A Complete
Curriculum.
Our two-year business program will equip you with a firm foundation to launch your business career. Our business program covers a broad range of subjects including sales, business communications, operations, management, and much more. Read on to learn more about the curriculum.
Year 1
Fall
During your first term, you’ll get to know the professional vocabulary, concepts, and processes you will use in a business career, from communication skills to business math, accounting, economics, and business systems.

Winter
For your second term, you'll delve into the roles of key departments in any business, ranging from marketing to human resources, operations, and customer service. We'll also cover the basics of microeconomics.

Spring
Put your new knowledge to the test with six weeks of hands-on learning in one of our North American operations.

Summer
Wrap up your first year of training with a deeper dive into business topics. Coursework includes business writing, law, and statistics, along with principles of management and organizational behavior.

Learn more about Fall
Intro to Business Communication
Learn about the communication skills required for today’s workplace, from writing to presentation skills. Study tools and practices that will advance your career and foster strong relationships in the workplace.
Customer Service
Examine the value of providing exceptional customer service in today’s business environment. Lear about key customer service skills such as communication, empathy, and how to deal with challenging customers.
Microeconomics
Cover the assumptions and core principles of economics. Learn to analyze behavior in perfect competitive markets as well as imperfectly competitive market structures such as monopolies and oligopolies. Use economic models to study market failures caused by externalities and public goods, and analyze current social issues from an economic perspective.
Intro to UFP Business Systems
Explore the business systems utilized at Universal Forest Products (and other companies). Topics include Microsoft applications, production management, inventory management, shipping in OLM, accounts receivable management, and report warehouse.
Business Math
Gain competence in fundamental mathematical skills, especially those that apply to UFP and its industry. Review relevant math skills, including Universal Forest Products’ “lumber math,” and begin to apply them to UFP situations.
Learn more about Winter
Marketing 101
Review the critical building blocks of marketing management and strategic planning, focusing on marketing/business fundamentals with the power to affect a variety of real-world opportunities and challenges. The course will be taught through case method instruction.
Financial Accounting
Discuss the core concepts and functions of financial accounting, such as the accounting cycle, internal controls, receivables and sales, inventory and cost of goods sold, assets and liabilities, and stockholder’s equity.
Human Resources – Employment Law and Employee Relations
Learn about the role of human resources, including major employment and labor laws affecting management and employee rights, and the importance of open communication between management and employees.
Macroeconomics
Discover how unemployment, inflation, and economic growth are measured and how they relate to economic goals. Learn about the Federal Reserve System, fiscal and monetary policies, and how these factors influence the business cycle.
Operations Management
Get to know the production process and business practices at UFP to prepare for your first field placement. Topics include facility design, staffing and people skills, safety, budgets, grades/cuts/yields, lumber math, and automation.
Learn more about Spring
Field Placement
Trade the classroom for the real world during this six-week field placement. You may have the opportunity to explore production, sales, shipping and receiving, human resources, and other departments, where you can apply many of the concepts you learned in the classroom and broaden your knowledge of processes, operations, products, and business.
Learn more about Summer
Business Writing
Advance your communication skills by focusing on writing, primarily as it pertains to business. This course will also improve your thinking and analytical skills, which come in handy in every aspect of the business world.
Business Law I
Learn about legal principles, primarily those affecting UFP operations. Topics include contracts, warranties and products liability, employment and health and safety law, antitrust, sales, intellectual property, and business entities.
Business Statistics
Discover how to apply fundamental statistical tools to the workplace. You’ll use these skills to analyze data, draw conclusions, and make predictions throughout your career.
Principles of Management
Get to know the concepts, strategies, and tools of management in today’s business environment. This course will equip you with a foundation to plan, organize, lead, and execute in a management role at UFP.
Organizational Behavior
Cultivate an understanding of individual roles and group behavior to appreciate how an entire organizational system operates to achieve goals. This course will help you understand the role organizational behavior plays in personal career development with UFP.
Year 2
Fall
Begin your second year by exploring the roles of finance, purchasing, and compliance departments, as well as planning for the future with personal finance and entrepreneurship courses.

Winter
Continue to hone your knowledge and skills with advanced topics such as sales, managerial accounting, international business, project management, and advanced business communication.

Spring
Year 2 offers another valuable opportunity to apply what you know during a six-week field placement in one of our North American operations.

Summer
Complete your UFP Business School education with advanced topics in leadership, e-commerce, business ethics, and marketing as you prepare to step into your career.

Learn more about Fall
Managerial Finance
Review the financial policies and practices that lead to the maximization of the value of a company, including risk and return, management of current assets, capital budgeting, sources of financing, and optimum capital structure.
Purchasing
Explore all aspects of purchasing, including UFP- specific concerns such as lumber grading, purchasing strategies, species differentiation, inventory control, and transportation.
Personal Finance
Equip yourself with the skills you need for personal economic decision-making. The course follows the typical life cycle of personal financial decisions from early career through retirement.
Risk Management
Learn to identify, assess, and prioritize risk associated with UFP operations. You’ll gain a working knowledge of significant environmental, safety, and insurance laws, polices, and regulations.
Marketing II
Explore the principles of advanced marketing strategy. You’ll practice analyzing a business’s situation and formulating, implementing, and monitoring a marketing strategy in a competitive environment. The primary deliverable for this course will be a comprehensive marketing plan.
Learn more about Winter
Sales
Discover the trust-based consultative selling model. You’ll develop the skills and knowledge to identify your customers’ business drivers, qualify opportunities, demonstrate value to customers, and respond to objections.
Managerial Accounting
Examine the development and use of accounting information for internal planning, control, and decision-making. Topics include cost behavior analysis, costing, budgeting, variance analysis, pricing, and performance evaluation.
Management II
Tackle real-world management challenges being faced today. You will identify an opportunity for improvement at a UFP facility, and craft a solution utilizing the knowledge and skills attained through coursework, internships, and facility experience.
The Job Search
Cap off your business communication education with a focus on the job search process. You’ll practice everything from writing resumes and cover letters to interviewing and networking.
Project Management
Gain a basic understanding of how to accomplish a specific objective utilizing core Project Management Professional (PMP) concepts and toolsets.
Learn more about Spring
Field Placement
Once again, you'll leave the classroom for a real-life assignment in a new location in the UFP family. You'll have the chance to see classroom concepts in action in production, sales, shipping and receiving, human resources, and other departments, and you can continue to expand your knowledge, experience, and professional contacts.
Learn more about Summer
Leadership
Discuss various leadership theories and the UFP leadership culture. You’ll acquire the knowledge and skills to prepare you for both professional and personal leadership roles.
E-commerce
Focus on the principles, concepts, and skills for the strategic use of e-commerce. Learn to analyze e-commerce solutions to issues surrounding business-to-business, business to consumers, and intra-organizational trade.
Business Ethics
Equip yourself with a practical, decision-making framework to aid in the identification, understanding, and resolution of ethical dilemmas faced in the workplace.
Entrepreneurship
Investigate the idea of entrepreneurship and its application to UFP. You’ll learn how to identify, assess, and develop a business plan and then apply your knowledge and skills to a realistic business experience.
International Business
Explore how and why firms become global and how they sustain their global position. Learn about the skills needed to manage firms operating in foreign business environments and to work effectively with people of other cultures.