The Undergraduate Program offers DeCal courses every semester. These courses are a great opportunity for the larger UC Berkeley community to benefit from student-led courses on specialized Business Administration topics. All courses are offered exclusively as UGBA 98/198 and as Pass/No Pass. UGBA 198 credit earned will count towards the 38 units of upper-division UGBA requirement for Business Administration majors.

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Fall 2023 DeCal List

Intro to Healthcare Consulting

Description

This introductory course is designed for students with an interest in the intersection of business and healthcare. The first few weeks of the course are lecture-based and will delve into the variety of careers in healthcare, current problems in the industry, and provide an introduction to adjacent fields such as biotechnology and pharmaceuticals. The second half of the course will be focused on group work, simulating a healthcare consulting case and equipping students with the fundamental skills required to pursue a career in healthcare consulting. Overall, this course will provide students with an engaging and comprehensive look into healthcare consulting and adjacent industries.

No previous experience in healthcare consulting is required, but it is expected that students are passionate, open-minded, and excited about exploring the topics at hand.

Ignite Your Impact

Description

This course will act as an introduction to the realm of sustainability in business. The course will explore how businesses can create “win-win” situations with sustainability. For instance, we will include a natural resource management lens, where we will investigate what resources are exploited the most and through case studies, visualize and see how companies are addressing resource scarcity by developing circular supply chains or transitioning to sustainable materials. In addition, the course will introduce the concept of greenwashing, which is the act of misleading consumers regarding the environmental practices of a company or the environmental benefits of a product.

Our hope with this course is that each student leaves the class feeling inspired and capable of making positive change through business and sustainability.

Introduction to Investment Banking

Description

“Introduction to Investment Banking” is a 2-unit course that will cover valuation, financial models, and financial instruments. This course offers students of all majors and backgrounds an introduction to the concepts of investment banking and the types of analysis performed by investment banking professionals. It aims to improve the preparation of students for positions in investment banking and increase the placement of Berkeley students in this highly competitive job market.

Berkeley SkyDeck DeCal

Description

With access to a network of seasoned individuals through Berkeley SkyDeck, you will strengthen your entrepreneurial skills while learning the foundational knowledge to turn a business idea into a reality. By the end of the semester, students will have a much deeper understanding of what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur and problem solver. The Berkeley SkyDeck Decal will feature accomplished entrepreneurs from the Bay Area with startup and industry experience within the fields of product development, organization building, and venture capital.

No idea what we’re talking about? Don’t worry! The Decal has a bottom-up approach where we will ensure you have a strong foundation in each topic that we cover. At SkyDeck, we welcome imaginative thinkers, dreamers, and creators who have yet to share their moonshots with the world.

Winning Women

Description

This course aims to inspire and empower women at UC Berkeley to engage in purposeful career development, take on leadership roles, and lead change with more conviction and confidence. UC Berkeley is home to women with immense ambition and technical abilities but lacks a proper course that builds on their unique strengths to develop an action plan for their leadership development. Winning Women bridges the gap.

We seek to empower and inspire women to become our next generation of leaders. Our curriculum consists of guest speakers, who are top female leaders in industries from consulting and venture capital to consumer goods and technology. Students will complete online discussions, personal reflection assignments, and case studies about diversity and inclusion to apply the knowledge and skills they have learned from the speakers.

How to Build the Future

Description

There’s no better place to explore building a startup than during your time as a student at UC Berkeley. Surrounded by ambitious and talented people and industry-leading professors, there’s endless potential to create the next big thing. This course is designed to teach and inspire students through a collaboration-driven environment to build startups. We will go over the basic building blocks of a startup and connect this knowledge to emerging fields. In addition, we will provide an overview of the startup scene at Berkeley, pointing out resources ready to help students get a headstart.

Investigating Financial Markets

Description

This exciting and interactive course aims to teach students how to understand macroeconomics, financial trends, and business phenomena through reading the news and investigative business journalism. Students will conduct investigations into different business and market-related topics, learn about a variety of topics of interest, and publish their own articles about financial markets featured on the Business Review at Berkeley’s blog; they will strengthen their business knowledge, critical thinking skills, and writing skills. Students with excellent performance will receive offers to write for the Business Review at Berkeley the following semester.

This course is designed to employ students with the framework to understand critical trends and the global economy around them, and no matter their level of expertise, each student will come of out the course with more knowledge about markets.The ultimate goal is that you leave this course with a general stance and knowledge about U.S. markets, the current state of the U.S. economy, global economies and markets, and relevant business phenomena.

Introduction to Fundamental Investing

Description

This class is for students who are unfamiliar with investing or who may have traded in the past and want to learn more. From laying a groundwork of financial terms to explaining how they  operate together, this course covers everything you’ll need to know to start investing. Initially, we’ll explain the core terms of finance, then, using our basic understanding, venture into  fundamental and comparable analysis. By the middle of the course, you’ll be able to analyze the fundamentals of a business, understand its financial statements and form a contrarian viewpoint on its future growth. Lectures will then focus on idea generation, finding an informational edge, and putting everything together to form a cohesive stock pitch. Lastly, we provide an extra lecture on careers in finance and tips for recruiting.

Sustainable Business and Global Public Health

Description

The purpose of our course is to teach students about the intersection of sustainable business and global public health. This will be accomplished through an analysis of case studies from different businesses as well as discussion posts, speakers, and assignments promoting corporate social responsibility and ESG (environment, social, and government) framework. With the environment being a major factor of public health, we will study how businesses that produce smoke, oil, etc affect minority groups and economically disadvantaged communities the most. In terms of global public health, we will also specifically examine the social determinants of health and the ways in which businesses play into those factors through discussion posts, speakers, and assignments as well as looking towards ideas to help reduce this disparity in healthcare accessibility.

The Future of Healthcare

Description

The Future of Healthcare DeCal will give students a preview of healthcare in future. First, we will take a brief look at the events that have led us up to the current state of the healthcare system. Then we will move on to the innovation that has been occurring in healthcare technology to address the current crisis of increasing healthcare costs.

Students should walk away from this course with a robust understanding of the current healthcare landscape, and should have gained an introduction to various technologies that are disrupting the current industry. We hope this course encourages students to work in the healthcare industry, and contribute to solving the current crises of the US healthcare system.

Community Building

Description

“Community Building” is a comprehensive course designed to equip individuals with the necessary skills and knowledge to foster a sense of belonging, trust, and collaboration within diverse groups and organizations. By delving into the principles of community building, participants will learn how to effectively engage and support members, cultivate shared identities, and nurture lasting relationships.

Throughout this course, students will explore various aspects of community building, such as identifying core values, establishing communication strategies, promoting inclusivity, and employing conflict resolution techniques. Participants will also gain insight into the essential elements of successful communities and learn how to adapt these principles to a wide array of organizational contexts. From fan clubs and HR departments to alumni organizations and outdoor enthusiast groups, this course will empower individuals to create thriving communities that bring people  together and inspire meaningful connections.