Business education at La Sierra University has entered a new era. We are transforming and revitalizing teaching, scholarship, and service in the Tom and Vi Zapara School of Business. Our goal: to help students to create value so they can make a difference.

Our program gives students the skills they need to create value in the new millennium by building on our strengths in the core areas of business. We offer an MBA with majors in accounting, finance, general management, human resource management, and marketing. Our MBA curriculum is the only one in the world that requires core coursework in business ethics, social entrepreneurship, and workplace spirituality. We also offer a BS with majors in accounting, finance, political economy, business and society, and marketing and a BA in management. A customized major program lets a student design a tailor-made curriculum building on our offerings and, where appropriate, those of other schools on campus.

Our Executive Education program offers the La Sierra MBA to students throughout the region—either at or near their workplaces. And it also delivers the Integrated MBA program, which allows a student with only an associate degree or the equivalent to earn a BA and an MBA in only four years.

The School of Business is home to a newly opened Center for Philanthropy, the only one of its kind in the Inland Empire. The Center, headed by nationally recognized philanthropic fundraiser James L. Erickson, is already equipping area non-profits to respond effectively to economic challenges by building lasting relationships with supporters.

We are proud of a student-friendly culture marked by responsiveness and flexibility: faculty members, administrators, and staff members try to meet student needs quickly, fairly, and sensitively. The School of Business faculty is made up of capable professionals, frequently with significant outside-the-classroom experience as consultants, researchers, or both. And the entire School of Business team is committed to providing students with educational experiences that challenge them to make a tangible difference in the world, that stimulate their minds and hearts, enlarge their imaginations, and help them to build lasting friendships. By organizing social entrepreneurial ventures, helping people in need, and conducting community education programs, our students can develop empathy and deepen their understanding of the real-world significance of their studies. We promise our students an extraordinary preparation for responsible servant- leadership in business, government, and the nonprofit sector.

The Zapara School of Business is home to La Sierra University’s award-winning Enactus (formerly SIFE) team. La Sierra’s Enactus students have won an unprecedented two World Cup and four international championships in Enactus' demanding annual competition, in which team performance is judged by top executives from major national and global corporations.

To house our growing programs, the Tom and Vi Zapara School of Business entered the 2013 academic year in its new home at the front of the La Sierra University campus. With room for 750 full-time students and thirty faculty members, as well as a 400-seat conference center that to serve the entire Inland region, the new building is a showcase of our exciting vision and provide a stimulating environment in which teaching and scholarship can take place.

Expressing our commitment to service by emphasizing social entrepreneurship, workplace spirituality, and ethics, we can make a real difference in the world. We hope you'll join us.

DR. JOHN THOMAS, DEAN