDT program, toward the research, ideation, design and creation of a prototype digital product/experience designed to address unmet needs in the market and achieve real-world critical business objectives.
• QST IS 895: Action Learning Directed Study in Information Systems
  ALDS: INFO SYS
• QST IS 898: Directed Study: Info Systems
  Graduate Prerequisites: consent of instructor and the department chair - Graduate-level directed study in Management Information Systems. 1, 2, or 3 cr. Application available on the Graduate Center website.
• QST IS 899: Directed Study: Info Systems
  Graduate Prerequisites: consent of instructor and the department chair - Graduate-level directed study in Management Information Systems. 1, 2, or 3 cr. Application available on the Graduate Center website.
• QST IS 911: Current Topics in AI for Business and Social Science
  Pre-requisite: Questrom PhD students only. Nearly four years after LLMs entered mainstream use, they have evolved from simple chatbots into tool-using agents deployed in the wild, interacting with consumers, organizations, and other agents. At the same time, recent CS research continues to uncover distinctive peculiarities, limitations, and failure modes of LLMs and agentic systems. This seminar begins by covering cutting-edge CS research to understand these systems in depth, including their theory, algorithms, and empirical behavior. We then turn to emerging research in business, economics, and the social sciences that describes, documents, and theorizes the frictions and opportunities arising from real-world deployment: a deep dive into LLMs in the wild. The goal is to equip students with the technical and conceptual foundations needed to identify new thesis-worthy research streams in business and the social sciences. We will cover three modules: mechanistic interpretability, which dissects the inner workings of LLMs and explores how they may be steered and controlled; peculiarities of frontier foundational models, which examine emerging capabilities and failure modes; and agent-to-agent interaction, where agents may be humans, LLMs, or both. The seminar will also have a special section on the role of AI in science and will cover how to use the state-of-the-art AI tools for research and personal productivity. Previous iterations of this seminar have consistently identified and explored topics well ahead of their mainstream adoption by the public and their emergence within the mainstream business and social science research communities, earning a reputation for staying ahead of the curve: Interpretable Machine Learning and Bias in ML (2017), Generative AI in Business (2019), Neural Language Models and the Economics of AI (2020), Generative AI & Causal Inference with Text (2023), Agentic LLMs & Multi-Agent Systems For Business Research (2025). Collectively, these seminars have contributed to the publication or ongoing working papers of over 35 journal articles in top-tier business journals, such as PNAS, Science Advances, Management Science, JMR, ISR, MISQ, SMJ, Marketing Science, and alongside numerous contributions to leading conferences like CHI, AAAI, ACL, ICML, EMNLP, Neurips, and KDD."
• QST IS 919: Research Seminar 2
  This course covers those important Information Systems (IS) theories and topics that are at the organizational level of analysis and below. That is, it focuses on the behaviors of single individuals and small numbers of individuals, such as dyads and teams. This is consistent with an approach to organizational phenomena that distinguishes between micro and macro levels of research, this course being the micro. The focus is on ways that individuals and teams use information technologies to acquire, process, and transfer information, and the effects these technologies have on individual cognition and dyadic and group interactions. It also investigates the design and implementation of information technologies and the impact of these on organizational outcomes. The course is designed to engender students with a broad knowledge of research at the intersection of information technologies and organizations, with an emphasis on theoretical underpinnings and methodological choices.
• QST IS 990: Current Topics Seminar
  For PhD students in the Information Systems department. Registered by permission only.
• QST IS 998: Directed Study: Info Systems
  Graduate Prerequisites: consent of instructor and the department chair - PhD-level directed study in Management Information Systems. 1, 2, or 3 cr. Application available on the Graduate Center website.
• QST IS 999: Directed Study: Info Systems
  Graduate Prerequisites: consent of instructor and the department chair - PhD-level directed study in Management Information Systems. 1, 2, or 3 cr. Application available on the Graduate Center website.
• QST LA 245: Business Law, Contracts, and Regulation
  Undergraduate Prerequisite: QST SM131. - This course provides a broad overview of the fundamental legal issues of significance for business. It examines contracts, business organizations, employment law, intellectual property, and international law. It explores the regulatory environment affecting businesses in the United States and around the globe. The course goals include understanding the basic rules of business law and the underlying social policies and ethical dilemmas that affect business operations and investments.
• QST LA 325: Action Learning Lab: Legal Foundations of Starting a Business
  Pre-requisites: QSTLA 245, QSTXP 298, and junior standing. This course is designed to help business students learn about the process of starting a business, step by step, from both an operational and legal perspective. Students will be working with an external client, Lawyers for Civil Rights, which provides free business support and legal services to low-income entrepreneurs so that they can overcome obstacles and access more opportunities. The course and course deliverables will take students through the journey of helping real clients in the community understand the legal and strategic issues that entrepreneurs should consider when launching a new enterprise. Recent events have shown that it is vital for entrepreneurs and those who work with them to spot legal issues before they become real problems and to practice strategic compliance management. The final project and final project presentation will require student teams to create and present to the client about a business plan for a specific type of business.
• QST LA 333: Competition Law and Strategy
  Pre-requisite: QSTLA 245. This course is designed for undergraduate business students to understand antitrust law from a strategic business perspective. Through a highly experiential approach, the course moves away from a traditional, doctrine-heavy format. It emphasizes real-world applications of antitrust concepts using simulation exercises, role-playing, and strategic analysis. Classes blend short readings, practical case summaries, and podcasts with hands-on simulations. A central objective is to help students think like business leaders who must navigate regulatory challenges — not simply spot legal violations. Each simulation encourages critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and the development of legal risk management strategies.
• QST LA 343: Discrimination and the Law: Implications for Business
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: (QSTLA245) - Many companies struggle with how to support diverse employees, and the need to do so has become even more urgent in the wake of events like the death of George Floyd. Navigating these issues requires understanding how the lived experiences varies systematically among different ethnic groups, genders, gender identities, and sexual orientation. Successfully addressing inequities and adopting practical solutions necessitates understanding the history of racism, sexism, and other "isms" in America. This course will address these and other relevant issues in the context of the corporate environment. It will cover doctrinal issues regarding the ethical and legal obligations of corporations as it relates to managing discrimination in the workplace (e.g., history of antidiscrimination legislation, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964), but will also delve into some of the more practical aspects of the tools and techniques companies can or should adopt to achieve a more inclusive work environment. 4 cr.
• QST LA 346: Business, Justice, and Responsibility
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: (QSTLA245) - This course explores the legal and ethical challenges a leader will face in a highly regulated, complex, global business. We will explore societal issues such as lying, bias, fraud, corruption, stereotyping, religious freedom, discrimination, and whistleblowing, and consider the responsibility of a business and its leaders to address these challenges, and to create a more just society. Students will also consider the competing roles of business, the legislature, and the courts in addressing societal issues. By reading Supreme Court opinions and business cases, participating in oral arguments, engaging in efforts to make social change, and studying current events, students will deepen skills in analyzing ethical dilemmas and thinking critically. This course will teach students to view decisions through multiple frames, develop empathy, and train them to engage in a meaningful, substantive dialogue -- written and spoken -- about sensitive topics in a professional setting.