General Information

The School of Business Administration is committed to developing socially responsible leaders and improving global business practice through innovative personalized education and applied research.

The major goal of professional undergraduate business education in the School of Business Administration is to prepare students with an educational foundation for effective and responsible administrative and managerial leadership in both private and public organizations or related professional activities. This goal implies educating persons to be responsible adults in all aspects of their lives in an era of dynamic change. It implies that we aim to educate persons as highly competent professionals who strive for the achievement of the highest values and goals.

The basic orientation of the School is professional, and this dictates a three-part curriculum. The first and most important part is the core curriculum, USD’s general education program. An effective leader and professional in this era of change and challenge must be a liberally educated person. It is necessary that our students learn the indispensable competencies of written literacy, mathematical competency, and critical reasoning. Furthermore, it is our objective to help students develop their own internalized value systems and appreciate the diversity of human experience. We believe that a liberal education is a necessary part of a professional education, and we have structured a curriculum that recognizes this as preparation for life.

The second part of the curriculum is the common-body-of-knowledge, those business courses required of all School of Business Administration graduates. This business core provides the foundation for a career as a manager or as a business-related professional. It provides the student with an understanding of the interaction between the firm and its environment, and an overall view of policy-making in an organization. This business core, combined with the quantitative and philosophy courses, is designed to help our students become professionals with highly analytical minds.

The third section of the curriculum provides the student an opportunity to specialize and prepare for an entry-level position in the first years of a career. These areas include majors in accounting, business administration, business economics, economics, finance, and marketing. The goal of this portion of the curriculum is to provide the student with the understanding necessary for the development of personal potential early in one’s career.

Our goal is to graduate self-motivated persons who will be able to absorb and use an ever growing body of knowledge and changing technology, and to serve humankind in an ethical manner. The school, therefore, stresses values and the process of learning.

Advisory Boards and Committees

A number of advisory boards and committees have been established to assist various programs within the School of Business Administration in the following areas:

1. Developing and promoting relations between the USD School of Business Administration and the business, not-for-profit, and government communities.
2. Providing counsel and advice on existing and contemplated programs of the School of Business Administration.
3. Serving as liaisons between the USD School of Business Administration and the San Diego community, the state, and national sectors.
4. Advising the dean and the faculty on matters dealing with business programs, curricula, and activities.
5. Assisting in seeking sources of support for School of Business Administration programs and facilities.
6. Improving and facilitating recruiting and placement of graduates and alumni.
7. Advising the USD School of Business Administration on ways and means of effective utilization of human and physical resources in business research projects and programs.

School of Business Administration Board of Advisors

Dr. Marjorie Blanchard, Ken Blanchard Companies
Mr. Malin Burnham, The Burnham Companies
Mr. Tres Conrique, Rancho Santa Fe Technology, Inc.
Ms. Theresa Drew, Deloitte & Touche LLP
Mr. Michael Gallegos, American Property Management Corp.
Mr. Ashok Israni, Pacifica Companies
Mr. Andrew Laats, Nixon, Inc.
Mr. Luis Maizel, LM Advisors, Inc.
Mr. Henry Nordhoff, Gen-Probe Inc.
Dr. David Pyke, University of San Diego
Mr. Garry Ridge, WD-40 Company
Ms. Susan Snow

Accountancy Programs Executive Board

Mr. Steve Embry, PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP
Mr. Robert Bruning, Ernst & Young, LLP
Mr. Joseph Dowds, Deloitte & Touche, LLP
Mr. John Driscoll, General Atomics
Mr. Russ Slaughter, KPMG

