Stephen M. Ross School of Business (University of Michigan) records, 1916-2017

Summary

Creator:

University of Michigan. Stephen M. Ross School of Business.

Abstract:

Dean's files of R. A. Stevenson, 1944-1960, with some earlier files of deans Edmund E. Day and Clare E. Griffin; dean's files of Floyd A. Bond primarily 1960-1979, but including earlier and later materials; administrative records concerning faculty matters, alumni activities, students, course offerings, conferences, and programs sponsored by the school, and the operation and construction of the school's building; records relating to special bureaus within the school, particularly the Bureau of Business Research, the Bureau of Hospital Administration, and the Bureau of Industrial Relations; miscellaneous files of Stevenson, including University of Minnesota records, speeches, and board of directors materials from Lear, Incorporated; miscellaneous personal files of Floyd Bond concerning other organizational activities; audiovisual material including photographs and negatives of faculty, conferences and meetings, buildings, and school functions; dean's files of Gilbert A. Whitaker, 1925-1991; architectural records; the Ross School of Business website, 1996-ongoing; and records of Development and Alumni Relations, primarily created by Frank C. Wihelme, including committee meeting material, information related to capital campaigns, and records of the William Davison Institute.

Extent:

143.2 linear feet (145 boxes)
168.67 GB (online)
21 oversize items
1 archived website

Call Number:

87296 Bimu C221 2

Authors:

Finding aid prepared by: Bentley Historical Library staff. Updated by Lilly Carrel, April 2017, Nichole Manlove in November 2018, Elizabeth Hannigan in June 2018 and April 2019,

Background

Scope and Content:

The records of the Ross School of Business (1916-2017), measure 143.2 linear feet, 154.33 GB, 21 oversize items, and 1 archived website. Materials include papers from deans of the business school, committee documents, The records also include audiovisual materials including photographs, slides, videos and sound recordings.

The Ross School of Business (University of Michigan) records documents the administration and operation of the Business School; its organizational structure; news and events; people including deans, faculty, and staff; educational program; fundraising and development; and physical spaces. The records include administrative records of committees, correspondence, topical files, audiovisual material such as photographs and audiotapes, architectural drawings, and the School's website.

Biographical / Historical:

The first formal reference to commercial education at the University of Michigan was made in 1900-01, with courses offered through the College of Literature, Science and the Arts' Department of Economics. The number of commercial courses in the department expanded steadily, and in 1904-05 a "Certificate of Commerce" was authorized for those who had specialized in the field. Growth, both in terms of students and courses continued, with a sudden upswing of interest immediately after World War I leading to the decision to create a separate School of Business Administration. Preliminary plans for the school were begun in 1922, but significant progress occurred after February 1923, with the hiring of Edmund Ezra Day as chairman of the Department of Economics. Day came to Michigan with an undergraduate degree from Dartmouth and a Ph.D. from Harvard. He was authorized to found the new school which was formally established in 1924, with Day serving both as dean and also as Economics chairman. Day's tenure, however, was relatively short. He took a leave of absence during 1927-28, and formally resigned his post soon afterward to join the Rockefeller Foundation.

In Day's absence Clare E. Griffin, who was professor of marketing, was first named acting dean, and was formally appointed to the post in 1929. Griffin had received his undergraduate degree from Albion College and a Ph.D. from Illinois in 1918. Under Day and Griffin the school's curriculum was largely patterned after that of Harvard, focusing upon graduate education. Admission to the school was preceded by three years study in the liberal arts. The school awarded two degrees, a Master of Business Administration (MBA) and a doctorate (beginning in 1935). Perhaps because of the focus upon graduate education, the school did not follow the custom of the day in recruiting businessmen to serve as part-time faculty. Rather, a full-time, academically-trained, staff was retained.

In addition to normal classroom activities Day and Griffin oversaw the creation of two special bureaus. The Bureau of Business Research was founded in 1925. Its purpose was to facilitate research by members of the faculty through the publication of scholarly work and also to facilitate teaching by developing and publishing case studies useful in class work. The Bureau of Industrial Relations was founded in 1935. Made possible by a gift from the Earhart Foundation, this Bureau was established in response to the growing complexity of employee-employer relations. At its annual conference, and through other devices, it brought together corporate representatives to discuss issues in labor and personnel relations.

