UNC Kenan–Flagler Business School
The UNC Kenan–Flagler Business School is an internationally accredited professional undergraduate and graduate level global business school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Founded in 1919, the school was renamed in 1991 to honor the two American industrialist families.
The school offers a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, Master of Business Administration, MBA for Executives, Master of Accounting, Ph.D., a business certificate program, as well as many executive education programs. It is accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business.
History
Established in 1919 as the Department of Commerce of UNC Chapel Hill's College of Arts, the school was renamed the UNC Kenan–Flagler Business School in 1991 to honor two American business families and benefactors of the school: philanthropist Mary Lily Kenan Flagler and her husband, Henry Morrison Flagler. The renaming was in recognition of a generous gift from Frank Hawkins Kenan, another Kenan family member and benefactor of the School's Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise.In 1997, the McColl Building opened at Kenan-Flagler to complete today's campus. With 191,000 square feet, the McColl Building has more than tripled the space that the school occupied at Carroll Hall.
The Kenan and Flagler Families
Mary Lily's brother, William R. Kenan, Jr., discovered acetylene gas, which led to the creation of Union Carbide. Her husband, Henry Morrison Flagler, co-founded the Standard Oil Co. with John D. Rockefeller and is responsible for the development of Florida's eastern coast. Prior to his arrival in Florida, the state was virtually inaccessible except by ship. Flagler founded what eventually became known as the Flagler System Companies made up of railroad, shipping, real estate, and hotel development and utility companies. The system's flagship was the Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach.In the 1790s, Mary Lily's great-great-grandfather, James Kenan, served on UNC's first board of trustees and contributed to the construction of Old East, the oldest public university building in the United States. Mary Lily's maternal great-great-grandfather, Christopher Barbee, donated more than of his Orange County farm to the University, then about one-fifth of the campus.
Gifts to the University by the Kenan family total some $50 million to date and include such buildings as Kenan Stadium and the Kenan Center. The William R. Kenan Jr. Charitable Trust contributed $10 million to the Bicentennial Campaign for UNC to be used for the Kenan–Flagler Business School's new state-of-the-art building, $10 million for the Paul J. Rizzo Conference Center at Meadowmont, and $1 million for the Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology Venturing.
Rankings
MBA Full-time Program Rankings- US News and World Report
- *7th in undergraduate business
- The Vault's Ranking of Best MBA programs
- *16th in the United States
- Beyond Grey Pinstripes
- *7th in the United States
- PrivateEquityBlogger.com
- * 5th of the best business schools for private equity
- Princeton Review and Entrepreneur
- *11th for graduate programs in entrepreneurship
- The Wall Street Journal ranked the Weekend Program: 10
- Bloomberg BusinessWeek for the Weekend Program: 11
- Financial Times ranked OneMBA 29th in 2016
- The U.S. News & World Report ranked the MBA@UNC Online Program #1 in 2015
- Public of Accounting Report: 7
- Financial Times: 9 for custom programs:
- Bloomberg BusinessWeek: 14 for executive education:
Program and Curriculum
- Case-study method
- Interactive lecture
- Small group activities
- Live simulation
- Real-world business partnerships
Online MBA
MBA@UNC started in 2012 and includes concentrations in Data-Analytics and Decision Making, Entrepreneurship, Finance, Marketing and Strategy and Consulting. MBA@UNC has been ranked a top online MBA program by numerous publications. The curriculum lays a broad business foundation with an emphasis on strategic leadership.Diversity at Kenan-Flagler
UNC MBA students represent an array of races, gender, geography, cultures and lifestyles. They enroll with a broad range of functional and industry experience and pursue careers across a wide spectrum of opportunity.UNC Kenan-Flagler participates in many organizations and events to recruit minority and female students.
These efforts include membership to:
- Consortium for Graduate Study in Management
- Management Leadership for Tomorrow
- Forté Foundation
- Inside Kenan-Flagler
- Minority-themed online chats and discussion groups
- Minority-themed CRM email campaign
- National Black MBA Association
- National Society of Hispanic MBAs
- Collaboration with UNC Kenan-Flagler student organizations
- Sponsor of Forté Career Lab for undergraduate women
People
Faculty
- Robert S. Adler, Consumer Advocate
- Howard Aldrich, Sociologist
- Richard A. Bettis
- Paolo Fulghieri, Financial Economist
- Rajdeep Grewal
- James H. Johnson Jr.
- Arne L. Kalleberg, Sociologist
- Jan-Benedict Steenkamp, expert on global marketing
- Valarie Zeithaml, Services marketing pioneer; developer of SERVQUAL
Alumni
- Gary Parr, Deputy Chairman, Lazard Frères & Co.
- Hugh McColl Jr., Former Chairman and CEO, Bank of America Corporation
- Julian Robertson, Chairman, Tiger Management
- Erskine Bowles, former president, University of North Carolina System; former White House Chief of Staff; former head of Small Business Administration; former United Nations deputy envoy for tsunami relief
- John A. Allison IV, Chairman and Former CEO of BB&T and current Director of Moelis & Company
- Mercer Reynolds: Businessman, finance chair of George W. Bush's Presidential campaign.
- David N. Senty, U.S. Air Force Major General
- G. Smedes York, MBA 1968, 33rd Mayor of Raleigh 1979-1983, Chairman of York Properties, Inc.
- Jason Kilar, Co-founder and former CEO, Hulu
- Lee Ainslie, MBA, Founder and CEO of Maverick Capital
- Hubert C. Hegtvedt, U.S. Air Force Major General
- Michele Buck, MBA '87, CEO of The Hershey Company