College of Business and Economics

Stephens Hall 218
Phone: 410-704-3342
Fax: 410-704-3664
Email: cbedean@towson.edu

Vision

To be recognized as the business college of choice for students, faculty and organizations in our region.

Mission

The College of Business and Economics develops high quality, innovative and inclusive programs and resources, connects individuals to opportunities by applying theory to practice in curricular, co-curricular and scholarship activities, and transforms students into professionals who will have a positive societal impact within Maryland and beyond.

Values

We embrace a culture of striving for excellence, learning, ethical behavior, respect, civility, accountability, diversity, and inclusion.

Judy Harris, Interim Dean
Lisa Simmons, Assistant Dean

As a premier school of applied business learning, the College of Business and Economics prepares its graduates to achieve excellence in their professional careers. Rigorous academic studies and hands-on business experience—all subject to strict measures of performance— work in combination to develop the foundation for success, connect students with the professional community and transform students who will have a positive impact in and beyond Maryland.

Graduates of Towson University’s College of Business and Economics will:

  • Apply Business Knowledge in the Context of Professional Employment;
  • Communicate Properly and Effectively;
  • Apply Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving Skills to Organizational Decision Making;
  • Use Technology Effectively in Business Settings;
  • Work Effectively Toward Achieving Common Goals within Diverse Teams;
  • Distinguish Between Ethical and Unethical Conduct in the Professional Lives.

Towson University is the only University System of Maryland (USM) state university with both its Business and Accounting programs accredited by AACSB International - the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business.

Distinctive Features

The College of Business and Economics develops high quality, innovative and inclusive programs and resources, connects individuals to opportunities by applying theory to practice in curricular, co-curricular and scholarship activities, and transforms students into professionals who will have a positive societal impact within Maryland and beyond. The CBE embraces a culture of striving for excellence, learning, ethical behavior, respect, civility, accountability, diversity and inclusion.

Ranked in the top 30 public business schools in the country by Poets & Quants magazine, the CBE’s high-quality, contemporary and relevant curriculum focuses on achieving concrete and measurable objectives in student knowledge, skills and attitudes (KSAs). These KSAs are designed to lead CBE graduates to obtain an integrated understanding of the functional areas of business; think critically and creatively; make ethical decisions; produce effective written and oral communication; use technology appropriately; demonstrate leadership and teamwork; and develop the accredited business knowledge, skills and attitudes that lead to marketability and professional success—whether in careers with multinational and Fortune 500 companies or entrepreneurial pursuits.

Students may earn degrees in Accounting, Business Administration, Business Systems and Processes, and Economics. Within the Business Administration major, students choose from concentrations/tracks in Business Analytics, Economics, Entrepreneurship, Finance, International Business, Human Resource Management, Leadership and Management, Marketing, and Project Management and Business Analysis. The College also offers an undergraduate certificate in Entrepreneurship and minors in Accounting, Business Administration, Business Analytics, Business Law, Economics, Entrepreneurship, Finance and Marketing. TU’s Accounting and Business Administration programs are accredited by AACSB International—the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business—the highest distinction that business schools can receive worldwide.

Programs within CBE:

  • Are built on a set of university core courses with a strong liberal arts foundation.
  • Provide broad coverage of business knowledge and skills with an emphasis on technology.
  • Require professional certifications for in-demand software skills such as Microsoft Excel and HubSpot social media certification for all business administration and accounting majors, with industry leading technology from Bloomberg, SAP, Google AdWords and more built into appropriate concentrations.
  • Enhance communications skills, develop emotional intelligence, and teach the importance of lifelong learning.
  • Include abundant experiential learning opportunities, such as the required live case competition in the capstone strategy course and co-curricular competitions in sales, data analytics, supply chain management, financial services and more.
  • Allow for interaction with professors and classmates with an average class size of 31.
  • Offer personalized academic and career advising through our in-house office for Student Academic and Career Services and the University’s Career Center.
  • Provide networking and professional development opportunities through CBE’s 19 and TU’s more than 400 student organizations.

In order to graduate from Towson University with a major from the CBE, students must complete at least 50 percent of the units required in their major at TU.

Upper-level courses taken at other universities may, if approved, transfer to TU and count toward TU degree requirements. However, students are limited to a maximum of 64 units from two-year institutions and 90 units from either four-year institutions or from a combination of two- and four-year institutions. At least 30 of the 120 units for your degree must be taken at TU and 15 of these 30 units must be completed after you formally become a degree candidate at TU.

