Rutgers Business School-Newark and New Brunswick (RBS) is an integral part of one of the nation's oldest, largest, and most distinguished institutions of higher learning: Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.

Founded in 1929, RBS has been accredited since 1941 by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business International (AACSB)--a distinction that represents the hallmark of excellence in management education. Today, RBS educates more than 4,500 undergraduate and graduate students at two main campuses in New Jersey as well as six satellite locations in New Jersey, China, and Singapore. RBS currently boasts a strong network of 30,000 living alumni.

1929 -  RBS was founded in Newark, NJ  as the Seth Boyden School of Business. It opened its doors at 40 Rector Street in space shared with the New Jersey Law School and Dana College (now Rutgers' School of Law-Newark and Faculty of Arts and Sciences-Newark, respectively). The school originally offered one degree--a bachelor of science in business administration.

1930s and '40s - In 1934, Seth Boyden School of Business became part of the newly formed University of Newark and was renamed the School of Business Administration. AACSB accreditation--the hallmark of excellence in management education--was granted in 1941, and in 1946 the school and the other University of Newark colleges became part of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.

1950s and '60s - RBS launched its master of business administration degree program in the fall of 1950, and a master's degree in public accounting--the first of its kind in the nation--in 1956. The graduate student population quickly exceeded the undergraduate, and in 1969, the school, in a move that mirrored a trend in business education at the time, decided to discontinue the undergraduate program and concentrate exclusively on graduate education. A new name, Graduate School of Management, reflected the change.

1970s - With its new focus, RBS continued to grow and innovate. From 1970 to 71, the Interfunctional Management program (now called Team Consulting), a master of business administration (M.B.A.) fieldwork course sequence in which teams of student consultants work on real problems for real companies, was another first for higher education in the United States. By the program's 30th anniversary in 2001, more than 1,500 projects had been completed for some 700 organizations. It has been widely imitated by other business schools.

While the Interfunctional Management program catered predominantly to large, established corporations, the school expanded its outreach to small companies and entrepreneurs with the establishment of the New Jersey Small Business Development Center (NJSBDC) in 1977. The center--a partnership between RBS, the U.S. Small Business Administration, and New Jersey Commerce, Economic Growth and Tourism Commission--is the result of an act of Congress (Public Law 96-302) that called for the creation of a pilot network of state-based small business development centers. Headquartered in Newark, the NJSBDC offers counseling and training to help small business owners finance, manage, and market their companies. Today it has 11 full-service regional centers and 27 affiliate offices statewide, serving all 21 of New Jersey 's counties.

In 1978, the Ph.D. program in management, administered by Rutgers and originally taught in conjunction with the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), was added to the curriculum. Modeled on the structure of a traditional Ph.D. program, with prescribed core courses, elective courses, preliminary exams, dissertation, and final defense, it is now one of the nation's largest doctoral programs in management.

1980s - In 1980, RBS launched an executive master of business administration (E.M.B.A.) program to enable middle-level managers earn a master's degree on a full-time basis while working full time. Meeting on alternating Fridays and Saturdays throughout the school year and for four "residency" weeks spread over 20 months, the carefully selected students study subjects at a higher level and more intensively than is possible in traditional M.B.A. courses. International executive M.B.A. programs in Asia followed a decade later. The international E.M.B.A. degree is currently offered in Beijing, China, as well as Singapore. While undergraduate degrees in the broad functional areas of businesses had been available on Rutgers' New Brunswick campus since 1934, Rutgers took the step toward having an official undergraduate program in New Brunswick in 1981 when it organized several departments into the School of Administrative Services under the Faculty of Professional Studies. In June 1984, the university's Board of Governors approved a reorganization of the School of Administrative Services into the School of Business-New Brunswick. The new school received final approval from the New Jersey Department of Higher Education in February 1986 and began operating on September 1 of that year. Its mission was "to provide a high quality, upper-division program of study for students wishing to pursue professional careers . . . (and to) prepare the student for imaginative and responsible citizenship and leadership roles in business and society."

1990s - In Newark, undergraduate business education had been offered since the 1960s not through a dedicated business school but through the Faculty of Arts and Sciences-Newark and University College-Newark. That changed in 1993 when the university's Board of Governors created the Rutgers-Newark School of Management, an upper-division school (four-year program for students entering fall 2000 and beyond) with a mission "to offer contemporary programs . . . to students who are broadly educated in the liberal arts, . . . to equip graduates to enter the workforce as skilled professionals, . . . and lead rich lives appreciative of their cultural heritage."

At the same time, the Board of Governors merged the Departments of Business Administration and Accounting and the faculty of the Graduate School of Management to form the Faculty of Management (FOM). FOM was initially given responsibility for management education on the undergraduate level in Newark and on the graduate level in Newark and New Brunswick. In 1995, the School of Business-New Brunswick was also put under the auspices of the Faculty of Management.

2000 to present - In the fall of 2001, the FOM label was officially dropped in favor of Rutgers Business School-Newark and New Brunswick, encompassing the undergraduate and graduate business programs offered on the Newark and New Brunswick campuses.

Today, Rutgers Business School has an international reputation for teaching and research excellence. The school is educating more than 4,500 undergraduate and graduate students per academic year--and growing--at two main campuses in New Jersey as well as six satellite locations in New Jersey, China, and Singapore.

Steeped in academic excellence, with a distinguished faculty and a corps of nearly 30,000 successful alumni, RBS is highly ranked by the Financial Times, U.S. News & World Report, BusinessWeek, and The Wall Street Journal. It is recognized as one of the top three business schools in the greater New York metropolitan area, and in 2008 was ranked #10 nationwide for "Most Competitive Students" by the Princeton Review.

Under the new leadership and vision of Dr. Michael R. Cooper, who joined RBS as dean in 2007, Rutgers Business School is poised to become widely recognized as a premier business school.

For additional information, visit www.business.rutgers.edu.