Department of Business Administration
No matter where in business you plan to go, one of our six undergraduate degrees or three master’s level degrees can help you get there. The Department of Business Administration at Auburn University at Montgomery provides you with the foundation of a broad liberal education before beginning a more intensive study of specific areas of business. This approach ensures that graduates are not narrowly trained technicians, but well-rounded business professionals who can think critically, communicate effectively, and adapt to the ever-changing demands of the modern workplace, qualities that employers across every industry consistently rank among their most sought-after attributes.
At the undergraduate level, the Department of Business Administration offers six degree concentrations spanning Finance, General Business, Human Resource Management, Information Systems, Management, and Marketing. Each program is built around a curriculum that blends theoretical foundations with practical, real-world application, preparing students for entry-level roles and beyond from the moment they graduate. At the graduate level, students can choose from three master’s degree programs including the Master of Business Administration (MBA), the Master of Science in Management Information Systems (MSMIS), which are AACSB accredited, Master of Healthcare Administration (MHA), which is CAHME accredited, and designed to equip working professionals with the advanced skills needed to move into leadership roles across their respective industries.
What gives AUM’s Department of Business Administration a distinct edge is the quality and engagement of its faculty. Professors bring both scholarly research expertise and real-world professional experience into every classroom, ensuring that the curriculum stays current, relevant, and directly applicable to today’s business environment. With small class sizes that are a hallmark of the AUM experience, students benefit from more direct access to faculty, more meaningful classroom discussions, and a more personalized path through their program — an advantage that is difficult to find at larger institutions.
Beyond academics, the Department of Business Administration connects students to a broader professional community through career development resources, industry partnerships, and an active alumni network that spans virtually every sector — from corporate and nonprofit organizations to government agencies and entrepreneurial ventures. As part of the only AACSB-accredited business college in Montgomery, students in the Department of Business Administration graduate with a credential that is globally recognized, professionally respected, and built on a standard of excellence that sets them apart in a competitive job market.
Degrees and Minors
Commonly Asked Questions
Yes, it is an accreditation that carries significant weight both nationally and globally. The AUM College of Business holds AACSB International accreditation, the most prestigious standard in business education, held by less than 6% of business schools worldwide. This accreditation ensures that AUM’s Department of Business Administration consistently meets the highest standards for faculty qualifications, curriculum design, and ongoing program improvement. As the only AACSB-accredited business school in Montgomery, students can be confident that their degree is recognized and respected by employers, graduate programs, and professional organizations across every industry.
AUM’s Business Administration curriculum is built around the foundational pillars that every effective business professional needs to master. Core areas of study include Management and Leadership, Finance and Accounting, Marketing and Consumer Behavior, Operations and Resource Management, Data Analytics, and Business Law. This comprehensive approach ensures that graduates are not specialists in just one narrow area, but well-rounded professionals capable of understanding and contributing to every function of a modern organization — making them highly adaptable in a job market where versatility is increasingly valued.
AUM’s Department of Business Administration offers five distinct undergraduate majors — Finance, General Business, Human Resource Management, Management, and Marketing — each leading to a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (BSBA) in that field, so students can build focused expertise aligned with their specific career goals. (Information Systems is a separate major offered through AUM’s Department of Information Systems.) At the graduate level, the department offers the Master of Business Administration (MBA), giving students the opportunity to pursue advanced leadership roles in business. This range of options means that whether your ambitions lie in corporate leadership, or entrepreneurship, there is a program at AUM designed to get you there.
The demand for business, financial, and technical professionals has never been higher, and AUM graduates are well-positioned to meet it. Business Administration graduates from AUM enter the workforce equipped to pursue roles across virtually every sector — including corporate, nonprofit, government, healthcare, and technology. High-growth career paths such as Financial Manager, Management Consultant, Marketing Manager, and Data Analyst are all within reach, with many of these roles offering median salaries well above the national average. AUM’s AACSB-accredited degree gives graduates a credential that stands out in a competitive hiring landscape.
