Cedar Crest College’s Executive Doctor of Business Administration program is a professional doctorate design to accelerate paths to higher leadership for mid-career learners. It also can serve as a career capstone for late-career learners seeking to enter consulting or transition from industry to academic roles. Our Doctor of Business Administration degree is a 45- credit course of study that includes training in strategy models, and an applied dissertation research project designed to solve a real-world business or organizational problem. In other words, we systematically train strategic thinkers.
The Executive Doctor of Business Administration (xDBA) program awards the degree of Doctor of Business Administration to those who complete it. We are accepting students now for our inaugural cohort in Fall Semester 2027. Qualified candidates may earn up to 9 credits of prior learning assessment, making the program completable in three years part-time. The program is offered 100% online, but there is an optional summer workshop for interested students held on campus. This can be attended virtually as well. A master’s degree is required along with significant leadership experience, but it does not have to be an MBA. Candidates who hold a master’s degree in another field, and without a sufficient background in business or organizational leadership may take a one-year bridge program comprising courses from our MBA.
Mission Statement
The Executive Doctor of Business Administration degree program at Cedar Crest College prepares leaders for the highest echelons of their organizations and industries and to assess ever-changing environments for strategic opportunities. Through application of management theory, organizational assessment, industry analysis, and environmental analysis, students learn to develop organizational capacity for action and growth in key markets relevant to their organization. They learn to think strategically about product offerings in emerging or established markets. Through a grounding in sustained, applied research practice, our graduates develop as thought leaders capable of shaping organizations and their directions, internally or as consultants and educators, in an ever-changing global landscape of customers, technologies, and offerings.
Program Outcomes
Upon successful completion of the program, graduates will be able to:
- Analyze the complex, interconnected environments of economic, financial, legal, social, global and technological trends that establish the potential action domain for organizations.
- Assess internal and external strategic organizational challenges and select optimal decision paths toward achievable desired outcomes.
- Leverage up-to-date management thinking that reflects current organizational and environmental realities and communicate with stakeholders from the vantage point of an organizational leader.
- Recommend product and service development strategies that utilize understanding of both consumer potential and organizational capacity to deliver.
- Demonstrate doctoral-level research and analysis skills in the service of solving existing organizational problems and contribute to the development of new knowledge in the business domain.
Courses Required
CPL 701 Processes & Projects (Credit for Prior Learning I)
CPL 702 Teams & People (Credit for Prior Learning II)
CPL 703 Money & Tech (Credit for Prior Learning III)
DBA 725 Decision Analysis & Risk Management
DBA 726 Strategic & Systems Thinking
DBA 727 Innovation & Design Thinking
DBA 728 Industries, Scale, and Environments
DBA 729 Products & Revenue Streams
DBA 730 AI & Evolving Organizational Capacity
DBA 731 Leadership & Stakeholder Communication
DOC 855 Research Methods
DOC 866 Dissertation Proposal Seminar
DOC 877 Dissertation Research I
DOC 888 Dissertation Research II
DOC 899 Dissertation Defense Seminar
Applied Dissertation
The xDBA program requires a rigorous research project, called a dissertation, spread out over 5 courses. The end result is a significant written document that will be kept in the Cressman Library and submitted to dissertation archives. Students research a real-world business or organizational problem and provide practical solutions grounded in research and theoretical insights from academic literature. They must present their research in a live online session with our Business faculty and be able to defend their work and answer any questions to the satisfaction of the Program Director and/or other Business faculty.
Credit for Prior Learning, or Bridge Program
Applicants must be able to address in writing and via verbal interview, mastery of three areas: 1. Processes & Projects, 2. Teams & People, and 3. Money & Tech. Upon acceptance by the Program Director, students will receive credit for prior learning (CPL) equivalent to 9 credits of the 45 required for the doctoral degree.
Applicants not possessing sufficient background in these areas will be referred to our MBA courses as a one-year bridge program to provide a graduate-level foundation in them, namely:
MBA 507/508 Change & Innovation Management (Fall I and II)
MBA 620/621 Operations Process & Emerging Tech (Spring I and II)
MBA 541/542 Organizational Financial Management (Summer I and II)
General Admissions Information
Students are admitted to graduate programs at Cedar Crest College on the basis of individual qualifications.
Applications for the Executive Doctor of Business Administration program are accepted and reviewed on a rolling basis. Students are admitted to the xDBA program for fall
semester as the program is cohort based. Students may be admitted in the spring semester on an exception basis, however, this does not change the requirements for the program and students must still complete all courses.