In 1944 Russell A. Stevenson replaced the retiring Griffin as dean. Stevenson had received his bachelor's degree from UM in 1913, studied at the University of Iowa from which he received a Master's degree in 1915, and then returned to Michigan for his doctorate, which was awarded in 1919. From 1920 to 1926 he headed the Department of Commerce at the University of Cincinnati. In 1927 he became dean of the School of Business Administration at the University of Minnesota, the position he held until he came to Michigan.

Stevenson refocused Michigan's curriculum towards undergraduate education. A Bachelor of Business Administration degree had been established in 1942, primarily to meet the needs of the Armed Forces. Stevenson developed and expanded this program, capitalizing on the influx of post-war students to build enrollment to a peak of 1,249 in 1949. Stevenson began the school's first off-campus credit program, improving the non-credit offerings that had been first made available through the university's Extension Service in 1938. By 1960, credit courses were being offered in Detroit, Grand Rapids and Midland.

Despite his emphasis on undergraduate education, Stevenson did modestly expand the overall scope of the school's graduate program. In 1954 a new Master's degree in Hospital Administration was created, and in 1957 a Bureau of Hospital Administration was founded. Stevenson also obtained for the school its first adequate physical facilities. At its founding the school had been located in Tappan Hall, a site it shared with the College of Education and that, even in the 1920's was considered inadequate. Despite Tappan Hall's inadequacies, the school remained there until after World War II, when a new building was constructed on Monroe St.

In addition to his academic activities, Stevenson served in several organizations and businesses. He was active in both the American Association of Collegiate Schools of Business and the Economic Club of Detroit. He also served as a director for several commercial enterprises, most notably for Lear, Incorporated.

In 1960 the retiring Stevenson was replaced by Floyd A. Bond. Like his predecessor, Bond had Michigan roots. All of his academic degrees were awarded to him by UM, a bachelor's degree in 1938, a master's in 1940 and a doctorate in 1942. Bond served on the UM Economics faculty from 1938 until 1946. From 1946 to 1948 he taught at Carleton College, and from 1948 until 1960 he served at Pomona College.

Bond returned the Michigan's business administration program to its original emphasis upon graduate education. The MBA and Ph.D. programs were invigorated, and off-campus education was strengthened on the Dearborn and Flint satellite campuses by applying the same admission standards there as were used in Ann Arbor, both for day and evening students.

Bond also established a number of new programs within the school. An Institute for International Commerce was established in 1966. Its creation, while not directly linked to other programs in the school, complemented foreign based outreach programs established with the National Chengchi University in Taiwan, the Netherlands School of Economics, and involvement in the University of Petroleum and Minerals in Saudi Arabia. The school's long-standing interest in bringing prominent individuals to campus to address students and faculty was furthered by the establishment of the Executive in Residence and Actuary in Residence program, as well as the creation of the McInally Lecture Endowment Fund, designed to establish an annual lecture at the school by a business figure of stature. In addition to the intellectual changes Bond brought to the school, he also oversaw the enlargement of the school's physical facilities. In 1972 an Assembly Hall, which included Hale Auditorium, was dedicated, and in 1976 the Paton Accounting Center was opened.

In addition to his academic responsibilities, Bond served his profession in several other capacities. He was extremely active in the American Association of Collegiate Schools of Business, serving on the Standards Committee (1962-66), and Executive Committee (1963-71) and being elected president of the organization for 1968-69. Bond was a longtime member of the Economic Club of Detroit's Program Committee. He also served for a brief period (1959-60) as the director of the Center for Economic Development's Business-Education Division. In addition to these activities, in 1960 Bond traveled to the Soviet Union as part of a delegation of economists invited to visit that nation by the Soviet Academy of Sciences.

In 1979 Bond reached the mandatory retirement age for university administrators. While he continued to serve the school as a professor, he was succeeded as dean by Gilbert A. Whitaker, Jr. Whitaker had received his BA from Rice University, and his master's and doctorate from the University of Wisconsin in 1958 and 1961 respectively. Between 1960 and 1966 he served on the faculty at Northwestern University. In 1967 he joined the faculty at Washington University at St. Louis and in 1969 he was named the associate dean of the business school. In 1976 he left St. Louis to become dean of the M.J. Neeley School of Business at Texas Christian University. Whitaker was appointed Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs in 1990, and was succeeded by B. Joseph White.

White served as dean from 1991 to 2001 and was succeeded by Robert J. Dolan. In 2005 the School of Business Administration was renamed the Ross School of Business in honor of Stephen M. Ross, a 1962 graduate of the school. Dolan served as dean until 2011 and under his leadership, Ross become one of the top ranked business schools in the country for its BBA and MBA programs.

