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 ES 610: Communications in Finance
  Course Description TBD
• QST ES 611: Careers in Finance
  Course Description TBD
• QST ES 710: Teaming
  This course introduces the challenges of leading and participating in teams and project groups. It emphasizes the roles of team members and leaders, how to motivate within a team environment, and how to create an environment in which teams and their embers increase their capabilities. This course also provides support for students as they work on program projects and helps students to gain both knowledge of team dynamics and the skills to shape them.
• QST ES 723: Career Management Internship
  The Career Management Internship course provides MBA students with a structured opportunity to integrate academic learning with practical, hands-on professional experience. This course covers internships and volunteer work completed over the summer or during the academic year. This course supports CPT eligibility for international students, ensuring equitable access to meaningful work experiences. All students enrolled in ES723 must complete the Internship Database and submit a completed feedback form from their employer or a professional involved in the volunteer activity. The Career Coaching team will review these submissions and provide individualized feedback and guidance to help students strengthen key career-readiness competencies — including networking, communication, and professional self-awareness — while supporting their ongoing personal and professional growth. Through this program, students gain the confidence and clarity needed to connect their experiences to broader career goals and effectively navigate future professional opportunities.
• QST ES 729: Storytelling with Data
  Effective communication skills are key to the success of any manager or executive as you persuade, inform, and lead your clients, colleagues, bosses, and subordinates. This course explores persuasive verbal and written communication in a variety of management settings, including formal meeting- style presentations as well as strategic written business documents. You will learn to assess your audience, understand the strategic choices available when communicating, and choose the correct strategy for the audience at a given time. Students will learn to construct a persuasive argument and to deconstruct arguments made by others, recognizing and avoiding reasoning flaws. Students will give planned and impromptu presentations that are organized logically and persuasively, and that reflect best practices in using visual aids. Students will also learn best practices in business writing, for example, in writing memos and substantive emails. 1.5 cr.
• QST ES 730: Leadership Communication
  Persuasion is an essential skill for business success. Whether the goal is to influence and motivate your colleagues, superiors, organization, clients, or broader stakeholders, the capacity to persuade diverse audiences is key to effective leadership. In this course, students will learn to create and deliver compelling, high-impact verbal and written communications that inspire action. Students will learn to: generate insights with meaningful conclusions and recommendations; apply the principles of logical reasoning to create a compelling narrative; develop their unique leadership style to connect authentically to the audience; express complex information clearly and concisely in writing and with visual aids; and master presentation delivery, including projecting power through body language. We will cover a range of situations, from communicating within an organization, to winning over the public in a time of crisis, to holding crucial conversations to resolve conflicts.
• QST ES 735: Team Coaching
  The ability to work with and develop teams is considered one of the most essential skill sets for the 21st century workplace. This course focuses the role of coaching on both an individual and team level in order to develop the skills needed to work effectively in teams. Course activities and learning objectives are integrated and aligned with other academic courses to deepen and enrich the MBA student learning experience by developing their abilities to coach each other in collaborative environments.
• QST ES 740: Leadership Communication
  Persuasion is an essential skill for business success. Whether the goal is to influence and motivate your colleagues, superiors, organization, clients, or broader stakeholders, the capacity to persuade diverse audiences is key to effective leadership. In this course, students will learn to create and deliver compelling, high-impact verbal and written communications that inspire action. Students will learn to: generate insights with meaningful conclusions and recommendations; apply the principles of logical reasoning to create a compelling narrative; develop their unique leadership style to connect authentically to the audience; express complex information clearly and concisely in writing and with visual aids; and master presentation delivery, including projecting power through body language. We will cover a range of situations, from communicating within an organization, to winning over the public in a time of crisis, to holding crucial conversations to resolve conflicts.
• QST ES 750: Leadership Through Collaboration
  LDRSHIP COLLAB
• QST ES 872: Entrepreneur's Communication Playbook
  Graduate Prerequisites: ES700, ES701,ES730, or ES740 - Persuasion pervades every crevice of successful entrepreneurial lives. This course will prepare entrepreneurs to consider their multiple constituents as they communicate a vision and build an enduring company. As a company-builder and innovator, your persuasion begins with a clarity of purpose. You must attract top talent, convince customers, get colleagues on board with your ideas, and persuade investors to fund your company. Thinking critically, challenging conventional wisdom, and communicating effectively are vital to your success.
• QST ES 898: Directed Study in Executive Skills
  Graduate Prerequisites: consent of instructor and the department chair - Graduate-level directed study in Executive Skills. 1, 2, or 3 cr. Application available on the Graduate Center website.
