A rendering of expansion and renovation plans for the new Purdue School of Business. (Illustration by Ayers Saint Gross)
Out with the Krannert School of Management. In with the Purdue School of Business.
Purdue University has announced it will change the name of its business school in what it describes as a decade-long effort to “reimagine its current School of Management into a new School of Business,” according to a statement from the university.
The reimagining will include substantial university investment along with a major fundraising effort. The first phase is targeted for Fall 2023 with plans to grow student enrollment, add faculty, and expand curricular and experiential education, the university says. Purdue also plans to double the size of its business school facility.
David Hummels
A goal of the transition, which begins with the name change, is to further integrate business degrees with other disciplines, such as science and liberal art,” David Hummels, dean of the Krannert School of Management, tells Inside INdiana Business.
“The combination of those things is really potent in terms of the ability of individuals to go on to lead or found great technology companies,” Hummels says.
“From a curricular perspective, we are dramatically expanding degrees that really sit at the intersection of the STEM disciplines and business because we think that’s what the market needs, and that is historically the kind of preparation that has led our graduates to go on to be CEOs or company founders.”
WHAT’S IN A NAME
Purdue’s business programming has carried the Krannert name since 1962 when Herman and Ellnora Krannert gifted a $2.7 million endowment to the university. It was previously named the Krannert Graduate School of Industrial Administration, but dropped “industrial administration” in the 1970s. Last fall, Fast Company named Purdue University one of its Brands That Matter for 2021, putting it alongside such household names as Ford, McDonald’s, and Nike. It was the only university to make the list.
The university release says the reimagined business program will “initially” be known as the Purdue School of Business, which seems to leave open the possibility that it will eventually be renamed as fundraising efforts advance.
BUSINESS ENROLLMENT IS GROWING
Purdue University’s Krannert School of Management
Krannert’s undergraduate program ranked 45th in our latest ranking of undergrad business schools. At the graduate level, it offers several specialized master’s degrees including in business analytics, accounting, finance, supply chain and others. It also offers a dual master’s in engineering/MBA degree, as well as executive, online, and weekend MBAs.
The release notes that enrollments at the business school have grown 33% since 2019, even as college enrollment rates have declined across the country. To capitalize on that momentum, the university plans to further expand both its student population and faculty, and it will double the size of its facility through expansion and renovation.
It also plans to revamp its curriculum and degree programs, leveraging Purdue’s expertise in other disciplines as well as its track record in graduating STEM majors. In its most recent class, 71% of graduates earned STEM degrees.
In Fall 2021, it launched its undergraduate Integrated Business and Engineering (IBE) program with Purdue’s College of Engineering, giving students a truly integrated hybrid degree that incorporates basic engineering, basic management and project courses that emphasize real-world application and teamwork collaboration.
“The advances of science across almost all economic sectors have created the need for business leaders who can understand not only the data in front of them, but where the next breakthrough may come from. Students who master the skills of gathering big data and using it to drive business decisions become the most valuable working professionals of today and tomorrow,” the release says. “Graduates from Purdue’s new School of Business will be uniquely positioned to bring discoveries to the marketplace, scale up innovations and effect societal change.”
Poets&Quants has reached out to dean Hummels and will continue to follow this story.
Read Purdue’s full press release here.
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