Isenberg School of Management

Isenberg School of Management

Logo of Isenberg School of Management
Former names	School of Management (1982-1997) School of Business Administration (1947-1982)
Type	Public Business school
Established	1947 (1947)
Endowment	$27 million (2014)
Dean	Mark Fuller
Academic staff	118
Administrative staff	65
Students	4800
Undergraduates	3400
Postgraduates	1400
Doctoral students	72
Location	Amherst , Massachusetts , United States 42°23′12″N 72°31′29″W
Campus	Urban/Suburban
Affiliations	University of Massachusetts Amherst
Website	www.isenberg.umass.edu

The Isenberg School of Management is the business school at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, the flagship campus for the University of Massachusetts system, located in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. The Isenberg School is accredited by the AACSB and has undergraduate and MBA programs ranked in the top 40 and top 20 respectively. The school's undergraduate business program was ranked by BusinessWeek in 2014 as the 36th best program in the country, and the 14th best among public universities. The Isenberg School was rated 11th overall (6th among publics) on BusinessWeek's 2014 Employer Survey which measured recruiter perceptions of which programs turned out the best graduates. At the MBA level, U.S. News and World Report ranked the full-time program 74th overall, and 41st among publics for 2015; the part-time MBA 16th overall, and 9th among publics in 2015; and the online MBA 12th overall, and 11th among publics in 2015—and the largest online MBA among the top 25 institutions. The Financial Times ranked the online MBA #11 worldwide, and #7 among US schools.

The school offers seven undergraduate majors along with MS, MBA and Ph.D. programs. As of the 2014-2015 academic year, there were approximately 3500 undergraduate students and 1300 graduate students enrolled in the Isenberg School of Management. Isenberg students have wide access to campus resources including over 30 student organizations in the Isenberg School itself, and many more across campus. The school also has a dedicated Chase Career Center, a career and professional development resource tailored especially for the needs of business students. Today, there are nearly 50,000 Isenberg alumni worldwide in over 70 countries, many of whom are involved in the school in a variety of ways. The school prides itself on being a competitive business program at an affordable cost to students.

History

The Isenberg School of Management building on the University of Massachusetts Amherst campus.

Business courses were first offered at the Massachusetts Agricultural College in the early years of the twentieth century, expanding rapidly during the 1930s and 1940s in response to student demand. The Board of Trustees established the School of Business Administration in 1947, and within seven years, it was conferring graduate degrees, including doctorates after 1967. The school was accredited at the undergraduate level by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business in May 1958, and in March 1959, the Board of Trustees authorized the establishment of four academic departments within the school: Accounting, General Business and Finance, Management, and Marketing. In September 1967, a program leading to the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Business Administration was introduced.

In 1964, the school moved to its current building in the heart of the UMass Amherst campus. In 1983, the School of Business Administration changed its name to School of Management. The Isenberg School of Management was named after Eugene Isenberg in 1998. Gene was Chairman and CEO of Nabors Industries at the time, a world leader in gas and petroleum drilling. Gene's gift with his wife, Ronnie, was the largest contribution from an individual in UMass Amherst's history. The Isenberg's gift facilitated the school's campaign to build its 42,000-square-foot Harold Alfond Management Center addition, and established several endowed chairs for the campus.

Academics

Business School International Rankings
U.S. MBA Ranking
Bloomberg (2024)	66 (Part-time)
U.S. News & World Report (2024)	74 (full-time) 16 (part-time) 12 (online)
Global MBA Ranking
Financial Times (2024)	11 (Online)

Undergraduate programs

• BBA with major in:
  • Accounting
  • Finance
  • Management
  • Marketing
  • Operations and Information Management
• B.S. in Hospitality and Tourism Management
• B.S. in Sport Management

Graduate programs

• MBA with core curriculum in:
  • Accounting/Finance
  • Management
  • Operations/Information Management
  • Marketing
• M.S. in Accounting
• M.S. in Sport Management
• Ph.D. with concentration in:
  • Accounting
  • Finance
  • Hospitality and Tourism Management
  • Operations and Information Management
  • Marketing
  • Organization Studies
  • Sport Management
  • Strategic Management

MBA program

Isenberg offers full-time, online and part-time programs for its AACSB-accredited MBA degree. Isenberg also awards M.S. degrees in Accounting and Sport Management.

The full-time MBA is a two-year residency program at the UMass Amherst flagship campus. The first-year curriculum focuses on core business disciplines with thematic strength in business analytics, organizational problem solving, and change management; the second year includes consulting/practicum projects, as well as elective courses that allow students to build a focus in areas such as Finance (in areas such as investment management, risk and compliance), Marketing (analytics and public policy), Healthcare Administration, Sport Management, or Entrepreneurship. Isenberg also offers Dual MBA/MS degrees in six disciplines: Public Policy and Administration, Sport Management, Civil Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Industrial Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering.

The part-time MBA can be taken in face to face satellite locations in Boston, Shrewsbury or Springfield, as well as fully online.

