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| School of Business |
The mission of the School of Business (BUS) at the University of Houston-Clear Lake is to provide quality lifelong education at the junior, senior and master's level for the Houston/Galveston metropolitan population. Undergraduate business programs primarily serve the region's community college systems by providing transfer students the opportunity to complete a four-year degree. Graduate programs serve both full-time students and working professionals in the region. Instruction is designed for small classes and flexible hours and fosters development of business skills with global applicability. Faculty pursue a blend of research contributing to knowledge in professional practice, innovative pedagogy and discipline-based scholarship.
| Office | Phone | |
| Office of Academic Advising | Bayou 2111 | 281-283-3110 |
| Office of the Dean | Bayou 2239 | 281-283-3100 |
| Web Site | http://bus.uhcl.edu/ |
The graduate and undergraduate accounting and business administration degrees in the are accredited by the AACSB International - The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. The school's graduate degree in Healthcare Administration is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Management Education. A variety of undergraduate and graduate degrees are offered in the business and public administration disciplines. Students are eligible to apply for jobs through the Cooperative Education Program, which is designed to prepare students for careers by integrating paid work experience with academic study.
H.B. 1172 requires that students entering an institution in fall 2008 or later may not be required to complete more than the minimum number of semester credit hours required for the baccalaureate degree by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (120 semester credit hours) unless the institution determines that there is a compelling academic reason for requiring completion of additional semester credit hours for the degree. All UHCL baccalaureate degrees are in compliance with H.B. 1172 effective fall 2008.
H.B. 1172 does not apply to students enrolling prior to fall 2008 or to degree plans in existence prior to fall 2008. Students requesting new degree plans should be aware that they may risk being charged higher tuition if the new degree plan puts them in violation of exceeding 30/45 semester credit hours required for completion of the degree rule (H.B. 1172). Furthermore, changing degree plans may disqualify a student from being eligible to receive a tuition rebate upon graduation for completion of the degree with no more than three attempted hours in excess of the minimum number of semester credit hours required to complete the degree under the catalog under which the student graduated.
A minimum of 60 upper-level hours and a total of 120 hours are required for the baccalaureate degree. A minimum GPA of 2.0 or higher is needed to graduate.
To assist students in obtaining sufficient background prior to transferring to UHCL, the following curriculum is required:
| Accounting Principles1 | 6 hours |
| Business Law | 3 hours |
| Computer Literacy2 | 3 hours |
| Economic Principles | 6 hours |
| English Composition [must be C or better] | 6 hours |
| Visual and Performing Arts | 3 hours |
| Other Humanities | 3 hours |
| Government (three hours U.S. and three hours US/Texas) | 6 hours |
| History (six hours U.S. or three hours may be Texas) | 6 hours |
| Mathematics (Calculus and Finite Math)3 | 6 hours |
| Natural Science (ASTR, BIOL, CHEM, GEOL, PHYS)4 | 6 hours |
| Social Sciences (ANTH, ECON, GEOG, PSYC, SOCI) | 3 hours |
| Speech | 3 hours |
| Total | 60 hours |
1Students in the Environmental Management plan may replace the six hours of Accounting Principles with Biology, Geology, Physics, Ecology, Environmental Science or Chemistry beyond the six hours required for admission. Students in the Legal Studies plan may replace Accounting Principles IIwith a Foreign Language or English beyond the six hours of required composition.
2Students majoring in Management Information Systems must complete Computer Literacy plus 3 hours of Computer Programming.
3Students in Legal Studies and Environmental Management may replace Calculus with College Algebra. Students in the Legal Studies plan ONLY may replace MATH 1324 Finite Math with three hours of English beyond the core requirements or a foreign language.
4Students in the Environmental Management plan are required to take six hours of Chemistry.
Many of these preparatory courses are not taught at University of Houston-Clear Lake (UHCL) and must be taken at a community college. Accounting Principles, Economic Principles, College Algebra and Finite Math are only offered at the freshman/sophomore level. Without completion of these specific prerequisites, very few courses required for business plans can be taken at UHCL.
Upon acceptance as a degree candidate, a student's Candidate Plan of Study (CPS) will be prepared during their first semester. The BUS requires 60 upper-level credits.