Burnham-Moores Center for Real Estate, Commercial Real Estate Committee

Chair: Mr. Christopher J. Pascale, CB Richard Ellis, Inc.
Mr. Charles Abdi, Finest City Realty Advisors
Mr. Robert Anselmo, McMillin Commercial
Mr. Al Malouf Assad, Hanken Cono Assad & Co., Inc.
Mr. Ron Bamberger, Boardwalk Development
Mr. Thomas G. Blake, Coast Income Properties, Inc.
Ms. Elizabeth B. Bluhm, Red Capital Group
Mr. Warner Bonner, Phase 3 Properties
Ms. Deborah A. Bossmeyer, Stewart Title of California
Mr. Richard A. Caterina, Johnson Capital Group, Inc.
Mr. David F. Davis, D.F. Davis Real Estate, Inc.
Mr. Kurt J. Huppert, U.S. Bank
Mr. Jerry Jacquet, Meissner Jacquet Investment
Mr. John I. Kocmur, Janez Properties, Inc.
Mr. Nathan Moeder, The London Group Realty Advisors, Inc.
Mr. John C. Mulvihill, Pacific Life Insurance
Mr. James E. Munson, Burnham Real Estate
Mr. John Pagliuso, Oliver McMillan
Mr. George A. Pflaum, Dwyer-Curlett & Co.
Mr. Daniel J. Phelan, Pacific Southwest Realty Services
Mr. R. Andrew Pollin, Pacifica Companies
Mr. Matthew Reid, Ryan Companies U.S. Inc.
Ms. Randi S. Rosen, KPMG
Ms. Susan Rykowski
Mr. Roger Simsiman, Rho Advisory Group
Ms. Aubree Spear, Popular Small Business Capital
Mr. Jeffrey R. Stoke, Esq., Procopio, Cory, Hargreaves & Savitch
Mr. Michael D. Verbeck, Ernst & Young, LLP
Ms. Joyce Welch, Deloitte & Touche, LLP
Mr. John P. Wickenhiser, Wells Fargo Bank
Mr. Christopher F. Wood, Opus West Corporation
Mr. Donald S. Zech, CDC Commerical

Burnham-Moores Center for Real Estate, Executive Committee

Chair: Mr. John M. Robbins Jr., Vertice
Ms. Barbara R. Cambon, Snowcreek Management Co.
Ms. Gina Champion-Cain, American National Investments, Inc.
Mr. Joseph P. Colmery, California Bancshares, Inc. (retired)
Mr. Dennis S. Cruzan, Cruzan Monroe
Ms. Julie Dillon, Dillon Development Inc.
Dr. Douglas G. Duncan, Mortgage Bankers Association of America
Mr. Mitchell P. Ellner, Ernst & Young, LLP
Mr. Bradley A. Geier, Merlone Geier Partners
Mr. James T. Gianulis, Pacific Realty Advisors, LP
Mr. Ian M. Gill, Highland Partnership, Inc.
Mr. Sanford R. Goodkin, Sanford R. Goodkin & Associates
Mr. Peter J. Hall, Realty Advisory Services
Mr. Sherman D. Harmer, Jr., Urban Housing Partners, Inc.
Mr. W. Roger Haughton, The PMI Group, Inc. (Retired)
Mr. Sergio Jinich, Paragon Company
Mr. Keith A. Johnson, Fieldstone Communities, Inc.
Mr. Stath J. Karras, Burnham Real Estate
Mr. John C. Kratzer, JMI Realty, Inc.
Mr. Donald E. Lange, Pacific Financial Services, Inc.
Dr. Louis H. Masotti, Prof. Emeritus of the Kellogg Graduate School
Mr. Robert M. McGill, Neighborhood Bancorp
Mr. Daniel F. Mulvihill, Pacific Southwest Realty Services
Mr. J. Terrence O’Malley, DLA Piper
Mr. Steven G. Osgood, DuPont Fabros
Mr. Jeffrey Reed, Wells Fargo Bank
Mr. Matthew J. Reno, Reno Contracting Inc.
Mr. Joseph R. Reppert, First American Real Estate Information Services
Mr. Mike F. Richardson, Sherpa Alliance
Mr. Thomas W. Sudberry, Jr., Sudberry Properties
Mr. Stuart A. Tanz, United Income Properties, Inc.
Mr. Herbert B. Tasker, Mason-Duffie Mortgage Corp.
Mr. Joseph B. Tyson
Mr. Alex Zikakis, Capstone Advisors

Emeritus Members:

Mr. Malin Burnham, Burnham Foundation
Dr. Author E. Hughes, USD President Emeritus
Mr. William D. Jones, CityLink Investment Corp.

