To meet a growing demand for specialized business skills and credentials, Neumann has launched an online MBA with stackable certificate options.

“The program is distinctive in a competitive marketplace because of a combination of attractive features: an online format, accelerated option, affordable tuition, and stackable certificates,” explains Provost Eric Wellington.

The MBA is a series of ten 3-credit classes: five core courses taught by Neumann faculty and five additional courses in a specialized track. The track options include artificial intelligence, business analytics, finance, healthcare administration, and organizational leadership.

To make the specialized tracks available, Neumann has partnered with Rize Education to offer courses taught by professors in a consortium of colleges across the country. Rize is a higher education company that provides a program-sharing platform to help small colleges and universities grow enrollment through new degree programs.

The partnership allows students enrolled at Neumann to earn an MBA in healthcare administration, for example, if only a few are interested in that track. The nationwide collaboration with Rize makes the specialized courses available online to a collection of students at several universities.

Another benefit of Neumann’s MBA is that students can take courses in the specialized tracks first and earn certificates without completing the entire degree program.

“Not everybody wants to pursue a full MBA,” says Bettsy McKlaine, the associate vice president of enrollment for graduate, adult and online programs. “Some want to upskill, and doing a certificate in one of those specialized areas allows them, in just five classes, to get that skill set that they need immediately for their job. They can start with a certificate in business analytics, for instance, because their supervisor wants them to acquire those skills for a promotion.”

In the future, these students can return for their MBA, knowing that they have already completed half of the program.

Courses last for 7.5 weeks, and the MBA can be completed in one year, McKlaine notes, at $500 per credit. Students can also opt to take the courses at their own pace to fit the schedule of busy, working adults.

The marketing campaign has already begun, says McKlaine, with an emphasis on generating awareness of the new degree program to university alumni and partners, its current prospect pool, and to a wider audience through social media.

In early February, School of Business Dean Najiba Benabess announced the appointment of Dr. Aos Mulahuwaish as director of the MBA program. An associate professor of computer information systems, computer programming, and cybersecurity, Mulahuwaish joined Neumann in 2025. He earned his PhD in Computer Science from McMaster University and previously served eight years at Saginaw Valley State University.

Applications are now open for the program, which will begin in the fall of 2026.