The plans in Business Administration prepare students to assume administrative, managerial and professional positions in their respective fields. Undergraduate degrees are offered in accounting, finance, management information systems, healthcare administration, management, marketing and general business.
Core Requirements comprise 33 hours; Plan Requirements vary from 15 to 27 hours, depending upon the specific business plan. Non-Business, BUS and General Electives are added to each CPS as needed to provide a total of at least 60 upper-level hours, as well as 120 total hours required for graduation. No more than six hours of grades in the range of "D+," "D" or "D-" are permitted in upper-level Core Requirements. All courses in Plan Requirements must be completed with a grade of "C-" or better. A minimum GPA of 2.0 or higher is needed to graduate.
The following courses, or their approved equivalents, together with accounting and economics principles and business law, constitute the business core and are required of all business students:
| ACCT | 3331 | Managerial Accounting1 |
| DSCI | 3131 | Quantitative Methods for Management |
| DSCI | 3231 | Statistics I |
| ECON | 3131 | Money and Banking |
| FINC | 3331 | Business Finance |
| ISAM | 3033 | Information Systems for Management |
| MGMT | 3031 | Management Theory and Practice |
| MGMT | 4132 | Strategic Management2 |
| MGMT | 4534 | Organizational Behavior |
| MKTG | 3031 | Marketing: Creating Value for Customers |
| WRIT | 3132 | Written Communication in Business |
1All Accounting majors are required to substitute ACCT 3333 Cost Accounting for ACCT 3331. Finance majors may take either ACCT 3331 or ACCT 3333.
2B.S./M.S. in Professional Accounting majors are required to substitute a FINC elective for MGMT 4132.
Undergraduate students majoring in accounting have two options: the bachelor of science degree in Accounting and the integrated bachelor of science/master of science degrees in Professional Accounting. The objective of the bachelor of science degree in Accounting is to provide basic conceptual accounting and business knowledge as a foundation for entry level positions in industry, financial institutions and non-profit organizations, as well as to provide a basis for further study to pursue a career in public accounting.
Plan requirements for the bachelor of science degree in Accounting consist of these courses:
| ACCT | 3431 | Intermediate Accounting I |
| ACCT | 3432 | Intermediate Accounting II |
| ACCT | 4331 | Federal Taxation of Individuals |
| ACCT | 4332 | Financial Information Systems |
| ACCT | 4431 | Auditing I |
| ACCT | 4532 | Advance Financial Accounting |
Elective Requirements (9 hours)
| ACCT | Elective | (3 hours) |
| BUS | Elective | (3 hours) |
| General | Elective | (3 hours) |
The integrated bachelor of science and master of science degrees in Professional Accounting are designed for focused entering undergraduate students who know they want to meet the requirements to sit for the CPA examination and pursue a professional career in accounting. The objective of the integrated plan is to provide students with the required background to sit for the CPA examination and to provide a basis for exercising judgment in accounting-related and business decisions within administrative, managerial and professional positions as well as enhance rapid career development.
Students must apply to the graduate program, take the GMAT exam and meet all graduate accounting entrance requirements by the first semester of their senior year (i.e., after they have completed their first 36 hours of the integrated plan). In addition, students in the integrated plan will be required to have a cumulative UHCL GPA of at least 3.000 for admission to the M.S. in Professional Accounting. The B.S. in Professional Accounting will not be awarded until all requirements for the M.S. are completed. Students failing to be admitted into the graduate Professional Accounting plan will revert to the 120-hour B.S. in Accounting degree plan and proceed in the normal manner to graduation. Students planning on taking the CPA examination are required to have a 3-semester credit hour ethics course, which has been approved by the Texas State Board of Public Accountancy. ACCT 4436 Ethics for Accountants has been approved by TSBPA and satisfies the ethic course requirement.
