Complete MBA-516 or take concurrently.
Explore MBA with Human Resource Management Specialization
As the pace and complexity of modern business environments grow, employers recognize the need for a new type of business professional: one who is more agile, reflective, can leverage one's own strengths and those of the team, and uses systems thinking to inform organizational decisions. Take the next step in your career and learn how to strategically affect change and drive organizational results with Champlain's online master's in business administration (MBA) with a concentration in human resource management.
This MBA human resources online program will give you a deeper understanding of the role of human resources in organizational leadership and teach you how to use HR functions to advance the mission and strategic goals of the organization. Develop the ability to envision an inspiring and equitable workplace, learn how to integrate ethical frameworks into your organization’s culture, and become skilled at solving organizational problems effectively by earning your online MBA human resources management degree.
Build Your Career Future
The role of HR within organizations is continuing to shift from purely administrative functions to becoming a strategic partner in attaining organizational goals. Today’s professionals must be agile and approach challenges with a systems-thinking mindset and, increasingly, must have a focused area of specialization.
A concentration in human resource management is a great way to gain the in-demand skills and subject matter expertise necessary to stand out in your workplace from day one. To earn the MBA in human resource management online complete the MBA core courses as well as the following: Human Resources Foundation, Interpreting Human Resource Data, Coaching in the Workplace.
Take the next step
Academic Excellence and Recognition
Regionally accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education.
Ranked among the Best MBA Programs in Vermont by University Headquarters
Designated as a Military Friendly School for our commitment to the military community
Named the Best Online Bachelor's Programs by U.S. News & World Report
What Can You Do With an MBA?
Master's degrees from accredited online MBA programs are in high demand in the business world, and employment in master’s-level occupations is projected to grow by 15% from 2019 to 2029. A master's degree also pays off: the median salary for professionals with a master's degree is $78,210.*
Additionally, human resources managers earn a median annual salary of $121,220 with jobs in this position expected to grow 6% from 2019 to 2029.*
*Sources: Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), 2020; job titles: Payscale, 2020
Top Human Resources Occupations
- Compensation and Benefits Manager
- Director of Human Resources
- HR Analytics Specialist
Program Details
Learn more about Champlain's 100% online MBA human resources program.
MBA Course Descriptions
Champlain's online MBA courses encompass the top skills needed by today's business professionals.
MBA Required Courses (24 Credits)
Human Resource Management Specialization Courses (9 Credits)
MBA Required Courses
Throughout history, technology provided opportunities for innovation, resulting in changes in business and society at a global scale. These technologies often disrupted business policies and processes, impacting jobs and organizational structures. Students examine how technological innovation is experienced in society and viewed over time and into the future by business people, philosophers, and sociologists. Students explore the question, How do we imagine that business, society and our place within will be affected as technology continues to advance?
Decision-making in any organization cannot be separated from financial considerations, and those involved with strategic planning and operations need to understand the impact their work has on the organization's financial performance. Managers must understand the organization's financial models in order to make a meaningful contribution to the overall success of the organization. Students will focus on using financial information rather than creating it and will use case studies and simulations to experience low-risk financial decision-making.
Prerequisites
The operation of an organization focus on the transformation processes used to produce goods or provide services. Develop the skills needed to ensure the ongoing strategic contribution of a firm's operations to its competitive position. Investigate design thinking and the impact it can have on the complex processes underlying the development and manufacture of products as well as the creation and delivery of services. Topics include process analysis and cross-functional and cross-firm integration as part of a strategic vision.
Students learn organization analysis from a holistic perspective. Financial reports and financial ratios are the basis for traditional organizational analysis and builds from that foundation into the analysis of customer, supplier and employee metrics. Focus is on the Balanced Scorecard and other holistic approaches.
Marketing has the power to shape and influence individuals, communities, and society in myriad ways. Technological innovation continues to change the way we market to consumers, and the ways in which consumers interact with products and services. In this course, students will explore and critically examine the impact of current issues and emergent technology on enhancing the customer experience while at the same time applying foundational marketing approaches to build strategies and tactics for an organization of their choosing.
