1910s:

1917-1918: U.S. fights in World War I.

December, 1918: The Board of Trustees of the College of the City of New York, whose members include the financier and statesman Bernard Baruch (‘89), recommends that the College establish a separate, degree-granting school of business.

June, 1919: The School of Business and Civic Administration is formally established at 23rd Street and Lexington Avenue.

June, 1919: Students can take classes towards a diploma in accountancy, a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA), or a combined BBA / Master of Business Administration (MBA) program.

June, 1919: Frederick Bertrand Robinson, a professor of public speaking turned economist, is appointed Dean (1919-1927).

June, 1919: From the beginning, the curriculum is distinctly global, offering such courses as South American markets, Russian markets, and commercial Portuguese and Russian, among other languages. Women are only offered classes in the evening and summer sessions.

1920s:

1920: The Master’s in Business Administration degree is established as a separate, 30-credit program.

June, 1921: The School grants its first MBAs, to Harry L. Cohen and Abraham Weiss. Cohen’s thesis is on the effect of World War I on the construction industry; Weiss’ is on inventory and its relation to profits and losses.

December, 1925: School of Business receives $300,000 from Henry and William J. Wollman to advance the study of business. At the time, it is the largest such sum ever donated to the College; today it would be equivalent to approximately $4.4 million.

1926-1929: Construction of the new School of Business building at 17 Lexington Avenue, which still stands today.

1927: The Departments of Accountancy and Economics are formally established.

1927: George W. Edwards is appointed Dean (1927-1932).

1928: Abraham Beame, later to become the first Jewish mayor of New York City, earns a BBA with honors from the School of Business.

October, 1929: The stock market crashes.

1929-1939: Great Depression

1930s

1930: Following the stock market crash, public demand for sound, ethical business education increases, and as a result the School of Business adds eight floors to 17 Lexington Avenue.

1930: Women can now enroll in both day and evening classes.

June, 1931: Celia Skalka becomes the first woman to receive an MBA from the School of Business.

1931: Diplomas in management, marketing, advertising, public utilities, finance, and real estate are introduced.

1932: Justin H. Moore is appointed Dean (1932-1939).

Spring, 1932: The Ticker is launched.

1933: The School of Business is accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB). At the time, it is one of 47 schools (and only 29 public institutions) to be accredited.

1936: The Department of Law is established.

1937: Myrtle Evangeline Pollard is the first African-American woman to earn an MBA. The previous year she earned a BBA from the School of Business after completing a thesis entitled “Harlem As It Is,” which is still cited today.

1939: The School of Business stops issuing the diploma in accountancy and only awards BBA degrees; this improves its standing relative to other business schools.

1940s

1940: The Department of Business Administration is established.

1940:  Herman Feldman is appointed Dean (1940-1942). 

September, 1940: The School of Business reaches a peak in enrollment, with 2,926 day session and 7,137 evening session students.

December 7, 1941 – September 2, 1945: U.S. fights in World War II. 

February, 1943: For the first time in the School’s history, women make up the majority of the entering class.

October, 1943: Ruth C. Wright is appointed Dean of Students, becoming the first woman to serve in that capacity at a coeducational U.S. college.

1943: Herbert Ruckes is appointed Dean (1943-1945).

June, 1944: The G.I. Bill of Rights becomes law, establishing educational and other benefits for returning U.S. veterans.

1945: Women make up 75 percent of the graduating class; the student council elects its first woman president.

September, 1945: Thomas L. Norton is appointed Dean (1945-1955). He is also on the Executive Committee of AACSB.

1947: William Newman graduates with a BBA.

1950s

1950: The School of Business introduces an Associate in Applied Science (AAS) degree.

June 25, 1950 to July 27, 1953: Korean War.

1951: Herman Badillo graduates with a BBA. He will later become the first Puerto Rican member of Congress, serving four terms.

1952: Lawrence N. Field graduates with a BBA.

1953: The School of Business and Civic Administration is renamed the Bernard M. Baruch School of Business and Public Administration.

1956: Emanuel Saxe, the Chairman of the Department of Accountancy, is named Dean (1956-1968).

1957: Larry Zicklin graduates with a BBA degree.

1960s

1960: The School continues to expand, with the opening of the Baruch Student Center at 137 East 22nd Street.

1965-1975: U.S. fights in Vietnam War.

1965: The Departments of Management, Marketing, and Statistics are created.

September, 1965: The doctoral program in business is inaugurated.

1968: Baruch College becomes an independent senior college separate from City College.

1968: There are 25 women instructors on the full-time faculty.

1968: The Civil Rights Act is passed.

1969: Jerome Cohen is appointed Dean (1969-1971).

1969: The MBA in Healthcare Administration is launched.

1970s

September, 1970: The first Open Admissions class is admitted, increasing student diversity.

1971: Julius Manson is appointed Dean (1971-1972).

1972: Henry Eilbirt is appointed Dean (1972-1976).

1975-1976: New York City enters a severe fiscal crisis and nearly declares bankruptcy; as a result, Baruch and the other CUNY schools begin charging tuition.

Fall, 1975: Despite the fiscal crisis, on-campus recruitment at the School of Business remains robust, with representatives from Coopers & Lybrand, Standard & Poor’s, Dun & Bradstreet, Price Waterhouse, the Internal Revenue Service, and more.

