HISTORICAL TIMELINE

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2004	The first group of students in the W. P. Carey MBA – Online Program begins coursework as the school offers its rigorous program to individuals through a web-based distance education model. Robert E. Mittelstaedt Jr. becomes the sixth dean of the W. P. Carey School of Business, coming from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was vice dean and Director of the Aresty Institute of Executive Education.
2003	Built on a sound foundation, the W. P. Carey School of Business begins its history with an endowment of $50 million from New York real estate investment banker Wm. Polk Carey, directly benefitting faculty, students and special initiatives. Larry E. Penley resigns as dean to become president of Colorado State University and chancellor of the Colorado State University system. Philip Regier is named interim dean. One of the most influential classes of graduate management students ever assembled commences instruction with the launch of the W. P. Carey MBA Shanghai. Students include CEO-level executives from some of China’s largest state-owned enterprises, and high government officials.
2002	The Center for Advancing Business through Information Technology launches an interdisciplinary research initiative to explore the impact of technology on business. Michael Crow is inaugurated as the 16th president of ASU. Dean Penley announces university approval to plan and raise funds for a new College of Business building.
2001	The Campaign for Leadership is hailed as the most successful fundraising initiative in Arizona history, with gifts totaling over $50 million to the College of Business. The college now has 14 endowed chairs and 11 endowed professorships.
2000	College becomes one of a select few business schools to install wireless access points for computing. The addition of Citrix Thin Client servers gives students access to complex database programs, allowing students to unplug from hard-wired computer labs. Deere & Company provides seed money and the first class of students, helping to create the ASU MBA Online.
1998	AACSB awards high scores to the college in its reaccredidation report. Business Week includes the College of Business in its ranking for the first time, placing it among the top 50 programs in the country. College exports its ASU MBA High Technology, Science and Engineering to China in partnership with Motorola. Dean Penley forms the E-Business Task Force - a partnership of business faculty and corporate leaders - to determine what the college must do to stay ahead of the technology-transformed business landscape. Recommendations for curriculum and infrastructure changes are implemented in the next two years.
1997	The Institute for Manufacturing Enterprise Systems forms to focus the energy and resources of the College of Business, the College of Engineering and Applied Science and industry to the advancement of manufacturing worldwide. The W. P. Carey MBA – Technology, Science and Engineering welcomes its first students at the ASU Research Park. The program was designed to deliver management education in a technology context to professionals in the high technology sector.
1996	Bank One Arizona gives $1.3 million to endow the Bank One professorship in economics and the Bank One Economic Outlook Center. This gift, coming at the beginning of ASU’s $400 million Campaign for Leadership, helps lay a financial foundation for the college’s growth. (2006: chair renamed to JPMorgan Chase Professor and center renamed to JPMorgan Chase Economic Outlook Center.)
1995	MBA for Executives are the first students at ASU to receive university e-mail accounts.
1994	ASU achieves the prestigious Research I status (now referred to as Research/Doctoral Universities-Extensive), recognizing ASU as a premier research institution. The Harold E. Fearon Chair in Purchasing is endowed — the first fully funded chair in the College of Business. Efforts ramp up to provide the support needed to attract and keep the best faculty. The Center for the Advancement of Small Business launches its efforts to support small business through education, practice and research.
1993	College successfully launches its first internet course — Accounting 250. By 1998 more than 500 undergraduate students each semester are taking this course on line.
1992	Dean Penley initiates the Business Partners Process, enlisting the help of key corporate leaders to help redefine the college’s vision and goals. The part-time MBA program (now the W. P. Carey MBA - Evening Program) adopts a two-year curriculum based on business fundamentals, core concepts and application. The MBA Council is formed to build a graduate business alumni network. College begins to move ahead aggressively on technology improvements, implementing its first local area network, and opening ASU’s first undergraduate, college-level computing site.
1991	Management Professor Larry E. Penley, who has been acting dean since June 1990, is named dean for the College of Business.
1990	Lattie F. Coor is inaugurated as ASU's 15th president.
1989	The Business Honors program commences with 12 students, making the ASU College of Business one of the few major business schools to incorporate a complete honors program within its walls. The program has grown to 311 students, and represents 30 to 40 percent of all ASU Honors graduates each year. The MBA program creates a separate full-time program and enrolls the first entering class, the beginning of the contemporary W. P. Carey MBA Full-time Program. The First Interstate Center for Services Marketing (now the Center for Services Leadership) presents the 1st Annual “Compete Through Service-Breakthrough Strategies and Tools” Symposium, still regarded as one of the best business conferences in the country.
