Posted by Kara Kennedy on 2010-12-09

Samford University’s Brock School of Business has been ranked in the top tier of “best business schools” by U. S. News & World Report’s annual rankings for 2011.  Samford was ranked 215 of the 596 business programs accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business International (AACSB). This is the first time for Samford’s business school to be ranked in the top tier.

“We continue to gain prominence among the best business schools in the U.S.,” said Brock School interim dean James P. Reburn. “The recognition reflects the hard work of our faculty, staff, students, alumni and advisory board over a number of years.’

Samford’s business school was fully accredited by AACSB International in 1999 and reaccredited in 2010, a recognition earned by less than five percent of business schools worldwide. Reburn noted that of the more than 12,000 institutions worldwide that grant business degrees, only about 1,200 are accredited by an organization that awards accreditation on an international scale, such as AACSB.

Although Samford has offered business degrees since the 1920s, the school of business as an organized academic unit dates to 1965 when the master of business administration degree was added to the undergraduate program. A master of accountancy degree was added in 1997. The school was renamed in 2007 for Birmingham banking pioneer and Samford trustee Harry B. Brock Jr.

“The renaming of the business school to the Brock School continues to propel us toward becoming a leading business school, as demonstrated by this recent ranking by U.S. News,” Reburn added.

To determine the rankings, U.S. News surveyed deans and faculty at AACSB-accredited institutions this past spring. Survey participants were asked to rate the quality of programs with which they were familiar, and the rankings were based on those peer assessments, Reburn explained.

“Once again, Samford is being recognized for academic achievements that have become the hallmark of our stature as a nationally recognized doctoral research university,” said Samford Provost J. Bradley Creed. “U.S. News is recognizing what others have seen in recent years – that Samford University’s Brock School of Business is becoming a recognized leader in business education and in the business community.”

 

 
Samford is a leading Christian university offering undergraduate programs grounded in the liberal arts with an array of nationally recognized graduate and professional schools. Founded in 1841, Samford is the 87th-oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. Samford enrolls 6,101 students from 45 states, Puerto Rico and 16 countries in its 10 academic schools: arts, arts and sciences, business, divinity, education, health professions, law, nursing, pharmacy and public health. Samford fields 17 athletic teams that compete in the tradition-rich Southern Conference and ranks 6th nationally for its Graduation Success Rate among all NCAA Division I schools.