The Candidate Plan of Study for the integrated B.S. and M.S. in Professional Accounting will include 117 hours of undergraduate and 33 hours of graduate course work. Plan requirements consist of the following courses:
| ACCT | 3431 | Intermediate Accounting I |
| ACCT | 3432 | Intermediate Accounting II |
| ACCT | 4331 | Federal Taxation of Individuals |
| ACCT | 4332 | Financial Information Systems |
| ACCT | 4431 | Auditing I |
| ACCT | 4436 | Business Ethics for Accountants |
| Undergraduate BUS Elective (3 hours) | ||
| Undergraduate General Elective (3 hours) | ||
| ACCT | 5234 | Corporate Income Tax |
| ACCT | 5431 | Advanced Accounting |
| ACCT | 5432 | Accounting for Government & Not-for-Profit Organizations |
| ACCT | 6732 | Seminar in Auditing Theory and Practices |
| LEGL | 5131 | Legal Concepts for Business Professionals |
| MGMT | 6731 | Strategic Management Seminar |
| ACCT | Electives | (6 hours)1 |
| BUS | Electives | (6 hours)1 |
| MKTG | Elective | (3 hours)1 |
1Course work at the 3000- or 4000-level and graduate foundation courses may not be included in the 15 hours of graduate ACCT, MKTG or BUS electives.
Students in the integrated Professional Accounting Plan may complete a sub-plan (concentration) in Management Information Systems by completing the following combination of undergraduate and graduate course work. Plan requirements consist of these courses:
| ACCT | 3431 | Intermediate Accounting I |
| ACCT | 3432 | Intermediate Accounting II |
| ACCT | 4331 | Federal Taxation of Individuals |
| ACCT | 4332 | Financial Information Systems |
| ACCT | 4431 | Auditing I |
| ACCT | 4436 | Business Ethics for Accountants |
| ISAM | 3034 | Introduction to Business Programming |
| Undergraduate General Elective (3 hours) | ||
| ACCT | 5234 | Corporate Income Tax |
| ACCT | 5431 | Advanced Accounting |
| ACCT | 5432 | Accounting for Government and Not-for-Profit Organizations |
| ACCT | 6732 | Seminar in Auditing Theory and Practice |
| LEGL | 5131 | Legal Concepts for Business Professionals |
| MGMT | 6731 | Strategic Management Seminar (Capstone Course) |
Two of the following six courses (6 hours):
| ACCT | 5333 | Fundamentals of Database Design and Development |
| ACCT | 5334 | Advanced Database Applications Development |
| ACCT | 5335 | Information Systems Audit and Security |
| ACCT | 5336 | Systems Analysis and Design |
The plan in Finance leads to the bachelor of science degree. Plan requirements consist of these courses:
| ACCT | 3431 | Intermediate Accounting I |
| ACCT | 3432 | Intermediate Accounting II1 |
| FINC | 3333 | Intermediate Financial Management |
| FINC | 3533 | Investments |
| FINC | 4331 | Contemporary Financial Institutions |
| FINC | 4431 | Structure of Financial Statements1 |
| FINC | Electives | (3 hours) To be selected from the following courses: |
| FINC 3531 Real Estate Investment Analysis | ||
| FINC 4531 International Financial Operations | ||
| FINC 4631 Treasury Management | ||
| FINC 4931 Selected Topics in Finance | ||
| General Electives (6 hours) | ||
| Non-Business Electives (3 hours) | ||
1 Student can take either ACCT 3432 or FINC 4431.
The plan in General Business leads to the bachelor of science degree. Plan requirements consist of 18 hours in business administration course work with no more than six hours of course work from any one of the following areas: accounting, business and public administration, decision sciences, economics, finance, healthcare administration, information systems, management or marketing, a minimum of six hours of general electives and three hours of non-business elective.
The plan in Healthcare Administration leads to the bachelor of science degree. Plan requirements consist of these courses:
| HADM | 3131 | Foundations of Healthcare Administration Leadership |
| HADM | 3531 | Physician Group Practice Management |
| HADM | 4132 | Healthcare Planning and Marketing |
| HADM | 4136 | Medical Reimbursement |
| HADM | 4332 | Legal Dimensions of Healthcare Administration (or LEGL 3531, 3432, 4532 or 4632) |
| HADM | 4531 | Financial Dimensional of Healthcare Administration II |
| MGMT | 3331 | Human Resource Management |
| HADM | Elective | (3 hours) |
| Non-Business Elective (3 hours) | ||
The Bachelor of Applied Science (BAS) is a collaborative partnership with community colleges and employers in the UHCL service area. The program is designed for students holding an associate degree in the allied health professions. Upon their enrollment at UHCL, the program allows incoming students to transfer a significant portion of their vocational/technical credit hours that they earn through their Associates program. However, students enrolled in the BAS will be required to complete the core curriculum as well as professional core at UHCL in order to complete their BAS degree. Five different tracks will be available to students pursuing a BAS degree. Healthcare Services is one of those tracks.
