Preparing for the future of business — that's the focus of OWU's Business Administration major. You learn to plan, organize, direct, and control the functions and processes of business in a dynamic and global economy. The program is rare in a national liberal arts setting, giving you a high-quality business education along with a liberal arts foundation, preparing you for meaningful work and life.
Business education at OWU is significantly different than at a big university. You learn to think differently, so you can stand out from the crowd. You'll benefit from rigorous business classes, real-world experience, and close ties with your professors. You'll graduate with solid business knowledge and a liberal arts education that helps you develop the skills that employers crave: critical thinking, decision making, communication, creativity, teamwork, and global perspective. These are also vital skills for budding entrepreneurs.
Additionally, business students receive help obtaining meaningful internships and externships (short-term shadowing opportunities). Theory-to-Practice is real at OWU.
The Business Administration major offers two distinct concentrations:
In both areas, you'll gain knowledge and skills in management theory, human resources management and behavior, accounting and other quantitative methods, logistics, organization and production, marketing, and strategic decision-making. The program builds upon knowledge of the functional, environmental, behavioral, and legal aspects of business as well as providing analytical and conceptual tools for analyzing complicated problems in real-world settings.
OWU also offers a minor in Business.
Some students majoring in Business Administration also complete a second major or a minor in another field to expand their opportunities or pursue a special interest, like theatre or coaching. Some of the most popular second majors for Business Administration students are: Sports and Exercise Management, Psychology, and Data Analytics.
OWU's Business Administration major is built on the kind of broad, liberal arts education that helps you develop the critical thinking, analytical skills crucial for success in the future of business and entrepreneurship.
Many OWU Business majors pursue a second major – from the arts and humanities to the sciences. And many work one-on-one with a faculty mentor to explore research projects on business innovations.
The OWU Connection provides many options for you gain a global perspective. With Travel-Learning Courses, Connection Grants, and study abroad, you can spend a week or two, a semester, or even a year immersing yourself in another landscape and culture.
Students in business-related majors have explored the financial world of Wall Street, and local markets in France, and accounting practices in Australia.
At OWU, real experience is guaranteed. OWU students have interned in equity analysis in New York; marketing with the San Francisco 49ers; export/import, accounting, and mergers and acquisitions in Columbus; and the music business in Los Angeles. Every year students intern overseas.
The Blaine E. Grimes Summer Grant Program for juniors and seniors provides grants for business-related internships around the world.
Brianna La Croix interned at ABC Studios in Burbank, California.
One of OWU's most coveted competitive awards, the Corns Business and Entrepreneurial Scholars Program provides $5,000 per year for your junior and senior years based on your academic performance, leadership, and proven potential for achievement in business and entrepreneurship. The Norman Leonard Endowed Student Research Grant supports student-faculty collaborative research projects.
As an incoming first-year student with an interest in economics, you may apply to become an Economics Management Fellow. You'll benefit from special classes and seminars, a generous book allowance, networking with speakers and visitors, an expense-paid travel-learning experience in New York City, and up-close personal attention from the entire economics faculty.
Forbes magazine ranks Ohio Wesleyan the No. 1 entrepreneurial college in Ohio - and No. 17 nationally. The Carol Latham Entrepreneurial Scholars Program helps students in any major develop their entrepreneurial venture. The Delaware Entrepreneurial Center at Ohio Wesleyan provides internship, educational, and business incubator opportunities for students - and it hosts the entrepreneurship competition with the largest prize package in Ohio, nearly $500,000!
OMG, the OWU Marketing Group, is a self-led group of students interested in applied marketing. The OMG evaluates, selects, and tackles marketing projects as a marketing agency. Branding, creative, and promotion work helps them prepare for marketing careers.
At OWU, Ava won the Pitch OWU entrepreneurship competition and participated in community service in Houston. She now works full-time as a Behavioral Health Aide at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Westerville, Ohio.
Ohio Wesleyan Student Completes Marketing and Enrollment Internship for Charter School Network
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Ohio Wesleyan Students Attend the 2025 Forbes Under 30 Summit
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Professor Barbara MacLeod works with a class.
OWU's annual Student Symposium showcases student research projects from across the campus, from business and economics to the humanities to science.
Every spring the Department inducts our top business students into Sigma Beta Delta, the international honor society for business, management, and administration.
Economics major Liz Knowlton '19 was one of many OWU students who met with Daymond John during his visit to campus.
Bigelow-Reed House students visit the Columbus Zoo to learn about the business of non-profits.
"Shark Tank" star Daymond John speaks at Gray Chapel in 2017.
The Delaware Entrepreneurial Center will open on the OWU campus in the fall of 2018, offering education and internship opportunities for students and guidance and space for entrepreneurs in the community.
Matt Vollrath's marketing class often works in small groups.
Economics Management Fellows from the Class of 2021 visit the New York Stock Exchange as part of a May 2018 trip to the Big Apple that also includes learning from more than 20 alumni.
Katherine Romeo '18 makes a presentation for the Ohio Wesleyan Marketing Group.
In 2018, Heartland Bank President and CEO G. Scott McComb spoke at OWU about morality in business.
Production management in the Entrepreneurship class is hands-on.
This OWU residence combines learning and living opportunities for students interested in the business world. The house motto is “Where Passion Meets Opportunity.”