1976: John I. Griffin is appointed Dean (1976-1977).

1977: Samuel F. Thomas is appointed Dean (1977-1982).

1977: Bertha Newhouse is appointed Associate Dean of School of Business, becoming the first woman to serve in that capacity. She was also the first woman CPA to teach at the School and the first to reach the rank of Full Professor of Accountancy.

1979: MS degrees in Statistics, Quantitative Methods and Modeling, Information Systems, Marketing, and Taxation are launched.

1980s:

August, 1980: Financial World magazine’s list of top Wall Street brokers includes two School of Business MBA graduates.

Fall, 1981: The Executive MBA, a two year program of 18 courses scheduled on Fridays and Saturdays, is launched.

1982: Francis “Bud” Connelly is appointed Dean (1982-1995).

October 19, 1987: The Dow falls by 22.6%, the biggest one-day percentage loss in history.

1990s

1990: Standard & Poor’s ranks Baruch College fourth in the nation for number of alumni who are senior executives for major U.S. corporations.

August 2, 1990 – February 28, 1991: Gulf War.

October, 1990: Harry M. Markowitz, Professor of Finance, receives the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science.

1993: The Executive MS in Industrial and Labor Relations is launched.

1993: The Small Business Lab is established to help New York City residents in start new businesses.

1994: The Weissman Center for International Business is founded.

September, 1994: The MS in Accountancy is offered.

1995: Sidney I. Lirtzman is appointed Dean (1995-2002).

1997: The Full-Time MBA program is introduced.

1997: The Executive MS in Finance program is launched.

November, 1997: The Department of Accountancy is named in honor of Stan Ross (BBA, ’56).

March, 1998: The School of Business is named the Zicklin School of Business, following a major gift from Larry (BBA, ’57) and Carol Zicklin.

December, 1998: The Small Business Lab is expanded and renamed the Lawrence N. Field Center for Entrepreneurship and Small Business, following a generous gift from Lawrence N. Field (BBA, ’52).

2000s

2000: The Subotnick Financial Services Center and Wasserman Trading Floor are established with support from Stuart Subotnick (BBA, ’62) and Bert W. (BBA, ’54) and Sandra K. Wasserman (BBA, ’55).

August, 2001: Zicklin’s campus environment is reinvented with the opening of the 17-story Newman Vertical Campus. The New York Times writes, “For the first time in its 79-year history, Baruch has claimed a memorable spot on the New York skyline.”

September, 2001: September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

September, 2001: With Wall Street shut down after 9/11 attacks, the Subotnick Center Financial Service Center and Wasserman Trading Floor are used as a real trading floor by displaced traders.

October 7, 2001: The War in Afghanistan begins.

September, 2002: John A. Elliott is appointed Dean (2002-2012).

March, 2003 – December 2011: Iraq War.

February, 2006: The Department of Real Estate is established; it is the first in New York City to offer a BBA in real estate.

August, 2007: Zicklin begins offering a Master of Science in Real Estate.

October, 2007: The Department of Economics and Finance is named in honor of Bert W. Wasserman.

2009: The MS program in Entrepreneurship is launched.

2010s

May, 2010: The Department of Marketing and International Business is named in honor of Allen G. Aaronson (BBA, ’48).

2012: Myung-Soo Lee is appointed Interim Dean (2012-2014).

November, 2012: The Department of Real Estate is named in honor of William Newman.

January, 2013: The Zicklin Undergraduate Honors Program welcomes first cohort, offering elements often found in MBA programs: experiential learning, critical thinking, cross-disciplinary courses, and more.

2013: The Department of Management is named in honor of Professor Narendra Paul Loomba.

2014: The MS program in Finance is launched.

March, 2014: The Monteforte Foundation (the philanthropic organization of Willem Kooyker (BBA, ’71) and his wife, Judith-Ann Corrente), generously endowed the Zicklin School deanship, which was named in his honor.

March, 2014: H. Fenwick Huss is appointed the Willem Kooyker Dean of the Zicklin School of Business.

October, 2014: Kofi Annan, former Secretary General of the United Nations, lectures at the Zicklin School of Business in an event co-sponsored by the Foreign Policy Association.

2015-2018: The Zicklin School partners with universities in China, Italy, and Israel to offer dual MBA/MS degrees.

2015:  The MS in Financial Risk Management program is launched.

December 2015: The Department of Information Systems and Statistics is named in honor of Paul H. Chook (BBA, ’49).

April 2016: A delegation of 11 MBA and 9 undergraduate honors students visits Berkshire Hathaway and met with Warren Buffett.

May 2017: “Sorry, Harvard and Yale, the Trading Whiz Kids Are at Baruch College.” The Wall Street Journal, May 10, 2017.

Fall 2017: The Doctor of Professional Studies in Business program debuts.

February 2018: The Zicklin School of Business Research Paper Series, in collaboration with the Social Science Research Network (SSRN), is launched.

July 2018: The Robert A. Schwartz Center for Trading and Financial Markets Research opens.

2018: The Executive MS in Information Systems with a concentration in Data Analytics program is launched.

2018: The Executive MS in Human Resource Management is launched.

2019: The MS in Business Analytics program is launched.

2019: Zicklin’s Full-Time MBA program receives its highest-ever ranking (#52) on the U.S. News & World Report list of Best Graduate Schools.