BYU's undergraduate business programs rank fifth overall and first among recruiters according to BusinessWeek magazine's comprehensive ranking of U.S. undergraduate business programs.

“I'm elated to see BYU recognized as one of the very best places to earn a degree in business,” says Gary Cornia , Marriott School dean. “I have long felt our secret weapon is our students. We owe much of our success to their parents who shaped the characteristics—hard work, integrity, and a determination to succeed—that have attracted so many recruiters.”

University of Virginia's McIntire School ranked No. 1, followed by No. 2 Notre Dame, No. 3 Pennsylvania, No. 4 Michigan, No. 5 BYU, No. 6 UC–Berkeley, No. 7 MIT, No. 8 Cornell, No. 9 Emory, and No. 10 Texas.

“It's an honor to be consistently ranked among the very best,” says Brent Wilson , undergraduate program director. “We believe this ranking reflects the quality of our students who are constantly involved in the educational process and of the faculty who push to help them reach their potential.”

Only 137 colleges met BusinessWeek's stringent criteria to be considered for the undergraduate business rankings. Schools must have an accredited undergraduate business degree program that meets criteria for program size, age, test scores, grade point averages for business majors, and number of full-time tenured faculty, among other factors.

Colleges were ranked according to five weighted sets of data: a survey of more than 85,000 students; a survey of 580 corporate recruiters; median starting salaries for graduates; the number of graduates admitted to thirty-five top MBA programs; and an academic quality measure that consists of SAT/ACT test scores for business majors, full-time faculty-student ratios in the business program, average class size in core business classes, the percentage of business majors with internships, and the number of hours students spend preparing for class each week.

BusinessWeek has ranked undergraduate business schools for four years. Complete rankings of the best undergraduate business schools are available in the 9 March 2009 issue of BusinessWeek or online at businessweek.com/bschools/undergraduate.


BYU's Marriott School announced the creation of the Kevin and Debra Rollins Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology. The new center is the result of a merger between the Rollins Center for eBusiness and the BYU Center for Entrepreneurship.

“We saw an increased potential for overlap between the interests and activities of the two centers,” says Gary Cornia , Marriott School dean. “Joining the groups will help us better leverage our resources and continue to focus on the use of technology to drive new enterprises.”

The merger comes nine years after the formation of the Rollins Center for eBusiness. Former Dell CEO Kevin Rollins and his wife, Debra , provided the initial funding for BYU's eBusiness Center in 2000.

Since its creation, the eBusiness Center has sponsored dozens of research projects and field studies, helped build the Information Systems Department, and infused the use of technology into classes throughout the school. The center has hosted a semiannual eBusiness Day and a weekly lecture series featuring technology professionals. It has also sponsored or hosted campuswide student competitions including the Web Business Idea Competition and the Omniture Web Analytics Competition.

“This merger makes strategic sense,” says Stephen Liddle , former director of the eBusiness Center and academic director of the new Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology. “Both centers have vibrant and synergistic missions. With our combined resources, we will more efficiently support great technology and entrepreneurship experiences for our students.”

The BYU Center for Entrepreneurship was established in 1989. It has more than 150 active founders, contributors, and supporters. Successful entrepreneurs teach classes in venture capital, enterprise formation, and entrepreneurship fundamentals. Every semester more than fifty entrepreneurs come to campus to lecture on real-world examples of successful entrepreneurship.

The combined centers will carry the Rollins' name in honor of their founding donation and ongoing support of entrepreneurial and technological activities at the university. Kevin and Debra are both BYU alumni. Kevin earned his MBA from BYU in 1984. He is currently a senior advisor with TPG Capital in Texas.


BYU's board of trustees recently approved the creation of the Finance Department in the Marriott School, a move that helps the school recruit new finance professors and better address finance students' needs.

Steve Thorley , former faculty director of the Peery Institute of Financial Services and H. Taylor Peery professor of finance at the Marriott School, became the first finance department chair.

Thorley says the finance department's creation will have little immediate impact on coursework but will have a big, long-term impact in terms of administration and the attention given students specializing in finance.

“We will be better able to serve our students in the MBA and undergraduate programs,” Thorley says. “The university's willingness to create this department says a lot about the strengths of the finance faculty and the finance curriculum, including student demand and placement.”

The new finance department began functioning 1 January 2009 and includes eighteen professors, all previously a part of the business management department. It is the eighth department housed in the Marriott School.

Published by the Marriott School at Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah. Copyright 2009 by Brigham Young University. All rights reserved. All communications should be sent to Marriott Alumni Magazine, 490 Tanner Building, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah 84602. Email: marriottmag@byu.edu. Telephone: (801) 422-5083. Fax: (801) 422-0501. The views expressed are those of the various authors and not necessarily the Marriott School. Change your mailing address here.