Isenberg Fellows Residential Academic Program (RAP)

The Isenberg Fellows RAP is divided into two different groups. Students of the Business in Society Fellows will explore how businesses operate in and impact a community. It will highlight the social responsibilities that businesses have, including ethics and community service. The other group is called the Diversity & International Business Fellows, and these students will learn about the global and diversity issues that businesses are facing today.

Isenberg Honors Residential Academic Program (RAP)

The Isenberg Honors RAP has similar features and benefits to the Fellows RAP, but is specifically geared toward students who are both a member of the Isenberg School of Management and also the Commonwealth Honors College. Students will live together with other members of the RAP and also take a year-long seminar led by the Isenberg School of Management Undergraduate Dean.

Research

Researchers at the business school are leading a three-year project that is creating infrastructure and logistics planning models for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Research Centers

The Isenberg School of Management host numerous Research Centers including;

• Berthiaume Center for Entrepreneurship
• McCormark Center for Sports Research and Education (MCSRE)
• Center for International Securities and Derivatives Markets (CISDM)
• Massachusetts Small Business Development Center
• Virtual Center for Supernetworks

Student Clubs & Organizations

Students have over thirty organizations to choose from at the Isenberg School. Each student organization is paired with a faculty advisor and receives support from the entire Isenberg School community. Template:Multicol

• Accounting Association
• ADS
• AH&LA
• American Marketing Association
• Beta Alpha Psi
• Business Law Club
• CMAA
• ESD: Eta Sigma Delta
• Delta Sigma Pi
• Finance Society
• FBMA
• INFORMS
• Investment Club
• Isenberg Honors Council
• Isenberg Undergraduate Consulting Group
• Isenberg Management Association
• Isenberg Marketing Club
• Isenberg Operations & Information Club

• ITCC
• IWiB
• Jewish Leaders in Business
• MEMA
• Minutemen Equity Fund
• NABA
• Net Impact
• Networking Club
• NSMH
• OUT@Isenberg
• Real Estate Club
• ULead
• UMASSM
• UMass Real Estate Club
• WISM

Donor programs

The Berthiaume Center for Entrepreneurship, endowed in 2014 by Douglas and Diana Berthiaume as part of a $10 million gift, plays a central role in promoting entrepreneurship and innovation across the UMass Amherst campus and throughout the region and state. Headquartered in the Isenberg School of Management, the center serves as a hub of a cross-campus network of scholars, innovators, and entrepreneurs, with a three-fold mission of supporting research, education, and practice, all targeted at facilitating the transformation of ideas into business realities.

People

Prominent Isenberg alumni

Main article: List of University of Massachusetts Amherst alumni

• Tony Barbee 1993, collegiate basketball coach at Auburn University
• Ben Cherington 1997, executive Vice President and General Manager of the Boston Red Sox
• Dave Jauss, professional baseball coach
• Marc Forgione, owner of restaurant Marc Forgione in New York City
• Neal Huntington 1992, General Manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates
• Anshu Jain 1985, former co-CEO of Deutsche Bank
• Fardeen Khan, Bollywood actor; attended school but never graduated
• Hina Rabbani Khar 2001, former Foreign Minister of Pakistan
• Dave Littlefield 1984, Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates
• Arturo Guevara, baseball writer
• Earl W. Stafford, founder of the Stafford Foundation
• Julie Robenhymer, former Miss New Jersey
• Müjde Yüksel, professional basketball player

• Dennis Hanno, President of Wheaton College
• David Fubini, Director Emeritus McKinsey & Company, Senior Lecturer at Harvard Business School
• Paula Caproni, Author, and on faculty at University of Michigan Business School
• Vivek Paul, former CEO Wipro Technologies
• Gil Penchina (year unknown), CEO of Wikia, Inc.
• James Pallotta 1979, President of A.S. Roma and Chairman and Managing Director of Raptor Group
• Edward D. Shirley 1978, former President and CEO of Bacardi
• John F. Smith, Jr. 1960, former CEO and Chairman of the Board of General Motors Corporation
• Mike Tannenbaum 1991, former general manager of the New York Jets
• Jeff Taylor 2001, founder of Monster.com
• John Legere, CEO and President of T-Mobile US
• Rudolf Rodríguez, former Minister of Finance and Public Credit of Colombia

Armed Forces

• Brian G. Neal, Major General in the United States Air Force
• Mark MacCarley, Major General in the United States Army

Notable Faculty

Retired

• Sheila Bair, retired Visiting Professor of Finance, former Chairperson of the U.S. FDIC
• Thomas Schneeweis, retired Michael and Cheryl Philipp Professor of Finance

Current Endowed Professors and Chairs

• Chris Agoglia, Richard Simpson Endowed Professor of Accounting
• Steven Floyd, Eugene M. Isenberg Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship
• Mark A. Fuller, Thomas O'Brien Endowed Chair
• Hossein Kazemi, Michael and Cheryl Philipp Professor of Finance
• Charles Manz, Nirenberg Professor of Leadership
• Anna Nagurney, John F. Smith Memorial Professor of Operations Management
• James Theroux, Flavin Family Chair in an Entrepreneurship
• Traci J. Hess, Douglas and Diana Berthiaume Endowed Professor

See also

• List of United States graduate business school rankings
• List of business schools in the United States

External links

• Isenberg School of Management of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst