Management

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The Lally Undergraduate Program

The undergraduate program at the Rensselaer Lally School of Management provides students with a solid education in the fundamental disciplines of management. It draws heavily on the strengths of Rensselaer in engineering, science, technology information, and entrepreneurship. Within these programs, the Lally School provides a balance between theory and practice while insuring rigor and relevance. There is a strong emphasis on the application of knowledge through team-based projects and a focus on the intersection of entrepreneurship and innovation.

Goals for the baccalaureate program in Management include:

• preparing students for professional careers.

• providing students with core management practices and an in-depth understanding in a specialized area.

• teaching theories, concepts, and techniques to help students learn how to solve problems and make effective decisions.

• helping students develop critical-thinking skills and the ability to adapt to a rapidly changing technological world.

• teaching students to set a high standard of ethics and responsibility in personal affairs and professional life.

• helping students develop competencies in utilizing information technology.

• developing students who engage in global thinking and who can work in a multi-cultural setting.

Students are encouraged to select one or more areas of concentration: Accounting, Business Analytics, Entrepreneurship, Finance, Management Information Systems, Marketing, or Supply Chain Management.

The management core sequence emphasizes basic skills in the traditional business areas of finance, marketing, human behavior, computing, and organizational analysis and development. The math and science sequence provides a strong background in quantitative skills, while humanities and social sciences course work heightens the student’s appreciation for significant societal issues. Throughout the program, the topics introduced in the various courses are integrated. An internship in an organizational setting is required of all Lally Undergraduates.

Outcomes of the Undergraduate Curriculum
Students who successfully complete this program will be able to demonstrate:

• an ability to communicate effectively.
• an ability to examine ethical issues.
• an ability to understand work in the area of accounting.
• an ability to understand work in the area of finance.
• an ability to work in functional management area of operations management.
• an ability to work in functional management area of marketing.
• an ability to work in functional management area of organizational behavior and human resources.
• an ability to work in functional management area of strategy.
• an ability to work in functional management area of information systems.
• an ability to utilize analytical and technological skills.

Minor Programs

The Lally School also offers undergraduate minor programs for Management students and Rensselaer students majoring in other fields. Lally students may pursue a minor outside of the management school. Management majors typically use electives in their program for minor course work in complementary fields such as communications, computer science, economics, industrial and management engineering, or psychology. Students can elect to pursue interests in any Rensselaer school.

The minors offered by the Lally School are detailed in the Programs section of this catalog and require a minimum of 16 credit hours. Each student’s designated minor adviser can approve course substitutions to meet individual student needs.

Dual or Double Major Programs

To develop skills in other areas of interest or in preparation for careers related to specialized topics, students may pursue a dual or double major with other non-management curricula.

Such options can be arranged with the Schools of Engineering, Science, Architecture, or Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences.

Special Undergraduate Opportunities

The Lally School offers three additional programs to meet undergraduate needs in the areas of research, law, international business, and cooperative education.

Undergraduate Research Program (URP)
Through the URP, students have the opportunity to work with a faculty adviser on tangible research projects. Students are eligible for a Summer Research Fellowship stipend under a program sponsored by the Office of Undergraduate Education. The stipend is intended to cover 10 weeks of full-time research.

Accelerated Management-Law Program
In cooperation with Albany Law School and Columbia University Law School, Rensselaer offers a unique program leading to a B.S. and a Juris Doctor (J.D.) in six years rather than seven. Admission to this program is restricted, with most students admitted as incoming freshmen. Selected applicants must also meet the admission requirements of Albany Law School. Thus, a prospective management-law student may be able to assure admission to law school prior to beginning an undergraduate career at Rensselaer. Transfer into the management-law program from other Rensselaer curricula is limited to students who have demonstrated academic excellence. 

Although guaranteed admission to Albany Law School is available to selected incoming freshmen, conditional admission also is available to students accepted by Rensselaer who meet specified achievement levels in their undergraduate program. In addition, Rensselaer has established a working relationship with Columbia University Law School that allows a gifted management-law student to become a candidate for admission after his or her third year at Rensselaer. Rensselaer’s inclusion in Columbia’s Accelerated Interdisciplinary Legal Education Program (AILE) has made this opportunity possible.

International Management Exchange Program 
Rensselaer’s Lally School has agreements with more than 14 schools in 11 countries for the exchange of qualified students from and to the Rensselaer campus. This exchange occurs for one semester in the third or fourth year of undergraduate studies. The foreign schools chosen for the exchange program are renowned in the field of management education. Students interested must demonstrate superior academic records, maturity, and in some cases, the necessary language capabilities to be selected for the exchange program. This program is strongly recommended for all Management students. 

