When we first opened the doors of Howard L. Hawks Hall five years ago, it was a momentous occasion for Nebraska. The new College of Business was the first academic project of this magnitude in the university’s recent history – and due to the generosity of our alumni and friends, it was fully funded through private donations. Built by alumni for future alumni.

So much more than bricks and mortar, Hawks Hall set the bar high. It represented our emergence as a premier business school and a contender in the Big Ten among the most prestigious public business schools in the world.

Hawks Hall inspired and challenged us to aim high and think big as we created our college’s strategic plan. With a new mission statement, guiding principles, and success-enabling goals, we continued to build our college inside Hawks Hall.

We fine-tuned our plan last year after affirming our AACSB accreditation for another five years. We are well aligned with the university’s N2025 Strategic Plan through our commitment to promoting research and discovery, facilitating learning and transformation, and fostering connection and engagement – thereby fully realizing the promise of our mission.

Now, as we celebrate the fifth anniversary of Hawks Hall, the power of our Nebraska Business community and what we can accomplish together is evident. Our many successes are shared throughout this special issue of the Nebraska Business Magazine including high placement rates and research rankings to new engagement efforts.

This fall, 39 freshmen chose the Business and Law Major - our most recent collaboration with the College of Law. In fall 2018, we first offered the Law and Business Minor for all UNL undergraduate students and now it includes 82 students including 43 non-business majors.

We’ve started multiple peer-to-peer mentoring programs to assist students with building a robust network of mentors and peers, personalize their learning journey through our distinctive programs, and provide access to internships and career opportunities. They include Clifton Strengths Institute coaches, Business Career Center peer coaches, NIL advisors, Inclusive Business Leaders Program mentors and supplemental student instructors in our Teaching and Learning Center.

The student-led Husker Venture Fund, which provides funding to early-stage startups, also helps students build a team perspective. New student members learn to manage, fundraise, vet applications and more from their peers during an eight-week venture capital bootcamp in the fall. Then, all members work together to make new investment decisions.

Looking to the future, we will continue to focus on innovative programming, impactful research, broadening engagement, investing in our people and striving for inclusive excellence to elevate the College of Business to the next level. As a provider of high-quality undergraduate business education through distinctive programs, we plan to build on our peer-to-peer engagement and focus on more experiential learning opportunities.

We will support and enhance our student success initiatives including access to internships and career opportunities. We will expand our engagement with middle and high schools and launch additional summer camps to help prospective students explore various careers in business. We will also enhance diversity and equity while building and sustaining an inclusive community. These efforts will contribute to enrollment growth and increase retention by attracting and retaining our students, faculty and staff.

At the graduate level, we will continue to invest in and maintain a high-quality MBA@Nebraska program with specialized degrees and certificate programs that complement our offerings as efficiently as possible. Our enrollment goals will support and grow the programs to the extent that our budget allows. We also will increase our executive and professional education programming to support life-long learners while also expanding our outreach and the profile of the university.

Additionally, we will increase our research reputation of the college through faculty publications in recognized high-quality business journals and enhanced ratings from various external rating agencies. This aligns with the N2025 goals and helps Nebraska standout among our Big Ten peer institutions.

Finally, we will need your help. Together, Hawks Hall became a reality, we survived a pandemic, and we have expanded and strengthened our college, but there is still work to do. With your continued support, we will elevate the college to the next level of excellence while leading the future of business.

Together, we are Nebraska Business.

Engagement and Outreach

We enhanced our outreach efforts with alumni and business partners through the Business Career Center, the Center for Entrepreneurship (C4E), the Center for Executive and Professional Development (CEPD), Nebraska Council of Economic Education, Center for Sales Excellence and the Bureau of Business Research and partnerships with the NU Foundation and the Nebraska Alumni Association (NAA).

• The Entrepreneurship Fellows Program kicked off with 44 successful entrepreneurs committed to engage with students by guest lecturing, mentoring, connecting them to internships and serving as judges for the C4E’s competitions.
• Husker Connect offered to students a way to contact alumni to serve as mentors or provide career insight as part of our required undergraduate Professional Enhancement Program. The CoB has 818 alumni and 711 students engaged on this platform created through partnership with the NAA.
• The CEPD offered the Governor’s Leadership Academy in 2019 and 2021 for two groups of leaders in state government. It was modeled after the Bryan Physician’s Leadership Academy, now in its fourth year, for independent physicians in Lincoln. In 2022, the center launched the Nonprofit Management Institute with a strong attendance.