Kellogg School of Management - History

History

The school, originally founded in 1908 as Northwestern University's School of Commerce, a part-time evening program, was one of 16 founding members of the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, the organization that sets accreditation standards for business schools. As one of the organization's original members, the school later played a major role in helping to establish the Graduate Management Admission Test. In addition, faculty associated with the school have made contributions to fields such as marketing and decisions sciences. For instance, Walter Dill Scott, a pioneer in applied psychology, helped establish some of the earliest advertising and marketing courses in the first decade of the twentieth century. He went on to serve as president of Northwestern University from 1920-1939. More recently, Philip Kotler and Sidney J. Levy's groundbreaking 1969 Journal of Marketing article, "Broadening the Conception of Marketing," laid the foundations for a greatly expanded understanding of marketing. Similarly, Kotler's Marketing Management text has played a key role in deepening the field's scholarship.

In 1919, Ralph E. Heilman, a Northwestern graduate with a doctorate from Harvard, was appointed dean of the school. And in the next year, the school launched a graduate program leading toward the Master of Business Administration degree, drawing nearly 400 students in its first two years.

In 1951, Kellogg began offering executive education courses. The Institute for Management, a four-week summer program based in Evanston, expanded the following year to two sections. The program's success eventually led to it being expanded in Europe in 1965 with a similar program offered in Bürgenstock, Switzerland. In 1976, the school expanded its executive education offerings in Evanston, introducing a degree-granting program known as the Executive Management Program (EMP, today known as the Executive MBA Program). A watershed event in the school's history was the opening of the James L. Allen Center, home of the Kellogg executive education programs. The vision of dean Donald P. Jacobs (deanship 1975-2001; on faculty in Finance Department since 1957), the Allen Center enlisted the help of significant business figures in the Chicago-area, most notably James L. Allen, a Kellogg alumnus and cofounder of consultancy Booz Allen Hamilton. The Allen Center's cornerstone was laid in 1978 while the facility officially opened Oct. 31, 1979.

In 1956, the school was renamed as the School of Business; little more than a decade later, in 1969, the school once again changed its name, this time to the Graduate School of Management, a designation that reflected the demand among the business community for sophisticated managers trained in both analytical and behavioral skills. In addition, this training was oriented toward general management, rather than narrowly functional skills, as had largely been the case in many business schools for much of the 20th century. The training was designed to provide management skills suitable for leadership roles whether in the corporate, public, or nonprofit sectors - rather than careers focused solely on traditional business. To reflect this change, the school in 1969 stopped issuing the MBA credential in favor of the MM, or master of management degree. A point of differentiation for nearly three decades, the school more recently returned to the traditional MBA.

These dramatic changes were predicated upon a key change under Dean John Barr (1965–1975): In 1966, Northwestern elected to discontinue its highly respected undergraduate program (the School of Business) so as to focus its energies solely on graduate education. In so doing, the school decided to pursue a research-based faculty, quickly attracting a number of world-class quantitative experts, many in the field of game theory, to build the school's Managerial Economics and Decision Sciences Department, founded in 1967 and initially led by Professor Stanley Reiter.

In 1979, in honor of a $10 million gift made to the school on behalf of John L. Kellogg, the school was renamed as the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management. The funds allowed the school to significantly expand its research and teaching mission by establishing three endowed professorships; two major centers of interdisciplinary research; four research professorships; and a large student rooming facility designed as a living-learning center. Even prior to the Kellogg gift, the school had been bolstering its research-based faculty: In 1978 alone the school added six additional "named" professorships and two new research professorships. In 2001, in an effort to solidify the school's brand, the name was shortened to the Kellogg School of Management." The story on the Kellogg Centennial site highlights the Kellogg School’s journey over the last 100 years.

In June 2009, Kellogg announced that Dipak C. Jain would step down as dean after eight years of leadership and return to teaching . On September 1, 2009, Sunil Chopra, former Senior Associate Dean:Curriculum and Teaching and IBM Distinguished Professor of Operations Management, assumed as interim dean while the Dean Search Committee worked to find the best candidate to lead the school. Later in 2009, Northwestern University announced plans to construct a new building at the northeast corner of its Evanston campus to serve as Kellogg's new home. The new facility will be located adjacent to Lake Michigan and will include classrooms, faculty offices, collaborative learning spaces and administrative offices. As of the announcement date, the timing for completion of the new facility had not yet been determined.

In March 2010, Kellogg announced that Sally Blount would replace Sunil Chopra as the dean, starting in July. Blount was the dean of the undergraduate college and vice dean of the Stern School of Business at New York University. In addition to launching ambitious marketing and capital campaigns in 2011, including the Think Bravely campaign . This campaign articulates what the school stands for in today's rapidly changing environment. It communicates Kellogg's values and relevance in the 21st century. It speaks to Kellogg's purpose — to educate, equip and inspire leaders who build strong organizations and leverage the power of markets for the betterment of all. On February 6, 2012 Blount unveiled a seven-year plan, Envision Kellogg, aimed at reformatting the business school and launching Kellogg to the top of global rankings.