Alison Davis-Blake served as Dean from 2011 to 2016. Davis-Blake focused on revising the curriculum for the school's degree programs, expanding global partnerships and creating the Sanger Leadership Center and Och Initiative for Women in Finance. She also helped to finance the reconstruction of Kresge Hall and the building of Jeff T. Blau Hall.

Davis-Blake was succeeded by Scott DeRue in 2016. DeRue had served in leadership roles at Ross since 2007, including as Associate Dean of Executive Education, one of the premier executive education programs in the world. As dean, he has prioritized action based learning and creating transformative student experiences at while maintaining its status as one of the top ranked business schools in the world.

Deans of the Ross School of Business

Date	Event
1924-1927	Edmund Ezra Day
1927-1944	Clare E. Griffin (Acting Dean, 1927-1929)
1944-1960	Russell A. Stevenson
1960-1979	Floyd A. Bond
1979-1990	Gilbert A. Whitaker, Jr.
1991-2001	B. Joseph White
2001-2011	Robert J. Dolan
2011-2016	Alison Davis-Blake
2016-	Scott DeRue

Name Changes

Date	Event
1924-1985	Graduate School of Business Administration
1985-2005	School of Business Administration
2005-	Stephen M. Ross School of Business

Acquisition Information:

The records of the Ross School of Business (donor no. 6468 ) were received in multiple accessions including 1980, 1983, 1991, 1993, 1996 ,2007, 2009, 2014 and 2017. Records are added to on an ongoing basis.

Processing information:

Boxes 96-99 were eliminated in a 1994 reprocessing.

Arrangement:

The Ross School of Business records are organized in part into subgroups based on the groups of materials that were received in the major accessions from the school. These have been arranged into a number of series and subseries.

1. Rusell A. Stevenson and Predecessors, 1916-60
   • Dean's Administrative Records, 1916-60
     • Alphabetical, 1916-59 -- [boxes 1-8]
     • Chronological
       • 1944-48 -- [boxes 8-10]
       • 1949-51 -- [boxes 11-13]
       • 1951-53 -- [boxes 13-14]
       • 1954-July 1956 -- [boxes 15-16]
       • 1956-59 -- [boxes 17-19]
       • 1959-60 -- [box 19]
   • Supplemental Administrative Records, 1924-60
     • Programs for Full-Time Students and Faculty, 1924-60 [boxes 20-23]
     • Programs for Special Groups, 1932-60 -- [boxes 23-26]
   • Relations with other University Units
     • Senior Administrators/Centralized Functions, 1923-60 -- [boxes 26-28]
     • Schools, Colleges, Departments, and Similar Divisions, 1923-60 -- [boxes 28-31]
   • Personal, 1926-60
     • General, 1926-60 -- [boxes 31-34]
     • Lear, Inc., 1951-60 -- [boxes 34-40]
2. Floyd A. Bond and Successors, 1926-84 (bulk 1960-79)
   • Dean's Administrative File, 1926-83 (bulk 1960-79) -- [boxes 40-58; 94; 100]
   • Supplemental Administrative Records, 1946-83
     • Committees, 1951-81 (bulk 1961-78) -- [boxes 58-64]
     • Faculty and Administrative Staff
       • Administrative Staff, 1946-78 (bulk 1963-78) -- [boxes 64-65]
       • Faculty, 1959-83 -- [boxes 65-70]
     • Programs for Full-Time Faculty and Students, 1960-82 -- [boxes 70-73]
     • Programs for Special Groups, 1959-79 -- [boxes 73-80]
   • Relations with other University Units, 1958-78 -- [boxes 80-86]
   • Personal, 1944-84 -- [boxes 86-93; 100-101]
   • School Records, 1961-1982 -- [box 100]
3. Gilbert A. Whitaker Files, (1993 Accession)
   • Committees, 1925-1991 -- [boxes 102-103]
   • Topical Files, 1962-1991 -- [boxes 103-105]
   • Reports, 1969-1995 -- [box 113]
4. Audiovisual Material, 1926-2014
   • Photographs, 1926-1985 -- [boxes 95, 105, 114, 128-138, 143-144]
   • Slides, 1950s-1990 -- [boxes 105, 115, 139-140]
   • Dividend Magazine, 1935, 1969-1989 -- [boxes 107-109]
   • Drawings, 1978 -- [box 114]
   • Microfilm, 1947 -- [roll 1]
   • Sound Recordings, 1969-1986 -- [box 95]
   • Moving Image Recordings, 1996 -- [box,-- 128]
   • Oversized Photographs and Awards, -- [Oversize box 145]
   • Oversized Posters, -- [Oversize folder 1]
5. Architectural Records, 1943-1998
   • School of Business Administration Building, 1944-1974 -- [box 112]
   • Paton Accounting Center, 1973-1976 -- [box 112]
   • Topical Files, 1943-1976 -- [box 112]
   • Computer Center, 1995 -- [Oversize Folder 2]
   • Business and Finance Electronic Library, 1995 -- [Oversize Folder 3]
   • The University of Michigan Campus Plan-Phase 1 Overview, 1998 -- [Oversize Folder 4]
6. Archived Stephen M. Ross School of Business Website, 1996-ongoing
   • Homepage, 1996-ongoing -- [online]
   • Related websites, 2010-ongoing -- [online]
7. Joseph White Files, 1994
   • Administrative Files, undated -- [box 113]
   • Programs, 1994 -- [box 114]
8. Development and Alumni Relations records, 1929-2007
   • Development Office Records, 1929-2007 -- [boxes 117-127]
     • Administrative Files, 1929-2006 -- [boxes 117-122, 124-127]
     • Campaigns, 1979-2006 -- [boxes 117-122, 124-127]
     • Committees, 1970-2002 -- [boxes 117-119, 121, 125]
     • Educational Institutes, 1986-2007 -- [boxes 120, 122-124]
   • William Davidson Institute, 1989-2007 -- [boxes 116-117]
   • Reunions, 2002 -- [boxes 142]
9. Robert J. Dolan Files, 2006-2007
   • Robert J.Dolan Files, 2006-2007 -- [boxes 141]