For more information about this program, contact lallyUG@rpi.edu.

Cooperative Education 
Rensselaer’s Cooperative Education Program and the Lally School offer pre-professional work experience for undergraduates. As part of the co-op program, students work one semester and one summer in industry, business, and government positions. The co-op assignment usually occurs during the junior or senior year and can sometimes be scheduled to permit the student to graduate with the class in which he or she matriculated. Typical job opportunities are in the fields of accounting, finance, management systems, and information systems. The co-op program is described in detail in the Student Life section of this catalog.

For more information on any aspect of the undergraduate management and technology program, contact lallyUG@rpi.edu

The Lally Graduate Programs

Rensselaer’s Lally School offers seven graduate programs: a Master of Business Administration, a Master of Science in Business Analytics, a Master of Science in Quantitative Finance and Risk Analytics, a Master of Science in Management, a Master of Science in Supply Chain Management, a Master of Science in Technology Commercialization and Entrepreneurship, and a doctoral program in Management.

The Lally MBA is a degree in general management with a focus on the themes of innovation and technology management. This program develops leaders who combine a passion for technology with the ability to apply it across business functions and to leverage it for competitive advantage.

The M.S. in Business Analytics provides students with the knowledge and essential skills needed to respond to the new challenges characteristic of the data intensive, decision-making environments in the world today. The program provides hands-on experience through real-world problem solving, academic partnerships with IBM and SAS, and real-world data sets.

The M.S. in Quantitative Finance and Risk Analytics trains students for careers in analyzing and assessing risk and for managing financial portfolios. These careers are expected to be in high demand given the current economic climate and corporate history of insufficient risk analysis.

The M.S. in Management provides an introduction to the world of business and management for students with backgrounds in Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts, Architecture and Math.  The degree allows students with technical expertise to develop broader career options that include project management and the ability to apply business methods in a specialized area.

The M.S. in Supply Chain Management adopts a systems approach to provide students the knowledge and skills needed for a career in supply chain management. Students develop the capability to model supply chain operations; develop optimal process designs; and develop strategies for supply chain coordination, strategic sourcing, and effective demand fulfillment.

The M.S. in Technology Commercialization and Entrepreneurship teaches students how to bring new technologies and inventions from lab to market, either as a start-up company or as a new platform of business in an established company. Students learn legal and policy related issues associated with commercialized emerging technologies.

The Lally Ph.D. in Management is a research-oriented academic program. Students develop a scholarly specialization in one of six core areas and graduates generally pursue a career path in either academia or research. 

The Lally School also provides an array of support services to students throughout their studies. The Student Services staff assists with orientation, academic advising, and career development. They assist with curricular, extra-curricular activities, career advising, networking and professional development. Other resources include the Severino Center for Technological Entrepreneurship, The Center for Financial Studies, the Center for Supply Networks and Analytics, and the Lally Management Student Association. These organizations provide activities throughout the year, such as the Rensselaer Business Model Competition, the Jerome S. Reinert ‘56 Visiting Executive Series, Start Up Tech Valley, the Rensselaer Entrepreneurship Interns Program, the RPI-Foundry, and alumni networking programs on and off campus. Additional information on these activities may be found at www.lallyschool.rpi.edu. 

All Lally students are encouraged to work during the summer months in summer internship experiences that add value to their degree program and career goals. Part-time internships during the academic year are also an option for some students. Lally Career Resources and the Rensselaer Career Center for Professional Development (CCPD) support students in finding these internships. The academic adviser is also typically consulted to prevent academic or immigration issues. Lally Student Services, the CCPD and the International Student Services office must approve internships for international students working on a visa prior to the student accepting the offer.

Graduate Credit by Transfer and Examination

Credit for graduate work completed at other accredited institutions may be offered in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a degree at the Lally school when the work is appropriate to the student’s program. As a rule, this work will have been earned prior to enrolling at Rensselaer, but no more than five years prior to matriculation. A student already enrolled in Lally who wishes to take courses elsewhere must obtain the prior approval of his or her adviser and the Dean of Graduate Education.

Because the residence requirement for the master’s is 24 credit hours, not more than 6 credit hours may be transferred toward the 30-credit master’s degree, and not more than 6 credit hours used for a master’s degree in one area can be applied to a second master’s degree of 30 credits. In no case can the result of transfer or waived credits reduce this general degree requirement below 24 earned credit hours in a master’s program at Rensselaer.

