The start of a new academic year in the Black School of Business brought good news. Our accreditation by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB)—the gold standard for business schools—has been extended through 2023. Accreditation by AACSB is a designation held by less than 5 percent of business programs worldwide, and we’re the only business school in our region to hold the distinction.
Getting and keeping accreditation is no easy task. It requires significant investment in attracting and retaining outstanding faculty members, in rigorously assessing the quality of our programs, and in ensuring successful outcomes for our graduates. These efforts, in turn, deliver a return on that investment, as we continue to be identified by national sources as a top-rated school of undergraduate and graduate business education.
This issue of Business News provides a glimpse of the many activities taking place in the school as well as the successes of a growing number of our students and graduates. Behind the scenes, we’ve expanded the Black School of Business Advisory Board to more than fifty members, creating three committees focused on program development and review, professional development, and professional networking. Building on the work of a faculty-led committee last year, we launched a strategic planning process that will extend our Strategy 2020 document to 2023.
On the student front, we supported thirty-seven students earning professional designations over the past year. We continue to fund our Bloomberg terminal, helping students earn certifications in Oracle and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) with SAP. And plans are underway for the annual student trip to a major metropolitan area, in this case, New York City. These, along with numerous other initiatives, are providing Black School of Business students with the skills and tools to stand out in today’s competitive business world.