Lower-Level Courses

Students planning to transfer into the Business Administration, e-Business or Accounting majors at TU may transfer the following lower-level required courses from a Maryland community college:

  • Financial Accounting
  • Managerial Accounting 
  • Principles of Accounting I and II
  • Microeconomics
  • Macroeconomics
  • Statistics
  • Legal Environment of Business
  • Calculus for Applications
  • for Accounting majors only, COSC 111 equivalent.

Transfer students should work with their institution’s transfer office to understand how their courses will transfer or refer to TU’s Transfer Evaluation System (TES) for course equivalencies. Students may also contact TU’s CBE Student Academic and Career Services at 410-704-3496 (cbeadvising@towson.edu) or TU’s Transfer Student Center at 410-704-3229.

Students may be able to transfer equivalent courses from another institution with prior approval.  See the TU transfer petition form instructions for more information. 

Upper-Level Courses

Upper-Level Business Courses: An upper-level course transferred from a four-year college that possesses “level and content equivalency” to a TU course may only be used to satisfy a course requirement in fulfillment of the major with prior approval from the TU department that houses the course. A student intending to transfer a course must provide a course description from the other college’s catalog and a course syllabus. The CBE will only accept upper-level courses transferred from an institution accredited by AACSB, with the exception of courses taken through a TU approved Study Abroad and Away program (with prior department approval). 

Contact CBE Student Academic and Career Services, 410-704- 3496, or refer to the CBE website, for policy and procedures regarding transfer of units for upper-level Accounting, Business, e-Business and/or Economics courses.

NOTE: Lower-level courses cannot transfer as upper-level courses. 

The CBE Code of Conduct holds all members of the College of Business and Economics (students, faculty, administrators and staff) to a high standard of academic and personal integrity, conduct, and trust with the intent of promoting and building a reputation for fair and ethical business practices, for tolerance of others’ opinions and ideas, and for being lifelong contributors to society. Members of the CBE community are expected to display behavior consistent with the following values:

  1. A positive attitude: Face every task with passion and purpose.
  2. Honesty: Represent oneself honestly in all communications, oral and written, including interviews, research proposals, manuscripts, student assignments, papers, exams and other correspondence.
  3. Integrity: Execute assignments honestly and fairly, avoiding any actions that might be construed as having the potential for one to gain an unfair advantage. Respect the integrity and confidentiality of ideas, materials, data, and the real and intellectual property of others gathered during conversations, class projects, or research studies, making sure that any such materials or property are not used for commercial or personal gain without prior permission of the owners.
  4. Diversity: Foster a positive learning environment for all individuals by not tolerating disparaging comments or harassment of any individual or group based on gender, race, ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation. Discourage bigotry, always striving to learn from the differences in the cultures, ideas, experiences and opinions of others. Respect the dignity of all others.
  5. Support the learning environment: ­Recognize learning as a lifelong process, accept responsibility for one’s own learning, encourage the learning of others and avoid any action that might impede the learning of others.
  6. Community responsibility: Contribute to the learning environment by participating and/or leading in informal and formal sessions including classroom and extracurricular activities in the college, sharing experiences with peers, holding classroom discussions and contributing one’s views while respecting the views of others.
  7. Professionalism: Maintain an attitude of leadership, respect, responsibility and accountability.

Administration of the Code

This code of conduct is a serious statement that represents the culture of the College of Business and Economics. It is incumbent upon every CBE member to assure that it is upheld with pride and reinforced on a daily basis. While each and every member of the CBE community is responsible for their own conduct, there is a collective responsibility to ensure that the standards in this code are respected. Should a member of the CBE community discover a breach of these principles, that member is responsible for alerting the department chair, program director or associate dean of the college. In the event of any accusation of a breach of this code, there will be an investigation of the facts by the appropriate department chair, program director or associate dean, who will determine the action to be taken using the relevant enforcement means available.

3rd Floor of Stephens Hall 
Phone: 410-704-3496
Fax: 410-704-2300
Email: CBEadvising@towson.edu

Director of Career Services: Lisa Michocki 

Director of Academic Advising: Meghan Behm

The Student Academic and Career Services (SACS) office supports students from the beginning of their undergraduate career until graduation. You may come to the office to seek assistance on issues such as peer advising, admission to the business administration or e-business major, study abroad and away and anything else that may come up while you are a student at Towson University.

SACS can answer your questions about:

  • Admission to the accounting, business administration and business systems & processes and economics majors,
  • Transferring credits,
  • Choosing a major or concentration,
  • Finding an internship, and
  • Any other issue that may arise while you're a student in the College of Business and Economics.

We also provide internship and career support services as well as student programs and events.