COURSES

CURRICULUM / TWO DEGREES

The Jerome Fisher Program in Management and Technology is an innovative coordinated dual degree program through which students pursue degrees from both the Wharton School and Penn Engineering. As a highly individualized & selective program, the M&T curriculum is tailored to fit each individual’s interests. Special integration courses (such as Firs-Year Seminar: OIDD 2340, Management 2370: Management of Technology, and OIDD 2360: Scaling Ventures, as well as Integration Lab in the senior year) are offered to M&T students as a way to integrate and bridge the two disciplines.

M&T students are required to take a minimum of 46 credit units in order to graduate.

WHARTON COURSES

To earn a Bachelor of Science in Economics (BSE), M&T students must complete the Wharton Undergraduate Curriculum, as outlined below. Please note the requirements for M&T students are slightly different from single degree Wharton students.

Quantitative/Computational Skills Requirements

MATH 1400 (Calculus I)*

MATH 1410 (Calculus II)*

ESE 3010 (Engineering Probability) / STAT 4300 (Probability)*

ESE 4020 (Engineering Application of Statistics) / STAT 4310 (Statistical Inference)*

*These courses fulfill Penn Engineering requirements for some engineering majors.

Wharton Requirements

BEPP 1000*:  Introduction to Economics for Business and the “Business Fundamentals” provide students with the skills and knowledge needed for making business decisions:

ACCT 1010 (Principles of Accounting I)

ACCT 1020 (Principles of Accounting II)

BEPP 2500 (Managerial Economics)*

FNCE 1000 (Corporate Finance)

FNCE 1010 (Monetary Economics & the Global Economy)*

LGST 1010:  Law and Social Values or LGST 100:  Ethics and Corporate Responsibility or EAS 2030:  Engineering Ethics**

MGMT 1010 (Introduction to Management)

MKTG 1010 (Introduction to Marketing)

*These courses fulfill Penn Engineering Social Science and Humanities requirements.

**EAS 2030:  Engineering Ethics will fulfill a Wharton requirement as well as the Penn Engineering Ethics requirement.

Leadership Journey

The Leadership Journey is a set of four modules that prepares students for leadership roles by providing experiential learning as well as evidence-based content on leadership, communication, teamwork, and diversity.  Students take one module per year for a total of 2.0 CU. These include WH 1010, WH 2010, and WH 3010. The Wharton Senior Capstone is fulfilled by Engineering Senior Design.

Environment of Business

Students must take a course in each of the following categories:

Global Economy, Business, and Society (1 CU)*

Technology Innovation, and Analytics (1 CU)***

*Some courses while meeting the Global Economy, Business, and Society requirement may also fulfill one of the Social Science and Humanities requirements for Penn Engineering.

***MGMT 2370, Management of Technology will fulfil the Technology, Innovation, and Analytics requirement.

Business Depth & Breadth

The introductory business courses set the stage for the business concentration, for which students take four courses in the area of business study that interests them most. These are upper-level courses that deepen the knowledge students have gained from their “Business Fundamentals.” Students also expand their business education by completing two “Business Breadth” courses: two classes from two different business departments. No courses from the same department as a student’s business concentration may count toward the Business Breadth requirement.

Communication Requirements         

All students are required to take a Writing Seminar. Critical Writing Seminars are available in a variety of disciplines, such as English, philosophy, and history. Students may consult The Critical Writing Program website for a list of Critical Writing Seminars. The Writing Seminar will fulfill the writing requirement for Penn Engineering and the Wharton School.

Students must complete the 2nd semester or equivalent of a language other than English.   Students may satisfy the foreign language requirement in any of the following ways: by receiving a required score on one of the AP or IB Exams (click here to review the AP, IB and Pre-College Credit policies), by receiving a required score on one of the approved SAT II foreign language tests, by completing the appropriate Cambridge A-Level Examination at a grade deemed satisfactory by the language group, successful completion of a test given by a language department or by the Penn Language Center, or by completion of the second course in the Penn foreign language sequence.