Students use a framework to explore the dynamics of human interaction within and between organizations. Throughout the course, they will use a perspective that a key function of management is to negotiate for resources and use that perspective to develop collaborative relationships with employees, vendors, suppliers, and interested communities.
Students explore the development and execution of an innovative and imaginative business strategy for the future. They consider answers to questions such as, How do you identify an opportunity for a new business that meets an otherwise unmet need? What happens when an organization fails to change when faced with a challenge to their traditional model? How can you mitigate risk? What are the processes that organizations use to keep themselves focused on changing stakeholder requirements and needs?
This course is built around a project that is designed to apply, in a comprehensive manner, the core areas of knowledge around which the MBA has been built. The project may be performed for a current employer, a sponsoring workplace or as an internship as either a service-learning project for a qualifying nonprofit organization or another organization of the student's choosing.
Prerequisites
The MBA 590 Capstone course must be taken only after all other courses in the program have been completed.
To gain a foundation for the Human Resource certificate, students take a macro-view of the field and examine the role of an HR department as a critical strategic business partner within the organization. Students integrate concepts and current workplace issues, including using new technologies in the field; the need for a broader understanding of business and culture; and how to build and support agile teams that work effectively.
Companies are exploring human capital analytics for workforce reporting and to help make informed decisions about human resources. The continuum of value that analytics bring to an organization includes practices from basic data reporting to predictive analytics. Explore workforce reporting and both traditional and advanced decision-making analytic tools, especially predictive modeling, which make it possible for organizations to inform decision making for the future. Learn to make the business case for using advanced HR analytics.
Prerequisites
Complete MGMT-536
Coaching in the workplace draws on many related fields including behavioral science, systems thinking and the study of change. After a review of those areas, students will use that foundation to develop a range of coaching tools. Learn to ask the right questions, provide applicable feedback, use a customized approach and help employees learn to independently grapple with problems and find solutions. Finally students will use coaching to deepen an individual's self-awareness to promote action and accountability.
Prerequisites
Complete MGMT-536
In addition to developing advanced communication and analytical skills, and a strategic mindset, graduates of the MBA online program will demonstrate a mastery of the following industry-specific competencies:
- Strategic Decision-Making and Innovation: Develop and implement innovative strategies, leveraging technology and creative thinking to drive organizational growth and adaptability in rapidly changing business environments.
- Financial Acumen and Analysis: Use financial analyses to drive decision-making, assess the financial implications of business strategies and actions, and manage resources for organizational sustainability.
- Leadership and Ethics: Lead with integrity, embrace ethical considerations in decision-making, and manage diverse teams with a focus on justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion.
- Integrated Business Perspective: Integrate business knowledge across functional areas, including marketing, finance, operations, and human resources, to make informed decisions that enhance overall organizational performance.
- Communication and Negotiation: Use proven communication and negotiation skills to effectively manage relationships with stakeholders, resolve conflicts, and articulate persuasive strategic visions.
Human Resource Management Specialization Learning Outcomes
- Integrate the expertise and value of a human resource lens into an organization's strategy to strengthen its ability to meet strategic goals.
- Envision a workplace culture that will lead to engaged workers, developing leaders, and a creative and inspiring workplace.
- Create a job description for a reflective, self-aware and engaged leader using a human resources lens and develop a personal plan to help you meet the expectations of that position.
- Reflect on and write about a leadership/coaching approach that will develop agile employees, creative teams and effective problem solvers.
- Integrate ethical frameworks into an organization's culture and problem-solving techniques.
Champlain College Online's business faculty, led by Department Chair Dr. Albert Orbinati, are expert practitioners in the field. Their industry expertise ensures that our business management curriculum is aligned with the needs of employers, and reflects the skills today’s business professionals need for success. Classes led by our seasoned experts will give you real-world insight into the business world, and create a rich community of career-focused learning.
