By Joel Russell

Monday, March 1, 2021

Starting in fall 2021 semester, California State University – Northridge’s Nazarian College of Business and Economics will offer a bachelor’s degree in business analytics, the school announced Monday.

The college’s Department of Systems and Operations Management will offer the program. Students can also earn a minor in the subject.

“We are in the middle of a new industrial revolution — one that involves data and information,” said Department Chair Seung Paik in a statement. “From mobile phones to social media to retail websites, more and more data is being created and stored every day. All this data allows us the opportunity to make better-informed decisions, whether in the private or public sector, if we can analyze the data and convert that to information for high-quality decision making. But to make the right decisions, business, governmental agencies and nonprofits need skilled professionals who know which data to look at and how to interpret it.”

Nazarian College Dean Chandra Subramaniam, who played a key role in shepherding the creation of the new program, said business analytics is a fast-growing career with “a huge need for a specialized workforce that is not being filled.”

The school added that CSUN’s new major in business analytics is among the few offered in the California State University system.