Liberal Arts Courses

The Wharton undergraduate curriculum is structured to combine the study of business with the study of the arts and sciences. M&T students only need to focus on the arts requirements since they will fulfill the science requirement through their Penn Engineering requirements. A total of two credit units are necessary to fulfill the General Education Distribution requirement. M&T students can fulfill the General Education Distribution requirement through courses in the Social Science and Humanities categories. Social Science courses focus on the relationship between individuals and institutions, methods of social observation and analysis, tools for historical analysis and inquiry, and issues of civic life and public policy. Courses within the category of Humanities focus on the works of creativity. These courses may include, but are not limited to, those which analyze art, cinema, literature, music, and theater. These courses also include those focused on language acquisition and analysis.

*These courses fulfill Penn Engineering Social Science and Humanities requirements.

Cross-Cultural Perspective

Given today’s global business environment, an international perspective is an essential part of a student’s undergraduate education. To that end, M&T students are required to take two credit units that have substantial cross-cultural content. Courses that may be used to fulfill this requirement include: courses that discuss international issues, including courses focusing on particular regions of the world, courses about non-American cultures, including courses in art, history, literature, music, and religious studies; U.S. cultural diversity courses; and language courses beyond the second semester level.  These courses may not double count for any other Wharton requirements, and only one U.S. cultural diversity course may be used to satisfy the requirement.

*These courses fulfill Penn Engineering Social Science and Humanities requirements.

Requirements for students entering Wharton in fall 2017 or later >>

Requirements for students who entered Wharton prior to fall 2017 >>

ENGINEERING COURSES

Penn Engineering offers two separate degree options to students: Bachelor of Science in Engineering (BSE) and Bachelor of Applied Science (BAS). The BSE is a traditional engineering degree and usually the best option for students who wish to be professional engineers, computer scientists, or pursue a graduate engineering degree. The BAS is designed for students with a deep interest in technology, but who do not wish to be professional engineers. This degree offers a wider range of course options with breadth in the engineering disciplines, but also in the liberal arts. Penn Engineering provides students with exceptional programs, research opportunities, and design experiences.

Engineering Majors

M&T students interested in pursuing a Bachelor of Sciences in Engineering can select from the following majors:

Bioengineering
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Computer Engineering
Computer Science
Digital Media Design
Electrical Engineering
Materials Science Engineering
Networked & Social Systems Engineering
Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics
Systems Science Engineering

M&T students interested in pursuing a Bachelor of Applied Science can select from the following majors:

Biomedical Science
Computational Biology
Computer Science
Individualized

The majority of M&T students start their first semester as curriculum deferred within Penn Engineering. All students are required to declare their Penn Engineering major by the end of their freshmen year. Admitted M&T students unsure of their engineering major will be given guidance from the M&T Office on course selection for their first semester.

Although each engineering major requires specific courses to be taken to complete the major, there are some requirements all engineering majors must meet. All Penn Engineering graduates will need to complete math, natural science, social science and humanities courses, and the writing seminar to earn their Penn Engineering degrees. For more information on the BSE and BAS majors offered by the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, please click on the majors listed below.

Bioengineering
Biomedical Science*
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Computer and Cognitive Science
Computational Biology*
Computer Engineering
Computer Science**
Digital Media Design
Electrical Engineering
Materials Science Engineering
Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics
Networked & Social Systems Engineering
Systems Science Engineering

*Majors offered through the Bachelor of Applied Science

**Majors offered through the Bachelor of Applied Science & Bachelor of Science in Engineering

INTEGRATING COURSES

There are specific ‘M&T only’ courses offered to help students  understand the intersection of management and  technology. All M&T students are required to take OIDD 2340 – M&T Freshman Seminar during the fall semester of their freshman year and MGMT 2370 – Management of Technology during the spring semester of their sophomore year. OIDD 2360 – Scaling Technology Ventures: Aligning Operations and Strategy are available to juniors and Integration Lab that is the capstone for all the M&Ts in their senior year.

