Accreditation & Excellence

 

 

The College of Business is one of 550 schools in the United States that have achieved accreditation by the AACSB International -The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business for its undergraduate and graduate programs in business. The College is one of only 171 schools to have achieved additional accreditation for their accounting programs.

Accreditation assures quality and promotes excellence and continuous improvement in undergraduate and graduate education for business administration and accounting. AACSB International accreditation represents the highest standard of achievement for business schools worldwide.

Excellence

  • Illinois State placed 75th in the 2007 BusinessWeek magazine rankings of the best undergraduate business schools in the nation. Illinois State was 41st among public universities.
  • Illinois State University 's College of Business is one of the nation's best choices for earning an MBA, according to the 2008 edition of Best 290 Business Schools, published by Princeton Review.

High Tech Learning Environment

  • A new 118,000 square foot College of Business Building opened in January 2005. The facility is unlike any other in the nation -- large, professional, and technologically sophisticated. The design of the building blends the small college campus environment with a corporate presence and state-of-the-art technologies.
  • The facility is one of the best in the country and was built with student interaction, faculty, and technology as priorities.
  • This $28 million facility is enabling the College of Business to expand and continue to improve upon its student-centered mission.

Successful Business Alumni

  • The College of Business has built its reputation on its ability to prepare students who can hit the ground running when they graduate. Traditionally, 96 percent of alumni are positive or strongly positive about their experiences as business students at Illinois State University.
  • Alumni salaries and time from degree to employment are competitive with national averages. Ninety-four percent of alumni surveyed indicate that their jobs are related or closely related to their undergraduate business majors. New College of Business alumni surveyed in May 2007 showed 71 percent with salaries between $30,000 and $50,000 and 21.4 percent are over $50,000.
  • More than 75 percent of our over 29,000 living alumni work in the Midwest, but are represented in all 50 states and abroad.
  • A degree from Illinois State's College of Business provides you with a solid foundation for future success!

Business Centers

Katie School of Insurance and Financial Services

  • Established in 1991, the Katie School of Insurance and Financial Services provides unique programs and educational services for the insurance industry, insurance educators, and insurance consumers through seminars, instruction, research services, student scholarships, and internships.
  • The Katie School offers a premier undergraduate program in Insurance and Risk Management and is the largest program in the nation.

Professional Sales Institute

  • Established in 2002, the Professional Sales Institute is an industry source for research and education. Industry professionals and university peers rank the Institute as one of the top five sales programs in the country and one of only 10 that is professionally accredited by the Professional Society for Sales and Marketing Training.
  • The Institute represents a unique partnership between the business sector and higher education and is recognized as a premier resource for university students and sales professionals in the nation.

Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies

  • Established in 1997, the Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies provides learning opportunities for students including the Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management major and outreach service to the community.
  • The program provides business students an opportunity to apply their curricular knowledge to real world situations. Each small business participating in ISU's Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies program is assigned to a student team. Teams and clients schedule meetings at mutually agreeable times to plan their activities and to discuss completed research and recommendations.

Illinois Small Business Development Center at Illinois State

  • The Illinois SBDC at Illinois State was established in March 2005 to help entrepreneurs start a new business or expand and improve an existing business. The SBDC offers one-on-one confidential counseling for all phases of business activities. The Illinois SBDC serves the on-going needs of 23 percent more clients than the state average.

Programs

Accountancy

  • The Accounting Department has a national reputation for the number and success of students sitting for the CPA exam.
  • In 2002, the Department of Accounting at Illinois State had the 2nd highest pass rate in the country. In 2003, the pass rate for Illinois State students was 66.7 percent and the national average was 17.6 percent.
  • Over the years, Illinois State has had 32 Elijah Watt Sells Award Winners; one National Gold Medal Winner, five State Gold Medal Winners, five Silver Medal Winners, one Bronze Medal Winner, and nine Excel Award Winners.
  • An accounting alum received the second highest CPA exam score in the State of Illinois for the 2005 exam.

Business Teacher Education

  • Illinois State has one of the largest business teacher education programs in the State of Illinois and is the only program that prepares students to teach business subjects at both the secondary and elementary levels. The program is housed in the College of Business and students receive an excellent preparation in both technology and business.

