College of Business turns 100
Lacey Klotz |
What started in 1917 with two business course offerings: shorthand and bookkeeping, this year reaches a significant milestone as Lipscomb’s College of Business celebrates its 100th anniversary as well as a century of growth, success and impact on the lives of thousands of business professionals.
Through visionary leadership, innovative program offerings and a commitment to the Christian faith, the nationally accredited college has grown from two programs to 16 undergraduate and four graduate programs, touting a 95 percent overall job placement rate for 2016 and thousands of alumni.
This growth and development has also led to national recognition in recent years. Under the leadership of its current dean Ray Eldridge, the college has been named the No. 1 Undergraduate Business Program in Tennessee and the No. 2 part-time MBA program in Tennessee in 2016 by Bloomberg Business Week, as well as the No. 1 Accounting program in Tennessee and No. 2 in the nation in 2017 by Christian Universities Online.
“Throughout the past 100 years, we haven’t lost that spirit of being innovative, engaging and making an impact on our students that was first established at the Nashville Bible College in 1917,” said Eldridge. “And although it’s extremely difficult to quantify the impact the College of Business has made throughout the past century, we do have alumni all over the world who are leading businesses and living out God’s plan, and to think about every person they impact daily, well that’s pretty profound.
“Lipscomb’s College of Business has always had a good reputation and has graduates have always been sought after. We know that in today’s competitive worlds, you can’t just live on your reputation; therefore, we’ve made a deliberate effort to demonstrate that quality. That is evident in our achieving national accreditations and recent national rankings, quality faculty hires and innovative programming.”
“We want to continue to be the leader in Christian business education, and I am extremely grateful for the solid foundation of faith, integrity and excellence that this college was built on by past leaders,” said Eldridge.
In 1947, the late Axel Swang arrived on campus as a $200-a-month accounting instructor intending to stay only one year. Under Swang’s visionary leadership, Lipscomb began its international business fraternity, Alpha Kappa Psi in 1956, and in 1984, a group of Swang’s former students helped raise more than $2 million to construct a building to house the growing business department. In the fall of 1984, the Axel Swang Center for Business Administration opened and has since housed the college.
“He laid a foundation—brick by brick—upon which our business program today has been built,” said President L. Randolph Lowry, in reference to Swang and his death in 2013. “It rightfully carries his name and furthers his faithful spirit. Dr. Swang set the standard for Lipscomb reaching into the Nashville community with competent, ethical and moral graduates. His influence will continue to impact business students and the Nashville business community for generations to come.”
In 1992, after nearly 45 years, Swang retired and left behind an accounting program with one of the best reputations in the region.
One year before retiring as chair of the department, Lipscomb’s then Department of Business began what is known as Healing Hands, a Christian relief organization that serves marginalized communities through water and food development, disaster relief and medical and educational programs.
“The college’s work with Healing Hands in 1991 was really our first foundation of our current Business as Mission program,” said Eldridge.
“In 2015, we hired Rob Touchstone, who co-founded the Well Coffeehouse in Nashville to be our director of Business as Mission and help our students to unite business and mission work together. Oftentimes business is seen as a negative social force, and we see it as a force of good. Similar to how David led with integrity of his heart and the skills of his hands in Psalm 78:72, we want our students to unite their passion and business skillset with integrity to ultimately do good for others.”
In 1999, the College of Business added its MBA program, and over a decade later, the accounting program was the fourth in the nation to receive its ACBSP’s accreditation specialization.
In 2014, Eldridge accepted a position as interim dean of the college, and after two years was named dean of the college in February 2016. Under his leadership and an outstanding team, the college has united with its mission and made many important accomplishments besides first ever national rankings, completing a business accreditation review with no conditions noted; launching a bold business-as-mission program, adding a telepresence center that adds a high-touch and high tech learning environment; hold business chapel series that reflect the values and virtues of Jesus, the raising significant funds for various initiatives, creating a student professional development center, transformation of the faculty, increased alumni engagement and developing a unique Master of Management and undergraduate Aspire program that includes an immersive, work experience students.
This year, the college added a new cutting edge Financial Markets Lab, has renovated Swang and has launched the CHARGE!FORWARD crowd-funding campaign as it looks to the next 100 years.
The campaign was led by a group of COB alumni, who invited other college alumni to donate $100 in honor of the centennial year of the College of Business.
Alumni are invited to attend the college’s "opening bell" ceremony for the new Financial Markets Lab on Friday, Nov. 10, and tours of the lab are available from 4-6 p.m. This event is in conjunction with Lipscomb’s Homecoming 2017 and will feature both the bell ceremony and a reception.
On Monday, Dec. 4, Lipscomb’s College of Business will officially celebrate its 100th anniversary at the Battle of the Boulevard game. A reception will be held before the game for alumni and an official recognition of the milestone will take place during halftime. For more information, please contact Beth Mangrum at beth.mangrum [at] lipscomb.edu.
“One hundred years is a significant milestone, and for the past century the college has helped develop leaders who embrace the values and virtues of Jesus,” said Eldridge. “It is exciting to know the profound impacts this college is having, and I am looking forward to seeing how it continues to make a difference.”