The business school launched a slew of graduate certificate programs designed to allow students to customize their degree and offer practical skills in a specialized topic.

The school recently rolled out 15 new graduate certificate programs open to both current and new graduate students with topics like business analytics, hospitality management, marketing & brand management and financial management.

Faculty approved each new graduate program during the last academic year. The topics were selected based on expertise of the school’s current professors, Vivek Choudhury, the school’s interim dean, said.

Choudhury said the certificates were introduced to allow students to develop more specialized skills within their fields of interest.

“We envisioned these certificates as a way to allow students to further customize their graduate degree or provide individuals in their career the opportunity to get specific skills and training in an area of their choosing,” Choudhury said in an email.

While faculty approved the topics, employers, alumni and students gave feedback in crafting the programs to determine what skills would be most beneficial in today’s job market, Choudhury said.

He said this kind of feedback was valuable because new certificate programs are in high demand.

“Given that the specializations offered in the graduate certificate programs are in demand in today’s competitive job market, they should be valuable to current students interested in customizing their degrees, as well as to working professionals seeking to advance their careers by acquiring specific knowledge and skills,” he said.

All students enrolled in a graduate degree program and in good academic standing are eligible to apply to one of the certificate programs.

Choudhury said the new ventures would give students more flexibility in their future careers.

“There is no one path leading to a successful career,” he said. “Following your own path is the surest way to achieve personal career goals.”