AUM’s Department of Business Administration is intentionally designed to bridge the gap between academic knowledge and professional practice. The program begins with a broad liberal arts foundation that develops critical thinking, communication, and an understanding of the global economy and society — skills that employers consistently rank among their highest priorities. From there, students move into more intensive, specialized study within their chosen major, supported by faculty who bring active scholarly research and real-world business experience into every classroom. This combination of broad education and focused expertise is what prepares AUM graduates to contribute meaningfully from their very first day on the job.
Yes. Beyond the classroom, AUM’s College of Business offers students meaningful opportunities to connect with peers, faculty, industry professionals, and the broader business community. Students can engage through business-related organizations and networking events that foster both professional development and a collegial learning environment. Combined with AUM’s strong alumni network — whose members span virtually every industry and sector — and career development resources that facilitate internship placements and employer connections, students in the Department of Business Administration graduate with far more than just a degree. They leave with a professional network and a community that supports their success long after they walk across the stage.
Faculty and Staff
Foster Roberts
Department Chair, Associate Professor | College of Business
Dr. Foster Roberts is the Chairperson and Associate Professor of Management in the Department of Business Administration at the College of Business, Auburn University Montgomery. Before joining Auburn University Montgomery, he served as an Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship at Southeast Missouri State University. Dr. Roberts holds a Ph.D. in Management from the University of Mississippi, along with an MBA and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Auburn University Montgomery.
With extensive experience in teaching, Dr. Roberts specializes in strategic analysis, business strategy, business ethics, small business management, and entrepreneurship. His research interests focus on social innovation, social entrepreneurship, leadership, team dynamics, and management history. His work has been published in esteemed academic journals, including the International Journal of Physical Distribution and Logistics Management, Management Decision, Business Horizons, and Journal of Management Education. He has also presented his research at prestigious conferences such as the Academy of Management, Southern Management Association, and North American Management Society.
In addition to his academic pursuits, Dr. Roberts is deeply involved in the professional community. He currently serves as the President of the North American Management Society, a division of MBAA International. He previously held a position on the Executive Committee of the Academy of Management’s Management History Division from 2013 to 2020, representing Student and Junior Faculty interests. Dr. Roberts is also a member of the editorial boards of the Journal of Management History and the Journal of the North American Management Society.
Dorcia Bolton
Associate Professor | College of Business
Dorcia E. Bolton is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at Auburn University at Montgomery. Her research centers on theory development for marketing strategy and empirical testing at the intersection of consumer behavior and marketing strategy. Her research portfolio encompasses a variety of projects aimed at tackling pressing marketing challenges, particularly within the dynamic landscape of evolving technology and firms’ ongoing pursuit of competitive advantage. Her research has appeared in leading marketing journals and conferences such as the Journal of Marketing Theory of Practice, the Journal of Consumer Marketing, the Academy of Marketing Science, the American Marketing Association, the Society for Marketing Advances, and the Association for Consumer Research.
Courses Taught: Marketing Strategy, Marketing Research and Data Analysis, Buyer Behavior, Principles of Marketing, Services Marketing, Professional Selling.
Crystal Crider
Visiting Assistant Professor | College of Business
Ankita Damani
Assistant Professor | College of Business
Tarek A. ElBadawy
Professor | College of Business
Kimberly Goff
Department Coordinator | College of Business
Tewhan Hahn
Professor; Distinguished Chair | College of Business
Dr. Hahn is the distinguished teaching professor in finance at Auburn University at Montgomery. He joined AUM in 2006 after serving at University of Idaho from 2001 to 2006 and at University of Alabama in 2021. At AUM, he has taught primarily intermediate financial management (FINA3620) and entrepreneurial finance (FINA 3500) for undergraduate and financial valuation (FINA6630) for graduate. As the faculty advisor to investment club, he coached student teams to participate in competitions such as CFA Institute Research Challenge and Private Business Valuation Challenge and took students to investment forums like Global Asset Management Education (G.A.M.E.). Dr. Hahn obtained his M.B.A. degree from University of Missouri at Columbia in 1995 and his Ph. D. in finance from University of Alabama in 2000. He has published more than 30 academic research articles in the referred academic journals such as Journal of Banking and Finance, Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, and Journal of Financial Research, and Review of Financial Economics. He has been awarded numerous research grants and recognitions. He is currently the editor of Southern Business and Economic Journal published by the college of business at AUM.