1987	MBA for Executives begins to require laptop computers for its students, making it one of the first programs on campus to incorporate laptops into the curriculum. The School of Accountancy receives separate AACSB accreditation.
1986	The Center for Advanced Purchasing Studies (CAPS), now known as CAPS: Center for Strategic Supply Research, forms in partnership with the National Association of Purchasing Managers (now the Institute for Supply Management®), a global industry think tank. John Kraft begins his tenure as dean.
1985	The Economic Outlook Center is established. Now the JPMorgan Chase Economic Outlook Center, it is one of Arizona’s trusted sources of business data and economic forecasts. With the center’s founding, the college forges a relationship with renowned forecaster Robert J. Eggert, who helped develop the Blue Chip publications for which ASU is known. The First Interstate Center for Services Marketing (now the Center for Services Leadership) forms around pioneering researchers in the marketing department who recognize the emerging challenges and opportunities for businesses in the services arena. The L. William Seidman Research Institute is created to coordinate the gathering and distribution of funds for research at the college, and to serve as an umbrella agency for the college’s research centers. Dean Seidman founds the Economic Club of Phoenix, a support group that has helped forge strong ties between the college and the business community. Monthly luncheons continue to be a highly anticipated feature of the city’s business calendar.
1984	The doctor of business administration degree becomes the Ph.D. in business administration. College dedicates the six-story BAC building, rounding out the current business complex. Soon after, the school’s official name is changed to College of Business.
1983	The Dean’s Council of 100 forms, giving the dean a formal communications channel to business executives for advice and support. The Arizona Real Estate Education Foundation funds the Arizona Real Estate Professorship — the college’s first professorship. Dr. Karl Gunterman is its first stakeholder.
1982	L. William Seidman becomes dean. The Hispanic Business Association, now a nationwide organization, is founded by a group of Hispanic graduates of the College of Business Administration.
1981	The MBA for Executives graduates its first class.
1980	The Arizona Real Estate Institute (now the Arizona Real Estate Center) is founded.
1976	The master of health services administration program is separately accredited by the ACEHSA (Accrediting Commission on Education for Health Services Administration).
1972	The Business Administration Alumni Chapter is formed with 100 charter members. Bob Bulla is its first president.
1971	The north addition to the Business Administration Building is finished, completing what is now known as BA.
1968	College moves into Business Administration Building fronting on Lemon Street. This is the first building at ASU dedicated solely to business — the beginning of the current W. P. Carey School of Business campus.
1965	The doctor of business administration degree program begins, with the first candidates admitted in September.
1964	The master of business administration (MBA) earns its first AACSB accreditation.
1963	The first Economic Forecast Luncheon occurs, later renamed the Bank One/ASU Economic Outlook Luncheon, which draws more than 1,500 business people yearly.
1962	The College of Business Administration wins its first undergraduate AACSB accreditation.
1961	The master of business administration — the MBA — is established.
1958	Sun Devil Stadium is built. A hotly-debated statewide referendum passes, conferring university status on ASU.
1957	The Board of Regents approves the first master’s degrees for the new College of Business — the master of science in business administration and master of science in accounting.
1956	Glenn D. Overman is appointed dean of the College of Business Administration.
1954	The Board of Regents establishes the ASU College of Business Administration under the leadership of Dr. Emil J. Hilkert.
1951	The Bureau of Business and Economic Research opens. Re-named the Center for Business Research, it remains a public service research unit that specializes in applied research relating to the economics and demographics of Arizona and the metropolitan Phoenix area.
1946	An artist in the Walt Disney studio designs a mascot for Arizona State College, and Sparky is born. The Board of Regents authorizes Arizona State Teachers College to grant the first business administration degree.
1918	The letter “N” for Normal School is constructed on Hayden Butte. This letter becomes an “A” in the 1930s, reflecting the institution’s name change to Arizona State Teachers College. “A” Butte remains a focal point on campus.
1898	Old Main, former classroom building that is now the home of the ASU Alumni Association and the heart of ASU tradition, is dedicated on February 4.
1885	The 13th Legislative Assembly of Arizona Territory passes John Samuel Armstrong’s bill establishing the Territorial Normal School in Tempe — known today as Arizona State University. In 2003, Armstrong’s grandson, Wm. P. Carey, endows the W. P. Carey School of Business.