URI’s College of Business Administration has maintained national accreditation since 1972, making it the longest standing, continuously accredited business program in the state. In addition, the College’s accounting program, first accredited in 1993, maintained its status for its undergraduate and graduate programs. URI is the only Rhode Island institution to have its overall management program and accounting program accredited by the association. The business school at URI dates back to 1923.
Fewer than 15 percent of the institutions offering management education and fewer than 5 percent of the accounting programs in the United States have earned accreditation. The College of Business Administration will undergo its next evaluation in 2013.
“Re-accreditation affirms that URI provides all students, — undergraduate, masters and doctorate – with a high quality business education,” said Business Dean Mark Higgins, the Alfred J. Verrecchia-Hasbro Leadership Chair in Business. “It is a credit to the faculty and staff and their commitment to providing the best business education possible.”
In its congratulatory letter to Higgins, the association commended the College for the following:
• Its required freshmen acclimation course, URI101, which groups students by majors and is led by faculty members and senior or junior student mentors/instructors. “This innovation is an excellent mechanism to improve student retention and increase the connections between upper- and lower-division students,” the letter said. “The mentor program is universally lauded by students.”
• The annual review and promotion and tenure evaluation systems, which the association called highly transparent and very well received by faculty.
• The collegiality of the faculty, … “Faculty believe some of the key reasons for this include the leadership of the dean, the move to areas rather than departments, and an increase in junior faculty who bring a fresh view and perspective.”
Other strengths include the student career passport program, a course that helps juniors and seniors make the transition to employment and self-sufficiency, the joint master of business administration with the URI Graduate School of Oceanography and the College’s affiliation with the Institute of Chartered Financial Analyst.
In 2007, URI became just the 5th undergraduate finance program in the U.S to be named a Chartered Financial Analyst Program Partner by the CFA Institute.
Last summer, URI’s College of Business Administration earned Certification in Transportation and Logistics from the American Society of Transportation and Logistics. It was the first New England university – and just the 22nd U.S. university overall – to offer the certification to its students. At the time, URI and Michigan State University were the only schools certified by both organizations.
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