“Being ranked 29th among the top public university business schools and 61st overall reflects the dedication and hard work of the Lerner faculty and staff in providing an excellent education to ensure the success of our students,” Dean Conrado “Bobby” Gempesaw said. “I am especially pleased that Lerner College was cited for its available faculty and a curriculum that stresses real-world experience and teamwork.”
BusinessWeek used several criteria in ranking the schools. According to BusinessWeek, the “centerpiece” of the ranking was “a survey of about 77,000 graduating seniors at the 123 eligible programs.” Students were asked to complete a 50-question survey.
Corporate recruiters also were polled, and other factors included median starting salaries for graduates and what schools sent the most grads to 35 top MBA programs, as determined by BusinessWeek. The other criterion was an “academic quality gauge of five equally weighted measures: average SAT scores, ratio of full-time faculty to students, average class size, the percentage of business majors with internships and the hours students spend every week on schoolwork.”
The UD Department of Business and Economics was founded after World War II, and the College of Business and Economics was established in 1963. In 2002, in recognition of an MBNA Foundation endowment honoring its former chairperson and CEO, the college was renamed the Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics.
The college was first accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business at the baccalaureate level in 1966; graduate accreditation was received in 1982; and accounting accreditation was earned in 1984. All accreditations were reaffirmed in 2001.
Article by Sue Moncure
Photo by Eric Crossan