Application for the transfer of credit must be made to the student’s program director. The area is responsible for evaluating course work taken elsewhere and reporting allowable transfer credit to the registrar on the transfer credit approval form. Courses taken elsewhere and approved for transfer to Rensselaer must be taken at the graduate level and have a grade of “B” or better to be approved. They are not considered in computing the B average requirement.

A graduate student who has taken courses at Rensselaer as a special nondegree student may transfer to a degree program a maximum of 12 credits earned in that status. If a student has taken a graduate credit course while an undergraduate, received a grade of B or better, and did not use the credit to fulfill the requirements for the bachelor’s degree, he or she may request, through the faculty adviser, that the Office of Graduate Education count the credit toward the requirements for an advanced degree.

Note:  The minimum of a B grade to transfer a course in to Lally differs from Rensselaer policy as a whole, where a B- is accepted.

Doctoral Programs

The Ph.D. in Management is a research-based program concentrating on scholarship in the following core areas:

• Strategy, Organizational Behavior and Entrepreneurship
• Marketing, Information Systems Management and Operations
• Finance and Accounting

Students are expected to develop scholarship in one of Lally’s areas of interdisciplinary focus and be conversant in a traditional business discipline. The Ph.D. program emphasizes research methods and an appreciation of relevant theoretical and empirical literature in the student’s area of concentration. The program strives to balance theoretical approaches with empirical studies that can be applied to real-world challenges. Graduates of the doctoral program typically pursue academic and research positions at well-respected institutions in the United States and abroad.

Course Descriptions

Courses directly related to all Management curricula are described in the Course Description section of this catalog under the department code MGMT.

Troy Campus Faculty*

Professors

Begley, T.—Ph.D. (Cornell University); organizational change, cross-cultural management, global issues in human resource management.

Edirisinghe, C.—Ph.D. (University of British Columbia); finance, quantitative finance, management finance (Associate Dean for Academic Affairs).

Francis, B.B.—Ph.D. (University of Toronto); corporate and international finance.

Golden, T.—Ph.D. (University of Connecticut); organizational behavior, human resource management.

McDermott, C.—Ph.D. (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill); manufacturing strategy, operations management.

Paulson, A.S.—Ph.D. (Virginia Polytechnic Institute); operations research and statistics, risk management and investment analysis (Frank and Lillian Gilbreth Professor in the Technologies of Management).

Ravichandran, T.—Ph.D. (Southern Illinois University, Carbondale); management information systems (Associate Dean for Research).

Wu, Q.—Ph.D. (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute); accounting and finance.

Associate Professors

Chari, M.—Ph.D. (Temple University); strategy and international business.

Gupta, A.—Ph.D. (Stanford University); quantitative finance, risk management, financial decision support, optimization, and simulation.

Kumar, S.—Ph.D. (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign); joint ventures and alliances, diversification, theories of the firm.

Kuruzovich, J.—Ph.D. (University of Maryland); information systems, social media, entrepreneurship.

Nevo, D.—Ph.D. (University of British Columbia); management information systems, quantitative methods.

Zhao, H.—Ph.D. (University of Illinois, Chicago); organizational behaviors, entrepreneurship, human resource management.

Assistant Professors

Clark, B.—Ph.D. (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute); banking, corporate finance, operational risk, risk management, stress testing.

Garcia, R.—Ph.D. (Brandeis University); financial economics, corporate finance and empirical industrial organization.

Hekimoglu, H.—Ph.D. (Syracuse University); supply chain management, business analytics.

Jain, G.—Ph.D. (Tippie College of Business); marketing, information systems, operations management.

Langer, N.—Ph.D. (Carnegie Mellon University); information systems.

Maharjan, J.—Ph.D. (Washington University); corporate finance and corporate governance.

Shofi, T.—Ph.D. (University of Pittsburgh); analyst behavior, corporate credit markets.

Yu, S.—Ph.D. (University of Arizona); marketing.

Lecturers of Practice

Demertzoglou, P.—Ph.D. (State University of New York); transaction processing systems, decision support systems, e-business applications, commercial open source databases.

Freeman, S.—Ph.D. (City University of New York); marketing.

McDermott, P.—Ph.D. (University at Albany); strategic management.

Meyer, C.—Ph.D. (University of Massachusetts, Amherst); strategic management (Director of Undergraduate Education).

Mistry, J.—D.B.A. (Boston University); management accounting, information and communications technology.

*Departmental faculty listings are accurate as of the date generated for inclusion in this catalog. For the most up-to-date listing of faculty positions, including end-of-year promotions, please refer to the Faculty Roster section of this catalog, which is current as of the May 2019 Board of Trustees meeting.

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