Finance

  • The Educational Investment Fund is one of the oldest programs nationwide that provides finance students with the opportunity to manage a real investment portfolio of stocks and securities. The portfolio is currently valued at $400,000.
  • The Financial Markets Lab in the College of Business Building supports the EIF program. The room is equipped with state-of-the-art technology and the latest in financial software, including a Bloomberg financial analysis computer with access to real-time financial markets information.
  • Since 2000, the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Level 1 exam pass rate has been 73 percent for students who have participated in the College's CFA scholarship program. The national pass rate is 50%.

Insurance

  • The Katie School of Insurance and Financial Services offers a premier insurance program through industry involvement, innovative teaching, cutting-edge applied research, and student-centered learning.
  • The first endowed chair in Insurance and Risk Management was established in 2002 - The Edmondson/Miller Endowed Chair in Insurance and Risk Management.
  • The insurance program is one of the largest in the nation and has established itself as a top producer of talent to the insurance industry.

International Business

  • Illinois State University is the only public university in Illinois offering an international business major.
  • The international business major provides a strong combination of international education, experience, global contacts, and career opportunities.
  • Students can gain international experience through the summer study abroad programs sponsored by the College in Europe, Latin America, Asia and Canada. The Office of International Studies and Programs offers study-abroad programs in 16 countries and National Student Exchange opportunities in 48 of the 50 states plus Guam, Puerto Rico, Washington, D.C., and Canada.

Management & Quantitative Methods

  • The Illinois State chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management earned its sixth consecutive superior merit award in 2007.
  • A team of human resource students competed in spring 2006 with 28 collegiate teams in the North Central Human Resource Competition and finished in 7th place, just seven points behind the 3rd place team.
  • Entrepreneurship students compete annually in business plan competitions where they excel, earning cash awards.
  • Swinger's Grill in Bloomington was started by a group of students who won the ISU business plan competition.

MBA Program

  • Illinois State University 's College of Business is one of the nation's best choices for earning an MBA, according to the 2008 edition of Best 290 Business Schools, published by Princeton Review. This places the MBA program among the top 20% in the world.

Marketing

  • Industry professionals and university peers rank the Professional Sales Institute at Illinois State as having one of the top five sales programs in the country. The Institute advances the profession of personal selling and sales leadership by providing high-quality education, research, and consulting programs for students and business professionals.
  • Since its establishment in 2002, the Professional Sales Institute (PSI) has developed into one of the top programs in the world.
  • The ISU Chapter of the American Marketing Association earned regional chapter of the year honors in 2007 and has won the international chapter of the year award more times than any chapter in the world.
  • The Marketing Department hosts two career fairs each year in collaboration with the Career Center that focus on professional sales careers and integrated marketing communication.

University Highlights

  • The first public university in Illinois, Illinois State University was founded in 1857 as a Normal university to prepare the state's teachers. Illinois State is now a comprehensive university offering more than 160 major/minor options in six colleges; but that early emphasis on education continues to shape the University, in particular our values-based commitment to creating an optimal learning environment for all Illinois State students.
  • Illinois State University improved in several rating categories while retaining its third tier ranking for the sixth straight year according to U.S. News and World Report data. Illinois State made gains in acceptance rate, freshman retention rate, six-year graduation rate and percentage of faculty who are full-time.
  • Kiplinger’s Personal Finance ranks Illinois State University as one of 100 best values in public colleges. The University of Illinois was the only other state university to make the list in 2007.
  • A nationwide survey on student engagement (National Survey of Student Engagement - headquartered at Indiana University) - the amount of time and effort students put into their studies and how universities use their resources and curricula to increase student involvement - shows Illinois State University is at the national forefront in providing academic challenges for students.
  • Illinois State University was recognized for excellence in first-year education by being one of the "Founding Institutions" selected to participate in a national project known as the Foundations of Excellence in the First College Year Project.
  • Illinois State was selected as one of eight institutions to participate in a national American Democracy Project initiative, the Political Engagement Project. This initiative addresses the serious problem of political disengagement in young people.
  • Illinois State University is one of 12 universities nationwide chosen to take a leading role in advancing the scholarship of teaching and learning in American higher education. Illinois State was chosen as a Campus Cluster Leader by the American Association for Higher Education (AAHE) and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
  • Over 96 percent of Illinois State University undergraduate students are from Illinois; 48 percent of undergraduates are from Chicago area counties, while 25 percent are from McLean and surrounding central Illinois counties.