Burnham-Moores Center for Real Estate, Residential Real Estate Committee

Mr. Joseph Anfuso, Florsheim Homes
Mr. Steven C. Atwood, National City Mortgage Co.
Mr. Paul Barnes, Shea Homes San Diego
Mr. Daniel Berkus, Paragon Management Company, LLC
Mr. Robert G. Bohrer, H.G. Fenton Company
Mr. Anthony Botte, Hearthstone Advisors
Mr. David Cabot, Prudential California Realty
Mr. Robert C. Cummings, Barratt American Homes
Mr. Lionel R. Deschamps, KPMG LLP
Mr. Michael E. Dullea, Old Republic Title Co.
Mr. Pat Edinger, Edinger Architectural Group
Mr. Mike Fake, Proffer Financial
Mr. Joseph R. Galascione, ERA Metro Realty
Mr. Joseph S. Greenblatt, Sunrise Management
Mr. Robert Griswold, Griswold Real Estate Management, Inc.
Ms. Tammy Harpster, Phoenix Realty Group
Mr. Stephen Hinckley, HFG Capital Partners
Mr. Horace Hogan II, Brehm Communities
Mr. Dan Holbrook, Protivity
Mr. Randall B. Klotz, Esq., Wells Fargo
Mr. Michael Levesque, Lennar Communities
Mr. Louis Lightfoot, Lightfoot Planning Group
Ms. Dianne McMillan, North San Diego County Assoc. of Realtors
Mr. Michael Mercurio, San Diego Association of Realtors
Mr. Mark A. Mozilo, IndyMac Bank
Mr. Andrew Murphy, American Property Enterprises
Mr. Michael Nagy, San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce
Mr. Alan Nevin, MarketPointe Realty Advisors
Mr. William Ostrem, EastLake Company
Mr. Robert Pinnegar, San Diego County Apartment Association
Mr. Francis X. Riley, San Diego HUD Office
Ms. Lisa Rustin, Capstone Advisors
Mr. James J. Schmid, Esq., Chelsea Investment Corp.
Mr. Tom Scott, San Diego Housing Federation
Mr. Gregory M. Shields, Project Design Consultants
Mr. Richard A. Snyder, R. A. Snyder Properties, Inc.
Mr. Jay Stark, Phoenix Realty Group
Mr. Louis Tapia, Pac Shore Funding
Mr. Paul A. Tryon, BIA of San Diego County
Ms. Jane C. Wheeler, Roni Hicks & Associates
Mr. Brad Wiblin, Bridge Housing Corp.
Supply Chain Management Institute Advisory Board
Mr. Rashid Al Malik, Dubai Aerospace Enterprise
Mr. Scott Beth, Intuit, Inc.
Mr. John Cotter, OptumHealth
Dr. Simon Croom, University of San Diego
Ms. Dawn Evans, Sourcing Interests Group
Mr. William Forbes, Raytheon Company
Mr. Rik Geiersbach, Northrop Grumman Corporation
Mr. Rey Huerta, Sony (Retired)
Mr. Charles Lamb, The Boeing Company
Maj Gen Michael Lehnert, Marine Corps Installation West
Mr. Mark Mealy, Penske Logistics, LLC
Mr. Angel Mendez, Cisco Systems
Mr. Robert Mionis, DAE Manufacturing/Engineering
Mr. Gary Myers, Southern California Edison
Mr. R. David Nelson, The Dave Nelson Group
Mr. Paul Novak, Institute for Supply Management
Mr. Tom Olesen, PNM Resources
Mr. Mark Palamar, Qualcomm

Centers and Institutes

John Ahlers Center for International Business

The John M. Ahlers Center for International Business was founded in 1994 with a generous endowment from the estate of John and Carolyn Ahlers to enhance international business education at the University of San Diego. Given a lifetime of international business and service, the Ahlers believed that globalization had increased the need for managers to be developed with special skills and knowledge to handle the challenges and opportunities of an international marketplace. The Ahlers Center provides a number of programs to strengthen and acquire this needed expertise among the faculty, students, and the business community. These programs have resulted in faculty with international expertise who offer a variety of international courses and perspectives, and students who are interested and experienced in international business. These activities link faculty, students and international business leaders to share ideas and develop knowledge to operate more effectively in a global business environment.