Rhea Ingram
Professor | College of Business
Rhea Ingram, Ph. D., is an award-winning marketing professor at AUM. She is passionate about innovative thought and leading change. Her students engage in service-learning projects involving hands-on experiential learning, specifically with non-profit organizations.
She is a native of Troy, AL. She attended Troy University, earning her BS in Marketing and MBA. Later, she attended the University of Kentucky, where she earned her Ph. D. in Marketing. She resides in Pike Road with her spouse and has a large immediate and extended family.
Rhea is very active in serving her university, profession, and community. She was the former dean of the College of Business at AUM for eight years and currently serves on the boards of Leadership Montgomery, Family Sunshine Center, and Alabama Technology Foundation. She recently was honored as the Best of Board Volunteer of the Year by Hands On River Region (April, 2024). Rhea’s corporate experience was in sales and marketing for a manufacturing firm and an economic development organization.
Her research has appeared in the Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Business Research, Electronic Markets, and other journals and conference proceedings.
Tiffany Jackman
Assistant Professor | College of Business
Douglas A. Jones
Assistant Professor | College of Business
Juntai Lu
Assistant Professor | College of Business
Michael McEachern
Department Chair | College of Business
Dr. Michael L. McEachern is a distinguished healthcare leader with over 35 years of executive experience and a strong academic background. Dr. McEachern has held numerous high-level leadership positions, including Chief Executive Officer roles at several hospitals across Alabama, Texas, Louisiana, Georgia, South Carolina, and Ohio. He brings a wealth of experience in healthcare administration, operational leadership, and transformative healthcare practices.
Dr. McEachern earned his EdD in Transformative Leadership from Concordia University in 2019, with a dissertation focusing on the role of Leadership in the Adoption of Innovation by Critical Care Nurses. He also holds an MS in Healthcare Administration from the University of Houston-Clear Lake and a BBA in Human Resources from Lamar University.
In addition to his leadership roles, Dr. McEachern is an accomplished educator. At Auburn University at Montgomery, he teaches courses in Leadership and Innovation in Healthcare, Healthcare Policy, and Quality Improvement. He is actively involved in academic service, chairing the Graduate Curriculum Committee, and contributing to the Dean’s Leadership Committee, CAHME Accreditation, and Assessment of Learning for AACSB.
As a Certified Professional in Healthcare Quality (CPHQ) and a Life Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives (LFACHE), Dr. McEachern is deeply committed to advancing healthcare leadership. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Alabama Chapter of the American College of Healthcare Executives and actively participates in national healthcare discussions.
Dr. McEachern’s professional memberships include the National Association of Health Services Executives, and his career is marked by his dedication to improving healthcare quality, innovative leadership, and mentoring future healthcare leaders
Venessa Melton
Professor | College of Business
Dr. Melton has a marketing Ph.D. from the University of Alabama and a passion for angry consumers. In fact, the books entitled, Shoppers Scorned, The Dark Side of CRM, and Consumer Anger: At Its Source are a few of her contributions on the subject. She uses her expertise to help firms better communicate with dissatisfied consumers. She is the author or contributor of dozens of research papers in this area and three books. She works to help individuals and firms grow, develop, and transform in the areas of communications, customer service, social media crisis planning, and strategic marketing. Venessa is also a professor, entrepreneur, author, and mother.
Ryan Reid
Visiting Assistant Professor | College of Business
