As companies face fierce competition for talent, rapid advances in artificial intelligence and persistent labor shortages, Stetson recently launched a human resources (HR) management concentration within its nationally recognized Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree to help employers build stronger, more agile workforces. The track equips leaders to align talent strategy with business goals and joins other concentrations in accounting, data analytics and finance.

The new addition comes as The Princeton Review recently named Stetson’s MBA program as one of the Best On-Campus MBA Programs in the nation for 2025, citing strong academics, experiential learning, career services and positive student feedback.

“Whether you are a top-level manager, entrepreneur, sales leader or business owner, employees are the lifeblood of your organization,” said Sean Newman, DBA, assistant professor of Human Resources at Stetson.

“Today’s talent environment is complex and fast-changing. With technology expansion and the potential disruption of artificial intelligence, leaders need HR capabilities that create alignment between people and strategy. Our concentration equips students to recruit and onboard the right talent, develop them effectively and design fair, competitive systems that sustain performance.”

In keeping with Stetson’s emphasis on experiential learning, the concentration uses applied projects, employer-informed cases and focused labs that mirror real HR decision-making. Those practice-based components help graduates demonstrate job-ready skills and strategic judgment—an advantage in a competitive HR and people-operations job market.

Students will learn to align HR strategy with hiring and onboarding to achieve organizational goals. They will also practice job analysis and role design, training and performance management, compensation and benefits, and leading a culture change within an organization.

The HR-focused MBA joins a long legacy of academic excellence in the Stetson School of Business Administration, which opened as the state’s first business school in 1897. Both the School of Business Administration and the accounting program are accredited at the undergraduate and graduate levels by AACSB International – The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. Stetson University is one of only 195 elite business schools worldwide with both its business and accounting programs accredited by AACSB International. For more information about the concentration in human resource management or other Stetson MBA programs, please visit https://mba.stetson.edu/.