 

OIDD 2340 (M&T FIRST-YEAR SEMINAR)

Co-Taught by Dr Allon & Dr Vohra, this course is offered in the fall semester and is mandatory for our first-year students. In part, it is to build team spirit among the entering cohort as well as help the students understand the intersection of management and technology and how it is being translated in practice. By studying the interaction of various components including innovative business models, industry trends, key players, and strategies, students  learn to recognize enabling technologies and their impact on industry developments. The seminar is delivered by a mix of faculty from the School of Engineering and Wharton who discuss their research and translational initiatives at Penn. Invited M&T alumni walk students through their own career paths and how the program prepared them for challenges in their respective industry.

MGMT 2370 (MANAGEMENT OF TECHNOLOGY)

This course examines the technical and managerial challenges presented by emerging and evolving technologies. Particular consideration is given to the forces affecting the nature and rate of technological innovation and the managerial options available to both established and entrepreneurial organizations. In doing so, students explore both internal and external sources of innovation as well as the appropriate strategies and processes for capitalizing on them. The course is taught in seminar fashion with substantial class discussion. Assigned and supplementary readings are augmented by cases and occasional guest lectures. Students prepare a variety of written assignments, including case analyses and two research papers dealing with selected technologies, firms, and industries.

If students select management as their concentration, MGMT 2370 can be used as one of the four courses needed to complete their management concentration. For students not concentrating in management, MGMT 2370 can fulfill one of the two business breadth requirements.

SOPHOMORE IMMERSIVE WEEK

This new initiative launched in May 2019 has three goals- Curricular, Professional, and Community Building. The immersive education week serves as experiential learning for our sophomores on how technology and business are integrated. The week long trip to a technology hub (the initial few years to San Francisco) incorporates panel discussions, simulations, workshops and company visits. Apart from learning, students get to explore different career paths and build their network in the Bay area. The week also gives the entire cohort time to interact in a different environment outside of the Penn campus.

OIDD 2360: (SCALING TECHNOLOGY VENTURES: ALIGNING OPERATIONS AND STRATEGY)

In this course taught by Dr Allon, students learn strategic scaling decisions that are grounded in operational reality. He discusses how to build and evaluate the “operating system” of the firm to maximize value with a focus on scaling the firm’s operations.  This involves tailoring the firm’s operational competencies, assets, and processes to a specific business strategy.

The class takes a holistic view that incorporates competitive strategy, financial evaluation, and customer experience.  Students focus on decisions and challenges many firms scaling operations face, including assessing the attractiveness of a firm’s operating system from an investor/external and management/internal perspective and building competencies in-house versus buying them.

The course counts towards both OIDD concentrations and the Management/ Entrepreneurship and Innovation concentrations.

OIDD 2380: (M&T Global Exploration)

Taught by Dr Allon & Dr Vohra, the course is designed to provide the students in the program with firsthand experience to a global technology hub to further enhance learnings from both Penn Engineering and Wharton. Each year selected M&T students across four years will go on a weeklong trip to a country with thriving startup culture to understand the driving forces of the technology landscape in the chosen country. The global module will incorporate class lectures, workshops, guest lectures and visits to tech focused companies to meet local business founders and executives.

Each year, a maximum of 20 students will be chosen through an application process. The experiential learning will provide the students an opportunity to learn from the leaders while immersing themselves in another culture and building relationships with the alumni in that area. Our inaugural global exploration trip in January 2024 will be to Israel followed by India in 2025.

INTEGRATION LAB

Led by Dr Vohra, the Integration Lab is the capstone event for M&T Seniors. The goal is to provide students with opportunities to work on significant problems at the intersection of business and technology, enabling them to utilize what they have learned from SEAS and the Wharton school. It builds on the two semester senior design course that all engineering students have to take where in addition to the engineering design, the student teams are also required to submit a business/commercialization plan of the project.

CONTACT US

The Jerome Fisher Program in Management & Technology
The Larry Robbins House

3537 Locust Walk
Philadelphia, PA 19104

215-898-4145
E-mail: mgtech@seas.upenn.edu