Application materials and all correspondence relating to admission should be sent to:
Cedar Crest College
School of Adult and Graduate Education
100 College Drive
Blaney Hall, Room 212
Allentown, PA 18104-6196
Phone: 610-740-3770
Email:
Office Hours: Monday-Thursday 8:30 am-6:30 pm; Friday 8:30 am-4:30 pm
International applicants should send materials and correspondence to:
Cedar Crest College
International Admissions
100 College Drive
Allen House, Room 202
Allentown, PA 18104-6196
Phone: 610-606-4666, ext. 4587
Email:
Office Hours: Monday-Friday 8:30 am-4:30 pm
Applicants and prospective students may contact the admissions office to schedule a campus tour or in-person, online, or phone appointment with an admissions counselor.
Please see the Admission of Students section at the beginning of the catalog for more information related to admissions processes and policies.
xDBA Application Requirements
To be considered for admission to the program, applicants must submit the following items:
- A completed admission application, found at www.cedarcrest.edu/apply
- Official transcripts from the bachelor’s and master’s degree-granting institutions and any other institutions where relevant coursework was completed.
- Transcripts from institutions located outside the United States will need to be accompanied by an official course-by-course evaluation, with degree equivalency, completed by a NACES-recognized foreign transcript evaluation agency, such as World Education Services (www.wes.org).
- A statement of your goals (approximately 1000 words, should include ideas for a potential dissertation topic)
- Two letters of recommendation
- Your current resume demonstrating three years of significant managerial or leadership experience,
- Applicants with less than three years of significant managerial or leadership experience will need to successfully complete the bridge program
GMAT or GRE scores are not required, but may be submitted for consideration if the applicant desires to do so.
xDBA Admission Requirements
To be considered for admission to the program, applicants must meet the following requirements:
- An applicant must possess a master’s degree from an accredited college or university. This does not have to be an MBA; all master’s degree holders with leadership experience may apply to the program. Applicants may apply while finishing their master’s degree requirements, however the degree must be conferred, as shown on an official transcript, prior to the start of the student’s first matriculated semester at Cedar Crest College.
- As this is an executive doctorate, applicants must possess at a minimum of three years’ experience in a leadership role. This can include project management, team leadership, departmental leadership, division leadership, or executive-level leadership, but applicants must be able to address the three areas assessed by the prior-learning courses. Therefore, applicants must submit a resume that reflects this experience, or one that indicates success potential after taking a bridge program.
- Completion of an admissions interview with the program director.
It is recommended, but not required, that the applicant have completed the following coursework at the undergraduate level:
- One semester of economics
- One semester of accounting
- One semester of statistics
Admissions Decisions
Each applicant will be considered from a holistic perspective. The Program Director reserves the right to ask the prospective candidate for additional information.
Graduate Program Handbook
Each student will be given a copy of the Graduate Program Handbook prepared specifically for the Executive Doctor of Business Administration program. The purpose of the handbook is to provide students with information pertaining to the curricular requirements, policies, and procedures associated with the program. Students are responsible for familiarizing themselves with and understanding the information presented in the Graduate Program Handbook. xDBA students are also bound by policies established by Cedar Crest College for graduate students, as indicated in the Graduate Catalog, Faculty Handbook, or other official college publications. Questions regarding the content of the handbook or other graduate student policies should be directed to the xDBA Program Director.
xDBA Program Course Registration
Course registration is available to graduate students in good financial standing with the College. If a student is not financially eligible to register, the student may not register online or with a completed registration form in the Registrar’s Office until that hold is removed. A copy of the registration will be kept in the Registrar’s Office until notification of a change in the student’s status is received from Student Financial Services. Policies pertaining to online course registration vary across programs.
Doctoral Program Retention Policy
Students must maintain a B or 3.0 average. Students who receive a C or withdraw from a course are only allowed to repeat the class one time. If students do not maintain a 3.0, they will be dropped from the program. Students receiving three or more grades of C or below will be dropped from the program. Students receiving a grade of F in a course will be put on probation and can be dropped from the program. Students committing a substantial and documented academic integrity violation may be dropped from the program.
Leaves of Absence and Course Withdrawals
Students wishing to take a leave of absence from the program may request to do so in writing to the Director of the program. The granting of the requested leave is at the discretion of the Program Director. A leave of absence would mean that the student must join a future cohort.
Completion of the Graduate Program and Graduation
To successfully complete the Doctor of Business Administration degree, a student must adhere to the following:
- Complete all required coursework with a 3.0 average.
- Apply to the Registrar for graduation by the published application deadline.
- Complete all Dissertation requirements as outlined in the Program Handbook.
- Fulfill all financial responsibilities to the College
Tuition and Fees
Credit for Prior Learning assessments,
Tuition, per credit $715
Student Activity Fee, per semester
Full-Time Technology Fee, per semester
Part-Time Technology Fee, per semester
Dissertation Fee,
Note: The College reserves the right to change fees and charges as necessary. Books, supplies, lab materials and other program costs are not included in the tuition.