Students possessing AAS degrees have the technical skills required for their health care professions, but their courses do not require them to complete the State of Texas mandated 42-hour undergraduate core curriculum (general education) for a bachelor's degree. This track will be offered at UHCL's Healthcare Administration Department, which is physically based in the Texas Medical Center. This track will allow students with an AAS in the allied health professions to complete a portion of the undergraduate core at the upper-level. The curriculum will save the students valuable time and money, as well as prepare them to advance into an administrative position within their units of healthcare facilities.
| HADM | 3131 | Foundations of Healthcare Administration Leadership |
| HADM | 3232 | Financial Dimensions of Healthcare Administration I |
| HADM | 3333 | Healthcare Economics |
| HADM | 3531 | Physician Group Practice Management1 |
| HADM | 4132 | Healthcare Planning and Marketing |
| HADM | 4136 | Medical Reimbursement |
| HADM | 4236 | Hospital Operations1 |
| HADM | 4332 | Legal Dimensions of Healthcare Administration (or LEGL 3531, 3432, 4532 or 4632) |
| HADM | 4431 | Human Resource in Healthcare Administration |
| HADM | 4531 | Financial Dimensional of Healthcare Administration II |
1Students can select either HADM 3531 Physician Group Practice Management or HADM 4236 Hospital Operations.
| PSYC | 4332 | Introduction to Industrial/Organizational Psychology2 |
| PSYC | 4730 | Behavioral Statistics |
| MGMT | 4534 | Organizational Behavior2 |
| MKTG | 3031 | Marketing: Creating Value for Customers |
2 Student can select either PSCY 4332 Introduction to Industrial/Organizational Psychology or MGMT 4534 Organizational Behavior.
The plan in Management leads to the bachelor of science degree. Plan requirements consist of 15 hours of management electives, a minimum of nine hours of general electives and three hours of non-business elective.
The plan in Management Information Systems leads to the bachelor of science degree. The objective of the degree coursework is to prepare students to pursue careers such as business application developer, database application developer, network administrator, web designer, technical support, etc. Plan requirements consist of these courses:
| CSCI | 3132 | Programming with Pascal |
| CSCI | 3134 | Software Development with Java |
| ISAM | 3331 | Introduction to Business Databases |
| ISAM | 3332 | Business Applications Programming with Visual Basic |
| ISAM | 4331 | Internet Applications in Business |
| ISAM | 4635 | Analysis & Design of Business Systems |
| ISAM | 4636 | Introduction to Network Management |
| ISAM | Elective | (3 hours) |
| BUS | Elective | (3 hours) |
The plan in Marketing leads to the bachelor of science degree. Plan requirements consist of these courses:
| MKTG | 3133 | Channel Relationships and Dynamics |
| MKTG | 3531 | Marketing Intelligence and Data Management |
| MKTG | 4334 | Business Marketing Strategy |
| MKTG | Electives | (9 hours) |
| General or Non-Business Electives (9 hours) | ||
A minimum of 60 upper-level hours and a total of 120 hours are required for the baccalaureate degree.
These professional plans offer a blending of private and public sector administration. The objective of these plans is to create an understanding of basic administrative skills and an appreciation of the social, economic and political environment of public administration.
Once a student is accepted as a degree candidate, a Candidate Plan of Study (CPS) will be prepared. In some degree plans, sufficient hours of electives are added to the course requirements on the CPS to meet the 60 upper-level hour requirement and/or the 120 total hour requirement.
Undergraduate Candidate Plans of Study in public administration must contain no more than 25 percent of their credit hours from the business fields of accounting, business and public administration (BAPA), decision sciences, economics, finance, healthcare administration, information systems, management and marketing. A minimum GPA of 2.0 or higher is needed to graduate.
