Gies College of Business

Business school of the University of Illinois (Urbana Champaign)

Gies College of Business is the business school of the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, a public research university in Champaign, Illinois. The college offers undergraduate program, masters programs, and a PhD program. The college and its Department of Accountancy are separately accredited by AACSB (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business) International. As of 2021, there are more than 70,000 Gies Business alumni worldwide, including several Fulbright scholars.

The university senate approved the College of Commerce and Business Administration on June 9, 1914 at the request of David Kinley, a university vice president who would later serve as president of the University of Illinois. The college was officially formed on April 27, 1915 through a vote of the University of Illinois Board of Trustees. The college began with three departments: Economics, Business Organization and Operation, and Transportation. Since 2015, Gies College of Business has partnered with Coursera to offer online MBA (iMBA) program, with additional options for online graduate certificates, an online MSM (iMSM), and an online MSA (iMSA). The school started with 113 students in the beginning for the online programs and later grew to more than 3,200 degree seeking students from 46 states in United States and more than 90 countries in the world. The selectivity and acceptance rate to the program initially was 20.9% and is currently at 53%. In 2019, the school announced that it was suspending its on campus full time MBA, part time MBA, and executive MBA.

In 2017, alumni Larry and Beth Gies donated US$150M to the school, which was renamed the Gies College of Business in their honor. In 2020, alumnus Don Edwards donated US$10 million and the business school also further received a pledge in 2020 for $2.5 million for construction of shared instructional facility.

Gies College of Business is located in Champaign, Illinois. The campus is located around the intersection of Gregory Street and Sixth Street. This is the current home of Gies College of Business. When the college was first formed, however, it occupied the Commerce Building, now the East half of the Administration Building on the Main Quad. Albert H. and Jane Wohlers provided a $6 million naming gift in 2000 for renovations. The Business Instructional Facility (commonly referred to as "BIF"), approved by the UI Board of Trustees on July 14, 2004, stands opposite of Wohlers Hall across Sixth Street. The $62 million project, designed by architect Cesar Pelli, is LEED certified because of its "green", environmentally friendly elements.

Gies College of Business houses three departments: Accountancy, Business Administration, and Finance.

The Department of Accountancy was founded in 1953. The University offered courses in accounting before the creation of the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign College of Business. The courses in the university were offered through the Department of Economics from 1902 to 1915. The college began the first PhD program in 1937 and has graduated more accountancy PhD candidates than any other accountancy department in the United States. Degree programs are flexible with completion time ranging from 24 60 months. Courses are 4 8 weeks long and students may register for 1 4 courses per 16 week semester; if approved, students can take additional courses each semester and complete the iMBA in as little as 15 months. Students can select from 5 focus areas and 18+ electives. Core specializations include Strategic Leadership and Management, Managerial Economics and Business Analysis, Value Chain Management, and Financial Management. Focus area specializations include Digital Marketing, Entrepreneurship and Strategic Innovation, Global Challenges in Business, Business Analytics, and Mergers and Acquisitions.

In 1957, the UI Board of Trustees approved the Dean's proposal to create a Department of Finance.

The University of Illinois Deloitte Foundation Center for Business Analytics was established on October 25, 2016 by Deloitte Foundation thanks to a $5 million gift from the Deloitte Foundation and Deloitte's retired and current partners, principals, managing directors and employees.

The Illinois MakerLab is the world's first business school 3D printing lab located on the third floor of the Business Instructional Facility. After opening in spring of 2013, the MakerLab has provided printing, custom designing and prototyping, educational, and other related services for both the Urbana Champaign and University of Illinois community. The lab is equipped with over 20 Ultimaker 3D printers and is run by undergraduate and graduate students. The lab was co founded by Aric Rindfleisch and Vishal Sachdev.

The Origin Ventures Academy for Entrepreneurial Leadership, established in 2004, is responsible for cross campus and multidisciplinary programs for entrepreneurial students from all backgrounds including the award winning iVenture Accelerator and Illinois Social Innovation.

In 2019, Public Accounting Report’s Annual Professors Survey has ranked the college under top 3 for undergraduate, graduate, and Ph. D. accounting programs.

Gies College of Business has many notable alumni. Alumni are denoted by their area of study: accountancy (ACCY), business administration (BADM), finance (FIN), or general/unassigned (GEN) or MBA.