Physical Location:

Portions located in offsite storage; prior notification required for access.

Related

Additional Descriptive Data:

Related Materials

The Bentley Historical Library has two additional Ross School of Business (University of Michigan) collections: oral history interviews and publications.

Ross School of Business (University of Michigan) oral histories

Ross School of Business (University of Michigan) publications

Alternative Form Available:

Digitization: The Library has undertaken the digitization of a number of sound recordings within this collection. The resulting audio files are available for playback only in the Bentley Library Reading Room. Links to item images and additional information are available within this finding aid. Original sound recordings are only available for staff use.

Subjects

Click on terms below to find any related finding aids on this site.

Subjects:

African Americans -- Michigan.
Cheating (Education)
Educational fund raising -- Michigan -- Ann Arbor.
Industrial relations.
Minority college students -- Michigan -- Ann Arbor.
Women college students -- Michigan -- Ann Arbor.

Formats:

Architectural drawings.
Digital file formats.
Photographs.
Slides.
Sound recordings.
Websites.

Names:

American Association of Collegiate Schools of Business.
Committee for Economic Development.
Committee on Institutional Cooperation.
Economic Club of Detroit.
Graduate Employees Organization (University of Michigan)
Lear, Inc.
University of Michigan -- Administration.
University of Michigan -- Admission.
University of Michigan -- Alumni and alumnae.
University of Michigan. Board of Regents.
University of Michigan -- Buildings.
University of Michigan. Bureau of Business Research.
University of Michigan. Bureau of Hospital Administration.
University of Michigan. Bureau of Industrial Relations.
University of Michigan -- Commencements.
University of Michigan -- Congresses.
University of Michigan.
University of Michigan -- Faculty.
University of Michigan -- Finance.
University of Michigan -- Students -- Rating of.
University of Michigan -- Degrees.
University of Michigan. Honors Convocation.
University of Michigan -- Students.
University of Michigan -- Students -- Scholarships, fellowships, etc.
University of Michigan. Stephen M. Ross School of Business.
University of Michigan -- Students -- Societies, etc.
Business Administration Assembly Hall (University of Michigan)
Ross School of Business Building (University of Michigan)
Tappan Hall (University of Michigan)
University of Michigan. School of Business Administration.
William Davidson Institute.
Davis-Blake, Alison.
DeRue, Daniel Scott.
Dolan, Robert J.
Bond, Floyd Alden.
Day, Edmund Ezra, 1883-1951.
Griffin, Clare E. (Clare Elmer), 1892-1979.
Stevenson, Russell Alger, 1890-
Whitaker, Gilbert R.
Wilhelme, Frank C.
White, Joseph B.