Bachelor of Science in Business and Engineering

The Bachelor of Science in Business and Engineering degree is an innovative cross-disciplinary program that prepares graduates for careers at the intersection of business and technology. It provides them with critical thinking skills and knowledge that prepare them to adapt to changing technological environments, successfully lead teams, and make key strategic management decisions.  

The Business and Engineering curriculum includes a solid foundation in both business fundamentals and core engineering principles. It combines coursework in engineering, management, science, and mathematics with training in functional business areas such as economics, finance, marketing, optimization, entrepreneurship, project management, operations, and leadership.

Stuart School of Business is a global leader in bridging technology and business, offering distinctive education that provides students with the knowledge and skillsets to become outstanding professionals.

Business and engineering at Illinois Tech have a prestigious history that dates back to the 1880s, with the establishment of the Armour Institute of Technology in 1890 and the Lewis Institute in 1895. Business at Illinois Tech began at the Lewis Institute, Stuart’s original home, with some of the nation’s first courses in “Family and Consumer Science” (including “Home Economics” and “Household Management”), and the Institute’s subsequent formation of the university’s Department of Business and Economics in 1926. The merger of the Lewis Institute with the Armour Institute of Technology in 1940 brought business and engineering under one entity. The Armour Institute of Technology itself was founded through the pioneering works of Philip D. Armour, a merchant financier, Julia A. Beveridge, a librarian turned public administrator, and Frank W. Gunsaulus, an entrepreneurial preacher. The Department Business and Economics ultimately grew into a separate school at Illinois Institute of Technology – the Stuart School of Business, in 1969, with a gift from Lewis Institute alum and renowned financier Harold Leonard Stuart. Harold L. Stuart himself was a national leader in the field of investment banking in the first half of the 20th century, and his Chicago investment bank played a pivotal role in establishing the city as a global financial hub, as well as financing some incredible engineering feats, including Chicago's elevated train lines.

Over a period of more than 125 years, harnessing curricular innovations by Julia A. Beveridge and George N. Carman, and incredible scholarly works by trailblazing Illinois Tech scholars Herb A. Simon (author of Administrative Behavior, later awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics), Karl Menger (developer of the St. Petersburg paradox in economics) and Abe Sklar (developer of the Copula in financial modeling), the Stuart School of Business has refined business education. A long-standing leader in curricular innovation, in 1990, building on the foundational works of numerous Illinois Tech scholars, and Harold L. Stuart’s own contributions to finance and the broader business community, the Stuart School of Business established quantitative finance as an academic discipline, with a world’s first postgraduate Master’s program in Financial Markets and Trading – a program that highlighted a new model for embedding into a postgraduate academic program the emphases on career readiness and connectedness with the business community, and transformed business school education.

The Bachelor of Science in Business and Engineering brings together world-class faculty from the Armour College of Engineering and the Stuart School of Business, offering students an incredible opportunity to complete a core set of courses in both disciplines, with expanded access to subject matter experts from both colleges. As with all Stuart majors, the program emphasizes co-curricular opportunities that place students on the path to self-actualization and career success. Leadership, entrepreneurship, experiential learning, positive societal impact, and connectedness to the business community, combined with a human-centered approach to student development, and an unyielding focus on student success, are core pillars of all Stuart programs. Stuart is accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) – an accreditation achieved by fewer than 6% of business schools worldwide.

The Bachelor of Science in Business and Engineering builds on Stuart's and Armour's prestige in business and engineering, as well as tradition of rigorous undergraduate education. The innovative program requires the successful completion of 126 credit hours.

Required Courses

Business Core Requirements (36)
BUS 100Introduction to Business and Economics3
ECON 151Microeconomics3
ECON 152Macroeconomics3
BUS 211Financial Accounting3
BUS 212Managerial Accounting3
BUS 221Business Statistics3
BUS 301Organizational Behavior3
BUS 305Operation and Supply Chain Analytics3
BUS 321Analytics for Optimization3
BUS 351Financial Decision Making and Capital Budgeting3
BUS 371Marketing Fundamentals3
BUS 480Strategic Management and Design Thinking3
Engineering Requirements (24)
Required Courses9
Mechanics of Solids 13
Design for Innovation0 OR 3
Mechanics of Structural Materials3
Electives - Choose 5 from the following courses (subject to prerequisites)15
Students wishing to take BME 200, ECE 211, CAE 302, CAE 304 or MMAE 305 should use a free elective to take MATH 252
Biomedical Engineering Computer Applications2
Circuit Analysis I3
Engineering Geology3
Fluid Mechanics3
Steel Structures I3
Structural Analysis I3
Materials of Construction3
Dynamics3
Thermodynamics3
Fundamentals of Design3
Construction Methods and Cost Estimating3
Construction Planning and Scheduling3
Construction Site Operation3
Construction Contract Administration3
Introduction to Building Information Modeling3
Industrial Project Management3
Advanced Project Management3
Mathematics Requirement (10)
MATH 151Calculus I5
MATH 152Calculus II5
Computer Science Requirement (2)
CS 104Introduction to Computer Programming for Engineers2
Interprofessional Projects (IPRO) (6)
See Illinois Tech Core Curriculum, section E 6
Humanities and Social Science Requirements (21)
See Illinois Tech Core Curriculum, section B and C21
Free Electives (10)
Select 10 credit hours10
Natural Science Requirements (11)
See Illinois Tech Core Curriculum, section D
PHYS 123General Physics I: Mechanics4
CHEM 124Principles of Chemistry I with Laboratory4
MS 201Materials Science3
Total Credit Hours120
1

Substitutes for CAE 286 prerequisite

Bachelor of Science in Business and Engineering Curriculum

Year 1
Semester 1Credit HoursSemester 2Credit Hours
BUS 1003BUS 2213
ECON 1513ECON 1523
CHEM 1244MATH 1525
MATH 1515PHYS 1234
 CS 1042
 15 17
Year 2
Semester 1Credit HoursSemester 2Credit Hours
BUS 2113BUS 2123
BUS 3213BUS 3513
MS 2013BUS 3713
MMAE 2023CAE 2873
MMAE 2323Humanities Elective (300+)3
Humanities Elective (200 Level)3 
 18 15
Year 3
Semester 1Credit HoursSemester 2Credit Hours
BUS 3013Engineering Elective3
BUS 3053Engineering Elective3
Social Sciences Elective 3Social Science Elective (300+)3
Humanities Elective (300+)3IPRO Elective I3
Engineering Elective3Free Elective3
 15 15
Year 4
Semester 1Credit HoursSemester 2Credit Hours
Engineering Elective3BUS 4803
Social Sciences Elective (300+)3Engineering Elective3
Free Elective3Humanities or Social Sciences Elective3
IPRO Elective II3Free Elective4
 12 13
Total Credit Hours: 120