College of Business celebrates century mark

Centennial Open House exhibits past and present achievements of OSU College of Business

By: Tara Pistorese

Posted: 1/17/08

"There is a business side to every occupation," said the original dean of OSU's College of Business, Dean John Andrew Bexell, in 1908. These were the words on which the college was founded.

One hundred years later, a celebration was held honoring the same idea as well as a number of changes that have been made in the last century in order to create the College of Business that Oregon State University recognizes today.

In the same vein of the founding words above, the college created a minor that can be added to any degree program at OSU. This development came after 1981.

Programs have been added, as well as internships, new minor options and the largest international exchange program across the Oregon University System.

OSU's College of Business Centennial Open House was held Wednesday in Bexell Hall.

The college now boasts 2,600 students. At its founding, it had only 105 students. A record was set in 1981 with 3,000 students.

The event was organized by the Director of Communications and Marketing Thuy Tran in an effort to do what Dean Ilene Kleinsorge called "blurring the lines between OSU and the business community… we are all in this together."

"We like to think of the centennial as demarcation of transformation and rebuilding," Kleinsorge said.

The event was held in hopes of reaching out to the local business community to show what OSU's College of Business has to offer, not only to students but to current business owners as well.

"If you can't reach out locally, why do you think you can change the world?" Kleinsorge said.

Offering workshops through programs creates an opportunity for further training to those who may already be entrepreneurs and/or small business owners but have a desire to learn more.

The Austin Small Business Program is one of the five oldest university-based family business programs in the world and is what Tran called a "legacy of delivering business education."

Other prominent programs offered through OSU's College of Business include the "Close to the Customer" project, which is a program in market

research designed to provide experimental learning.

"Part of our transformation is that we too are being entrepreneurial," Kleinsorge said.

Another highly successful program is the Austin Entrepreneurship Program which was formed through a generous donation from Ken and Joan Austin in 2002. The program offers one of the nation's first residential colleges devoted exclusively to entrepreneurship.

OSU's College of Business has made a strategic decision that each graduate will understand the entrepreneurial process; this idea is inclusive of innovating a mature company as well as a new business.

The college was also recognized on the "Beyond the Grey Pinstripes" 2007-2008 Global 100 list. "Beyond the Grey Pinstripes" is a research survey that offers an alternative ranking of business schools through the Aspen Institute Center for Business Learning.

The Global 100 list is a way of honoring a number of full-time MBA programs that have been dubbed especially innovative over an 18-month research period.

Today's College of Business at OSU puts an emphasis on trying to develop profession-ready graduates who have an appreciation of what it means to be a business professional and also have experience with different career paths.

"I learned how to learn," said Bernie Newcomb, an OSU College of Business alumnus.

Events such as the centennial celebration aim to give students and the local business community alike the resources to accomplish their goals and propel them into a promising business career.

The hope is that graduates can create a job, not simply attain one, Dean Kleinsorge said.

For more information on the College of Business, go to www.bus.oregonstate.edu/ or attend one of the many upcoming informational events.

Tara Pistorese, staff writer

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