History of the College of Management

The College of Management was created in 1992, and its MBA program established in 2002, but the history of economics, business and management education at North Carolina State University goes back to the early 1900s. The college is now involved in a number of initiatives including growth of graduate programs; development of executive education; and development of specialized research and graduate student programs in technology-related fields.

NC State produced a steady stream of business graduates until the Great Depression, when budget restrictions resulted in NC State closing down its business school and UNC-Chapel Hill shutting the doors on its engineering school.

In the early 1970s, the university again began offering undergraduate degrees in business management and accounting through the Department of Economics and Business in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. The Master of Science in Management degree was launched in 1976.

In 1990, the university invited a visitation team to review the need for and desirability of establishing the College of Management. The team consisted of Dean Richard Lewis, Michigan State University; Professor Willard T. Carelton, the Karl Eller Professor of Finance, University of Arizona; Dean George Daly, University of Iowa; and Dean Richard Sorenson, Virginia Polytechnic Institute.

They recommended that the college be established and that its programs have a unique focus based on the strengths of NC State and a clear need for management programs in North Carolina.

Based on the on-campus review and the recommendations of the visitation committee, on March 6, 1992, the UNC Board of Governors authorized the establishment of a College of Management at NC State provided it met certain standards. The college could be established with the understanding that it:

• Would provide a curriculum that would integrate the functional areas of business and have a core focus on the management of technology.
• Would develop a broad integrated curriculum in business management.
• Where feasible would develop relationships with the other colleges (especially the Colleges of Engineering, Textiles, and Natural Resources).
  

Robert Clark, an economics and business professor, served as interim dean in the 1992-93 academic year, when the college launched reviews of all of its programs. Richard Lewis was hired as founding dean and arrived on campus in the summer of 1993. Dean Lewis led the college through the pre-candidacy and candidacy stages of the accreditation process and oversaw most of the renovation of Nelson Hall. The Master of Accounting program was initiated in fall 1993.

Dean Lewis retired in December 1998, and Jon Bartley, who had served as associated dean, was appointed dean, serving until summer 2005. Gil Zuckerman, currently associate dean for academic affairs, served as interim dean until the arrival of Ira R. Weiss as third dean of the college in December 2004.