ASU Maintains Prestigious AACSB Business Accreditation
JONESBORO — The College of Business at Arkansas State University has maintained its business accreditation by AACSB International—The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. Founded in 1916, AACSB International is the longest serving global accrediting body for business schools that offer bachelors, masters, and doctorate degrees in business and accounting.
Arkansas State University’s achievement will be recognized in May at the 2012 AACSB International Conference and Annual Meeting in San Diego, California.
Only 643 schools of business, or less than five percent worldwide, have earned this distinguished hallmark of excellence in management education. To maintain accreditation, a business program must undergo a rigorous internal review every five years, at which the program must demonstrate its continued commitment to the 21 quality standards relating to faculty qualification, strategic management of resources, interactions of faculty and students, as well as a commitment to continuous improvement and achievement of learning goals in degree programs.
“Attainment of the reaffirmation of AACSB accreditation is a signal accomplishment for Dean Len Frey, his administrative team, and for the faculty of the College of Business at ASU, who should feel justifiably proud,” Dr. Dan Howard, Interim Chancellor, stated. “This accreditation provides objective and unequivocal evidence that academic programs offered by the College of Business are of the highest quality and affords a competitive advantage to graduates as they enter the job market or pursue advanced postgraduate education.
“AACSB standards look at all academic and administrative aspects of the college and the academic programs it offers. Going through the associated self-study process is an excellent growth experience for all of the faculty involved and invariably leads to continuous quality improvement of the programs accredited. Please join me in extending heartfelt and well-deserved congratulations to the College of Business faculty, Dean Len Frey and for his administrative team.”
Dr. Frey, Dean of the College of Business, said, “This recognition is a testament to the efforts of our faculty, staff and administrators to maintain high quality cutting-edge business degree programs. Our approach to maintaining accreditation has been to engage in practices that cause us to continually improve in all aspects of our work. Our faculty are dedicated, continue to improve in their craft, and continue to update curriculum to ensure that our programs are timely and relevant.”
The College of Business began as a Division of Business in 1946 and became a College of Business when Arkansas State College was granted university status in 1967. The College received initial AACSB Accreditation of bachelor programs in 1979 and accreditation of the MBA program in 1985. The College of Business enrolls more than 1,500 students in eight bachelor degrees, Master of Business (MBA) and Master of Accounting (MAcc) programs. The college’s 50 full-time faculty continue to offer new and innovative programs including a newly developed online MBA, a recently revised Master of Accountancy, a respected international business degree and newly developed sustainability emphasis within the business administration degree. The Delta Center for Economic Development, the outreach arm of the College of Business, links the college to other innovative programs across the campus and serves communities throughout all of Arkansas.
“It takes a great deal of self-evaluation and determination to earn and maintain AACSB Accreditation,” said Jerry Trapnell, vice president and chief accreditation officer of AACSB International. “Schools not only must meet specific standards of excellence, but their deans, faculty and staff must make a commitment to ongoing improvement to ensure continued delivery of high-quality education to students.”
To learn more about the Arkansas State University College of Business visit www.astate.edu/business or to learn more about AACSB Accreditation, visit: www.aacsb.edu/accreditation.
About AACSB International
AACSB International (The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business), founded in 1916, is an association of almost 1,200 educational institutions, businesses and other organizations in 78 countries. AACSB’s mission is to advance quality management education worldwide through accreditation, thought leadership, and value-added services. AACSB Accreditation is the benchmark of quality worldwide and most widely sought after by business schools—less than five percent worldwide have earned the achievement. As the premier accreditation body for institutions offering bachelors, masters, and doctorate degrees in business and accounting, the association also conducts a wide array of conferences and seminar programs at locations throughout the world. AACSB's global headquarters is located in Tampa, Florida, USA and its Asia Pacific Headquarters is located in Singapore. For more information, please visit: www.aacsb.edu.