The undergraduate plan in Environmental Management leads to the bachelor of science degree. The objective of the plan is to prepare students for positions involving the management of natural resources in a variety of public and private settings. Students are expected to complete six hours of course work in chemistry before enrolling.
Plan requirements consist of these courses:
| CHEM | 3333 | Environmental Chemistry |
| DSCI | 3231 | Statistics I |
| ENVR | 3131 | Foundations of Environmental Management |
| ENVR | 4133 | Techniques of Environmental Assessment |
| ENVR | 4135 | Introduction to Environmental Law |
| ENVR | 4332 | Process of Environmental Permitting |
| ENVR | 4333 | Introduction to Pollution Control Technology |
| ENVR | 4336 | Administrative Practices & Ethical Considerations |
| MGMT | 3031 | Management Theory & Practice |
| MGMT | 4537 | Government Budget Planning & Analysis |
| WRIT | 3135 | Technical Writing |
Two of the following five courses (6 hours):
| ENVR | 4131 | Principles of Air Quality |
| ENVR | 4132 | Water Management Principles |
| ENVR | 4136 | Fundamentals of Hazardous Waste Management |
| ENVR | 4137 | Solid Waste Management Principles |
| ENVR | 4334 | Health & Safety Management |
One of the following five courses (3 hours):
| MGMT | 3133 | Organizational Communication |
| MGMT | 3331 | Human Resource Management |
| MGMT | 4431 | Leadership in a Global Business Environment |
| MGMT | 4533 | International Business Management |
| MGMT | 4534 | Organizational Behavior |
One of the following seven courses (3 hours):
| BIOL | 3333 | Environmental Biology |
| CHEM | 3233 | Organic Chemistry I |
| CHEM | 4535 | Environmental Sampling & Monitoring |
| GEOG | 4231 | Fundamentals of GIS |
| GEOL | 3333 | Environmental Geology |
| GEOL | 4233 | Soils in the Environment |
| INDH | 3333 | Environmental Safety & Health |
| Other pre-approved upper-level science or safety courses | ||
Electives (15 hours):
| ENVR | Elective | (3 hours) |
| General | Elective | (3 hours) |
| Non-Business Electives (9 hours) | ||
The undergraduate plan in Legal Studies leads to the bachelor of science degree. It is the goal of the Legal Studies program to introduce students to the study of law and the workings of the American Legal system as a foundation for a career as a paralegal professional or the more advanced study of law in a law school environment. The degree program has three principal educational objectives: 1) to educate students in the legal principles that underpin substantive and procedural areas of law such as torts, family law, probate, criminal law, the law of real property, consumer law, and civil litigation; 2) to equip students with the legal research, writing and critical thinking skills necessary to foster their continuing independent study of the law beyond the classroom; and 3) to raise student's awareness and understanding of the important role that legal ethics play in the delivery of legal services.
Plan requirements consist of these courses:
| LEGL | 3037 | Legal Writing & Appellate Process |
| LEGL | 3133 | Introduction to Law & the American Legal System |
| LEGL | 3231 | Logic |
| LEGL | 3432 | American System of Trial by Jury |
| LEGL | 3531 | Legal Research |
| LEGL | 3533 | Introduction to Texas Rules of Pre-Trial Civil Procedure |
| LEGL | 4532 | Family Law & Procedure |
| LEGL | 4534 | Property Transactions |
| LEGL | 4535 | Criminal Law |
| LEGL | 4536 | Torts |
| LEGL | 4539 | Estate Planning & Administration |
| LEGL | 4631 | Texas Consumer Law |
| WRIT | 3037 | Advanced Writing1 |
| WRIT | 3035 | Intermediate Writing1 |
1 Students may take either WRIT 3037 or WRIT 3035
Required Electives (21 hours):
| One course to be selected from ACCT, DSCI, ENVR 4135, FINC, HADM, ISAM, MGMT or MKTG rubrics (3 hours); |
| One course to be selected from ARTS, HIST or HUMN rubrics (3 hours); |
| One of the following two courses: WRIT 3132 or WRIT 3135 (3 hours); |
| 12 hours of general electives. |
NOTE: The Political Science program has been transferred to the and Humanities. Please check their section of the catalog for plan requirements.