Isenberg School of Management


The Isenberg School of Management is the business school at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, the flagship campus for the University of Massachusetts system, located in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. The Isenberg School is accredited by the AACSB International and ACPHA.
The school offers seven undergraduate majors along with MS, MBA and Ph.D. programs. As of the 2014-2015 academic year, there were approximately 3500 undergraduate students and 1300 graduate students enrolled in the Isenberg School of Management. Isenberg students have wide access to campus resources including over 30 student organizations in the Isenberg School itself, and many more across campus. The school also has a dedicated Chase Career Center, a career and professional development resource tailored especially for the needs of business students.
Currently, the Isenberg School has nearly 44,000 alumni in 72 countries, many of whom are involved in the school in a variety of ways.

History

Business courses were first offered at the Massachusetts Agricultural College in the early years of the 20th century, expanding rapidly during the 1930s and 1940s in response to student demand. The college's board of trustees established the School of Business Administration in 1947, and within seven years, it was conferring graduate degrees, including doctorates after 1967. The school was accredited at the undergraduate level by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business in May 1958, and in March 1959, the board of trustees authorized the establishment of four academic departments within the school: Accounting, General Business and Finance, Management, and Marketing. In September 1967, a program leading to the degree of PhD in Business Administration was introduced.
In 1964, the school moved to its current building in the heart of the UMass Amherst campus. In 1983, the School of Business Administration changed its name to School of Management. In 1998 the Isenberg School of Management was named after Eugene Isenberg, the chairman and CEO of Nabors Industries, which at the time was a world leader in gas and petroleum drilling. Isenberg's gift was the largest contribution from an individual in UMass Amherst's history, and facilitated the school's campaign to build its 42,000-square-foot Harold Alfond Management Center addition, and established several endowed chairs for the campus.

Modern expansion

The business school completed and opened a 70,000-square-foot expansion in 2019. The project was estimated at $62 million and added classrooms, labs, and student-facing spaces. The expansion was built by Boston-based architects Goody Clancy and Bjarke Ingels Group of New York and Denmark.

Rankings

Graduate level

At the MBA level, in 2020 U.S. News and World Report ranked Isenberg 53rd overall, and ranked its online MBA program 28th. Financial Times has ranked its online MBA program at 3rd worldwide for the years 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020.

Individual departments

In 2019, Public Accounting Report’s Annual Professors Survey has ranked the college under top 30 for undergraduate, graduate, and Ph.D. accounting programs.
The McCormack Department of Sport Management has been ranked #1 graduate-level sports management program in the world for 2019 by SportBusiness International. In 2014 Forbes called the sports management department "a world-wide leader in its field". The school's Hospitality & Tourism Management Department was ranked #32 in the world in 2020 by CEOWORLD magazine.

Academics

Undergraduate programs

Isenberg offers full-time, part-time and online programs for its AACSB-accredited MBA degree. The school has the second largest MBA degree program in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts by total enrolled students.
The full-time MBA is a two-year residency program at the UMass Amherst flagship campus. The first-year curriculum focuses on core business disciplines with thematic strength in business analytics, organizational problem solving, and change management; the second year includes consulting/practicum projects, as well as elective courses that allow students to build a focus in areas such as Finance, Marketing, Healthcare Administration, Sport Management, or Entrepreneurship.
Isenberg also offers Dual MBA/MS degrees in six disciplines: Public Policy and Administration, Sport Management, Civil Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Industrial Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering. The part-time MBA can be taken in face to face satellite locations in Boston, Shrewsbury or Springfield, as well as fully online. The master's degree in Healthcare Administration is partnered with American Association for Physician Leadership.
Isenberg also awards M.S. degrees in Accounting and Sport Management.

Isenberg Fellows Residential Academic Program (RAP)

The Isenberg Fellows RAP is divided into two different groups. Students of the Business in Society Fellows will explore how businesses operate in and impact a community. It will highlight the social responsibilities that businesses have, including ethics and community service. The other group is called the Diversity & International Business Fellows, and these students will learn about the global and diversity issues that businesses are facing today.

Isenberg Honors Residential Academic Program (RAP)

The Isenberg Honors RAP has similar features and benefits to the Fellows RAP, but is specifically geared toward students who are both a member of the Isenberg School of Management and also the Commonwealth Honors College. Students will live together with other members of the RAP and also take a year-long seminar led by the Isenberg School of Management Undergraduate Dean.

Research

Researchers at the business school are leading a three-year project that is creating infrastructure and logistics planning models for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Research centers

The Isenberg School of Management hosts numerous research centers including;
Students have over 30 organizations to choose from at the Isenberg School. Each student organization is paired with a faculty advisor and receives support from the entire Isenberg School community.
The Berthiaume Center for Entrepreneurship, endowed in 2014 by Douglas and Diana Berthiaume as part of a $10 million gift, plays a central role in promoting entrepreneurship and innovation across the UMass Amherst campus and throughout the region and state. Headquartered in the Isenberg School of Management, the center serves as a hub of a cross-campus network of scholars, innovators, and entrepreneurs, with a three-fold mission of supporting research, education, and practice, all targeted at facilitating the transformation of ideas into business realities.

Notable alumni, faculty, and staff

Notable alumni

Business and sports

Current Endowed Professors and Chairs