• QST FE 223: Introduction to Corporate Finance
  Pre-requisite: QSTAC 221; sophomore standing. Financial managers in a firm play a key role in determining which projects to pursue, aligning financial goals with overall business strategy, determining capital structure, budgeting and forecasting, and financial management. A basic understanding of these tasks is important to any career in the business world. FE223 introduces students to the workings of the financial markets and financial concepts that are used in business and investment decisions as well as in personal financial decisions. We begin with time value of money, interest rates and valuation of cash flow streams and apply these tools both to corporate finance (finance from the perspective of the firm) and to investments (finance from the perspective of the investor). The goal of the course is that, on successful completion, students will master time value of money (TVM) calculations and applications, understand the relationship between risk and return and be able to calculate the return on individual securities and portfolios, be able to apply discounted cash flow analysis methodology to valuing potential investments, be able to build a cash flow forecast and assess the need for additional capital, understand basic valuation techniques for bonds and understand the relationship between bond prices and market interest rate fluctuations, use the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) to calculate the equity cost of capital, calculate the Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC) of the firm, and be able to assess the impact of capital structure on the value of a firm.
• QST FE 323: Introduction to Corporate Finance
  Pre-requisites: Questrom students only; QST AC221; BA221; BA222 or BA223; MO221; SM131; SM132; SM275 - Component of QST SM323, The Cross Functional Core. Introduces students to the themes of financial decision making: valuation and risk management. The focus is on the problems of forecasting, capital budgeting, working capital management, project risk management, and financing in a cross-functional context. A semester-long business-plan project explores the interaction between marketing, operations, management information systems, and finance decisions. The course compares the financial objectives of the manager and the investor. Introduction to the time value of money, securities valuation, portfolio diversification, and the cost of capital.
• QST FE 342: Money, Financial Markets, and Economic Activity
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: QSTSM 132 or QSTFE 223 - The financial system and its functions. The role of money and the importance of interest rates in determining economic activity; determinants of level of interest rates. Operation of central banks; the goals and instruments of monetary policy. The roles, activities, and risk management of financial institutions. Instruments traded in money and capital markets, and their valuation. Role of derivative securities; systemic risk and other contemporary issues in the financial system.
• QST FE 427: International Financial Management
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: (QSTFE 445 OR QSTFE 449) - Managing financial risk in the global environment. Introduction to foreign exchange markets, spot, forward, futures, options and swaps, and to the international bond and money markets. Discussion of market structure and participants, and main financial instruments. Analyzes and discusses tools of currency risk management. 4 cr.
• QST FE 429: Futures, Options, and Financial Risk Management
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: (QSTFE445) - Covers the theory of futures pricing and option pricing, and applies the theory to develop a framework for analyzing hedging and investment decisions using futures and options. Attention is paid to practical considerations in the use of these instruments, especially in financial risk management. 4 cr.
• QST FE 433: ESG Investing
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: (QSTFE 223 and QSTXP 298, or QSTFE 323) - The aim of this course is to analyze and illustrate what investors can do to grasp the environmental and social challenges (i) by redirecting financial flows towards projects supporting and strengthening sustainable development, as well as (ii) controlling and mitigating the ESG-related financial risks. This transformation of financial markets requires an understanding of (i) the assets available for financing sustainable development, (ii) the metrics currently used to estimate the ESG impact of investments, (iii) the practices adopted by the most sophisticated sustainable investors, and (iv) the supporting capacity of public institutions, such as central banks in particular.
• QST FE 445: Investment Analysis and Portfolio Management
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: (QSTFE 223 and QSTXP 298, or QSTFE 323) - Introduction to the investment management process. Defining investment objectives and constraints. Introduction to Modern Portfolio Theory, CAPM, APT, Efficient Markets, stock and bond valuation models. Introduction to forwards and swaps and their applications within investment strategies. Active vs. passive investment strategies, fundamental vs. technical analysis, trading practices, and performance evaluation. Introduction to the role of futures and options in hedging and speculation. Students are expected to become familiar with current events in the financial news.
• QST FE 449: Corporate Financial Management
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: (QSTFE 223 and QSTXP 298, or QSTFE 323) - Covers the financial manager's role in obtaining and allocating funds. Includes topics such as cash budgeting, working capital analysis, dividend policy, capital investment analysis and debt policy as well as their associated risks. Valuation of companies, mergers and acquisitions, and bankruptcy are covered. The course requires using financial models and spreadsheets. Applications are made to current events and everyday business finance problems.
• QST FE 450: Private Equity: Leveraged Buyouts
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: (QSTFE445 or 449) - Exposes students to, and demystifies, the world of Private Equity (PE). The focus is centered on LBOs and their position in the "alternative asset" class. Students learn about the activities of a PE firm including formation, fund- raising, investing (including deal structure, terms, due diligence, and governance), and exiting. Also discussed are what other industry sectors serve or are affected by PE and who the players are. Case study and class participation will be the primary modes of learning.