Alumni of the Champlain College Online MBA program work in corporations, small businesses, government organizations, and non-profits nationwide, including:
- Alliance Bank
- Ben & Jerry's
- Burton Snowboards
- Cabot Creamery
- City of Burlington
- Collins Aerospace
- Dealer.com/Cox Automotive
- Deloitte
- Fidelity Investments
- GE Healthcare
- Internal Revenue Service
- JP Morgan Chase
- Keurig Dr. Pepper
- MetLife
- Mylan Technologies
- National Life Group
- Northrop Grumman
- People's United Bank
- Social Security Administration (SSA)
- University of Vermont Health Network
- UTC Aerospace Systems
Titles our alumni hold include:
- Accountant
- Auditor
- Business Administrator
- Business Analyst
- Chief Engineer
- Chief of Staff
- Chief Operating Officer
- Claims Specialist
- Consultant
- Contract Specialist
- Financial Analyst
- Financial Manager
- Global Inventory Planner
- HR Specialist
- IT Auditor
- Management Analyst
- Program Analyst
- Program Officer
- Quality Assurance Analyst
- Sr. Software Engineering Manager
- Underwriting Analyst
Increasing your career mobility is at the center of everything we do. As an online master's degree student, you get free access to the Fast Start Formula Career Bundle for getting noticed and getting hired, taught by Jen Morris, a leading executive career coach that partners with us to support our students in their job search journeys.
Tuition & Costs
Graduate Tuition Fall '23 - Summer '25
$595
per credit
$1,785*
per course
$450**
PER CREDIT FOR ALUMNI WHO EARNED A DEGREE FROM CHAMPLAIN, ON-CAMPUS or online
$450
per credit military service members (family members see truED tuition)
$150
One-time graduation fee
*Based on a 3-credit course; cost will vary if course is a different number of credits
** Starting Summer 2024, not retroactive
See the graduate cost of attendance and fees here
Save Up To $200 Per Course
Save up to $200 per course when you take two courses per term in spring and summer 2025.
Talk to your advisor about this opportunity to accelerate your program where you could save money on tuition.
If you enroll in two courses during any term within the Spring or Summer semesters, you will receive a special tuition rate on your second course. This discount is for graduate students in good standing, enrolled in a degree program.
- For the standard tuition rate receive $200 off your second course of the term
- For the truEd/partnership rates receive $150 off your second course of the term
Important Note: This special tuition rate is based on course availability. If a second course isn’t available in your degree program for a given term, the rate cannot be applied.
This offer applies to each of the four terms during the 2025 Spring and Summer semesters—Spring 1, Spring 2, Summer 1, and Summer 2, up to four times during these semesters. This special tuition rate does not extend to any additional courses, such as a third course in a term.
The special tuition rate will be applied to the next semester as a credit after the entire semester is complete. If you do not plan to return for the next term, graduate from your program, or have other extenuating circumstances, the credit may be issued as a refund. This special tuition rate is available if you complete two courses in a term and have paid your tuition. For example, if you register for two courses but drop one, the rate will not be applied.
Upcoming Information Sessions
Meet The Department Chair
Albert Orbinati, PhD
Department Chair and Assistant Professor, CCO Business Programs
Oversees
- Business (A.S., B.S., M.S., Certificates)
- Human Resource Management (B.S., Certificates)
- Leadership (M.S.)
- Management Information Systems (B.S.)
- Organization Development & Human Relations (M.S.)
About
Albert Orbinati, PhD, is Assistant Professor and Department Chair for the undergraduate and graduate business programs at Champlain College Online.
Prior to Champlain, Dr. Orbinati's roles have included Assistant Vice President of Online Learning and Continuing Education at Medaille University in Buffalo, NY; Dean of the School of Professional and Continuing Education at Russell Sage College in Albany, NY; and Director of Online and Non-Traditional Programs at Utica University in Utica, NY. In addition to his career in higher education, Albert is a member of the U.S. military, and currently holds the rank of Major in the Vermont Air National Guard.
Dr. Orbinati holds a B.A. in Urban Planning from Binghamton University, an M.A. in Adult Education from Central Michigan University, an M.B.A from Champlain College, and a Ph.D. in Adult Education from Capella University.
Why Champlain
Online Experience
"I wanted to go to an online school with a good reputation, and with a brick-and-mortar base. So I found Champlain, and that was it. Doing the online program was the only way I could pursue my education, being a mom of three and working full time."
Vanessa Junkins
Bachelor's Degree in Healthcare Administration, Master of Business Administration
Inpatient Services Program Manager, Fresenius Medical Care North America
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