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Build expertise with flexible, online learning for professionals

The changing world of business calls for leaders who continually evolve to meet new challenges. Gies Professional Credentials offer flexible, highly relevant learning opportunities that empower you to expand your impact and achieve your goals. Our online learning continuum is intentionally designed to give you control over your point of entry, your path, and your pace.

Online Courses, Certificates, and Badges

Whether you want to upskill, reskill, or just explore a course that interests you, our expertise in online learning ensures that whatever path you choose will be engaging, highly relevant, and flexible, to fit your busy life and professional goals. You can even stack credits toward a specialized certificate or Gies Online graduate degree, if you choose. 

Graduate Certificates

Graduate Certificates

Graduate certificates are available in Accounting Data Analytics, Accounting Foundations, CPA Pathways, Digital Marketing, and Strategic Leadership and Management. These 12-credit hour online programs deliver immediately applicable business know-how.

Skills iCademies

Skills iCademies

Skills iCadmies are a collection of 15-20 short micro-courses focused on specific skill development. iCademies are currently available in Business Analytics and Leadership Skills.

Earn CPE Credits

CPE Credits

CPAs who are licensed in Illinois and any states who have reciprocal agreements are eligible to earn CPE credits with our courses.


Google Career Certificates

To advance our mission of delivering life-changing access to business education, Gies has partnered with Google to prepare learners in the Google Career Certificate programs with critical business skills.

The Professional Success Skills specialization from Gies can be bundled with any Google Career Certificate to earn a dual badge of completion from Google and Gies Business. This noncredit specialization will prepare you with critical business skills like leadership, teamwork, and strategic thinking.

The Financial Analysis - Skills for Success specialization was built to complement Google's Data Analytics Career Certificate. This noncredit specialization will help you develop an analytical mindset in the areas of finance, accounting, and financial statement analysis. 

Enterprise Partnership Programs

Our Enterprise Partners program offers employers the opportunity to advance their workforce through customized online and on-site educational experiences. For employees, the program helps accelerate their careers. For employers, it advances the organization. We invite you to partner with us to access customized, high-quality, and engaging content to cultivate your employees’ business skills. From information about the fundamentals of business to disruptive technologies, we provide the global workforce access to the highest quality, stackable, in-demand content.

"Developing the program with Gies as the partner was a very strong message of how serious we were about [internal promotion]."

Dr. James C. Leonard
MD President, Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
The Carle Foundation

Gies News and Events

Graebner named Fellow of Strategic Management Society

Jul 28, 2021, 15:59 by Aaron Bennett
Gies Professor Melissa Graebner has been selected as a Fellow of the Strategic Management Society – a distinction recognizing and honoring members of the Strategic Management Society who have made significant contributions to the theory and practice of strategic management.

Gies College of Business Professor Melissa Graebner has been selected as a Fellow of the Strategic Management Society – a distinction recognizing and honoring members of the Strategic Management Society who have made significant contributions to the theory and practice of strategic management. Graebner is the director of the Initiative for Qualitative Research in Innovation and Entrepreneurship (INQUIRE) at Gies and is a world-renowned scholar in entrepreneurship and strategy.

Melissa Graebner 11“I’m honored to be selected as a Fellow of the Strategic Management Society and join this group of incredible scholars,” said Graebner. “The culture and resources of the Gies College have been a tremendous source of support for my research.  My colleagues inspire me to think creatively and to connect my research to the classroom and the community.”

Graebner joined Gies College of Business in 2019 as part of the inaugural class of the President’s Distinguished Recruitment Program, an initiative launched by the University of Illinois System to add more world-class faculty and build its global standing as a leader in education and innovation. Her research interests include entrepreneurship, angel investing, mergers and acquisitions, and trust within and between organizations. Her work has been recognized by the Academy of Management and has been featured in The Economist, The New York Times, and Forbes. She is also co-editor of the Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, a major outlet for entrepreneurship research. She believes in using fieldwork and case studies to help answer questions that have scholarly importance and also matter to professionals in the business world.

“Melissa Graebner’s achievements and impactful research have been recognized by her designation as a Fellow of the Strategic Management Society, which connects more than 3,000 members with backgrounds and perspectives from more than 80 countries,” said Joseph Mahoney, Professor of Business Administration and Caterpillar Chair of Business at Gies and a Fellow of the Strategic Management Society. “Her research has contributed to academics, business practitioners, and consultants, and it provides insights on strategic entrepreneurship, corporate strategy, and management processes.”

“We are fortunate to have a colleague as distinguished and well thought of as Melissa Graebner at Gies College of Business,” added Gies Professor Deepak Somaya. “Her election as a Fellow of the Strategic Management Society underscores her stature in our field. It is a richly deserved designation that recognizes her many scholarly contributions and leadership in the field.”

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