The Ahlers Center, along with the International Center at the University of San Diego, develops and coordinates study abroad programs during Intersession and Summer Sessions. These programs allow business students the opportunity, over a relatively short time period, to have a study abroad business-oriented experience. In addition to study abroad opportunities, the Ahlers Center annually sponsors International Executives-in-Residence, bringing business leaders to campus and the classroom. The Ahlers Center also invites distinguished international business faculty for special guest lectures or to offer courses as visiting faculty at USD.

All of these activities, and others, have created a Center of Excellence in International Business at the University of San Diego that permeates throughout the curriculum and into a variety of programs.

Burnham-Moores Center for Real Estate

The mission of the Burnham-Moores Center for Real Estate is to deliver outstanding education, industry outreach, career placement and research services to advance socially responsible leadership in real estate. Our goals are a commitment to excellence and a dedication to developing a world-class reputation for high-quality real estate education; student career placement in a wide range of real estate related careers; pertinent applied research; and annual professional conferences and continuing education programs that meet the needs of commercial and residential professionals. The School of Business Administration recognizes the Burnham-Moores Center as one of its key Centers of Excellence.

The Burnham-Moores Center for Real Estate consists of 12 faculty and staff, two adjunct instructors, four affiliated faculty members, and several industry adjuncts. The Center’s Policy Advisory Board (PAB) Executive Committee, comprised of 32 senior business and real estate executives, provides overall policy guidance and financial support to the real estate program. The Commercial Real Estate Committee and the Residential Real Estate Committee consist of another 30+ members each, and the new Curriculum and Research Committee consists of 10 industry executives. In total, more than 100 industry leaders serve as advisers to the program. These leaders offer their advice on curriculum development and conference topics, as well as job placement strategies, internships and employment opportunities. They also provide overall policy guidance to assure the relevance and value of the Center’s programs.

Undergraduate students can now choose real estate as a minor for the bachelor’s in business administration degree. Four classes (12 units) are required for the minor and include Principles and Practices of Real Estate, Legal Aspects of Real Estate, a residential or commercial real estate finance class and an upper-division elective course in real estate. The Real Estate Society provides extracurricular activities for current students interested in real estate, including monthly programs on topics such as redevelopment and sustainable real estate and monthly field trips to unique real estate development projects. A real estate alumni association continues the lifelong relationships begun at USD and nurtured thereafter.

Accountancy Institute

The Accountancy Institute was created to serve the educational and professional needs of the San Diego accounting community. The institute offers a variety of personalized educational opportunities including the tax boot camp, a certificate in financial planning, and other continuing professional education programs.

These, as well as other networking and personal growth opportunities, are available to our current students, our alumni, and other San Diego professionals from the accounting community. The University of San Diego Accountancy Institute’s commitment to personalized leadership and ethics continues through our variety of professional opportunities offered by our faculty.

Supply Chain Management Institute

SCMI has helped to professionalize and shape the industry by providing supply chain management education to students at the undergraduate and graduate levels for more than 25 years. In October 2007, the Master of Science in Supply Chain program became the first master’s degree to receive approval by the prestigious Institute for Supply Management (ISM), the largest supply management association in the world. This professional stamp of approval was earned in part due to the legacy of dedication that SCMI has demonstrated to this emerging field.

Undergraduate students, including those outside the SBA degree programs, now have the opportunity to choose supply chain management as a minor. Nine units of supply chain management courses are required as part of the 18 unit overall requirement.

SCMI provides students with purposeful opportunities to learn from leading practitioners in supply chain management. The Institute also assists students and alumni with career placement through its annual job fair and year-round access to leading corporations with opportunities for both internships and long-term placement. The student division of the Institute, the Supply Chain Management Association (SCMA), also organizes tours to world-class facilities and opportunities for interacting with industry and professional organizations.