he City University of New York’s Board of Trustees has recently approved the creation of a Master of Science degree in Business Management at the College of Staten Island (CSI).

The program will accept its first class of 25 students this fall pending approval from New York State ’s Education Department, and will focus on strategic management skills in business and government organizations, according to Laura Nowak , Chair of the Business Department at CSI.

Additionally, students at CSI enrolled in the administrative track of the master’s degree program in Urban Health Sciences, which was co-developed by the College’s Biology and Business Departments, will have the option of taking select courses in the new business MS curriculum.

Students in the new graduate program will use advanced analytical methods and theory in the program’s capstone course, Managerial Decision-Making and Applications. The course involves a comprehensive and integrative approach to managing an organization over time through computer simulation. There is also a significant quantitative aspect to the course which will be complemented by a qualitative analysis of business policy and strategy, according to Nowak.

This MS program brings CSI into early compliance with New York state accountancy licensure standards to take effect in 2009. These new state standards require that students wishing to take the Certified Public Accounting (CPA) exam have 150 credits completed, raised from 120. These new standards are currently in effect for the state of New Jersey .

For more information about CSI’s new master’s program in business management, visit www.csi.cuny.edu/graduatestudies or call (718) 982-2010 .