What an exciting year this has been.  I’ve now been Dean for one year and the time has flown by as so much has happened in the first year. The support I’ve received from the college and from the larger alumni and business communities has been overwhelming. 

Many great things have happened in twelve months, and I will share with you some of the highlights. We were re-accredited in January by AACSB, reaffirming our membership in an elite group of accredited business schools in the world.

On July 1,  it became official. UNL is officially a member of the Big Ten Athletic Conference and the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC).  This is a tremendous moment in the history of our college. The Big Ten Business schools are among the finest business schools in the world. US News & World Report ranked the undergraduate business programs in the Big Ten as Michigan #4, Iowa # 34 and all the rest are in between.  At 67 in that same ranking, we enter the Big Ten working hard to lift the visibility of all of our college’s programs, but at the same time we are proud of strengths we bring to the table as we enter the Big 10.

• BusinessWeek ranked our MBA program 4^th in the country among part-time MBA programs.
• Our Actuarial Science program is one of the 12 best in the US, according to the Society of Actuaries. Only four Big 10 schools share that designation.
• BusinessWeek ranked our undergraduate program in Finance 40th in the country and 3rd in the Big 10.
• Our undergraduate program in ethics was ranked 43rd by BusinessWeek, with only one Big Ten school ranking higher than us.
• Our faculty's research in leadership and in economic education are in the top 5 in the country.

Everywhere I go throughout the state and the country, CBA alums from UNL are excited about the college’s future. It is a great time to be a Cornhusker!

Best wishes,
 
Donde Ashmos Plowman
James & Susan Stuart Endowed Dean Published: July 20, 2011