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Timing and Requirements: DBA

Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) Residency Timing

Residency Required or Optional Timing
Residency 1 Required face-to-face

Complete residency 1 face-to-face as soon as you begin your program (while taking DDBA 8006 or DDBA 8151); should be taken within 90 days of completing your Foundations course DDBA 8006.

Focus: Program orientation, overview of doctoral study capstone project, program and academic advising, and socialization into the profession.
Residency 2

Required face-to-face

Complete residency 2 face-to-face just prior to the start or during the first few weeks of DDBA 8991/8303.

Focus: Completion of the doctoral study proposal and capstone project, program and academic advising.

Doctoral Study Intensive retreat

Optional face-to-face

Complete a DBA Doctoral Study Intensive retreat face-to-face during DDBA 8100/8101 or DDBA 9000/9001.

Contact Academic Advising to register.

View the DBA Residency Calendar

Email Academic Advising if you have questions.

International Students: Be sure to register for your selected U.S. residency 3-4 months before the residency start date in order to allow sufficient time to complete the required processes and approvals for you to be able to travel and attend. View the SEVIS/I-20 site for complete information about the requirement for travel to U.S. residencies.

DBA Residency Goals

Walden residencies are designed to prepare you for your doctoral journey and to provide opportunities for:

  • Reflecting on academic direction and what it means to be a doctoral student and a scholar-practitioner.
  • Effectively engaging students within their academic and professional disciplines.
  • Receiving a variety of technical, academic advising, and faculty advising support services using a complementary combination of face-to-face and virtual best practices.
  • Using skills required for professional competence.
  • Building self-efficacy to conceptualize, design, and carry out scholarly research to solve problems related to professional practice that contributes to positive social change.
  • Rendering research and project study findings meaningful to multiple audiences.
  • Building relationships and networks (i.e., faculty members, staff, and students) that foster academic and professional success.
  • Engaging faculty members and students in peer review and scholarly discourse that reflects critical thinking.
  • Modeling appropriate professional behavior used in scholarly discourse by students and faculty members.
  • Ensuring that students understand the differences in program models and their requirements to determine the most appropriate academic fit.

DBA Residency Learning Outcomes

The following are key learning outcomes you will be expected to achieve as part of your residency experiences:

  1. Understand program requirements and expectations.
  2. Understand the steps to take for program completion.
  3. Establish a potential network with other students.
  4. Exchange ideas with faculty members.
  5. Understand the mentor/chair/student relationship.
  6. Draft a research problem dealing with social change.
  7. Understand research designs and methodologies common in their chosen field.
  8. Access current literature in their chosen field.
  9. Understand the role research plays in social change.
  10. Communicate learning and research interests to others.
  11. Present academic work.
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