UCLA Anderson School of Management

History

The School of Management at UCLA was founded in 1935, and the MBA degree was authorized by the UC Regents four years later. In its early years the school was primarily an undergraduate institution, although this began to change in the 1950s after the appointment of Neil H. Jacoby as dean; the last undergraduate degree was awarded in 1969. UCLA is rare among public universities in the U.S. for not offering undergraduate business administration degrees. Undergraduate degrees in business economics are offered.

In 1950, the school was renamed the School of Business Administration. Five years later it became the Graduate School of Business Administration; in the 1970s the school’s name was changed again to the Graduate School of Management.

In 1987, John E. Anderson (1917–2011), class of 1940, donated $15 million to the school and prompted the construction of a new complex at the north end of UCLA’s campus. He later donated additional $25 million. On May 13, 2015, Marion Anderson, widow of the late John Anderson, announced a $100 million donation to the school, to be used for fellowships, research, and part of the cost of a new building to be built at the Anderson complex. At $100 million, this is the 4th single-largest donation to a business school in the United States. The existing 6-building, 285,000-square-foot (26,500 m²) facility, designed by Henry N. Cobb of the architectural firm Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, cost $75 million to construct and opened officially in 1995.

Recently, the school has been mostly self-funded, with only $6 million of government funding out of its $96 million budget in 2010-11. In fall 2010, the school proposed "financial self-sufficiency": Giving up all state funding, in return for freedom from some state rules and freedom to raise tuition. Critics called this proposal "privatization", but the school rejected this description, with Dean Judy Olian saying, "This is not privatization.... We will continue to be part of UCLA and part of the state." The proposal met objections in the UCLA Academic Senate (faculty members from all UCLA departments), and is still pending.

Update: This decision was approved by the University of California President Mark Yudof in June of 2013.

Campus

The school is located on north part of the UCLA campus. The four main buildings, Mullin, Cornell, Entrepreneurs, and Gold, form an inner circle at the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Westwood Plaza, which is the extension of Westwood Boulevard. Connected to the Gold building is the Collins building, which is named for alumnus James A. Collins, who is the chairman emeritus of Sizzler International, Inc. and who funded the John R. Wooden statue in front of Pauley Pavilion.

MBA programs

As of 2011, UCLA Anderson enrolls 70 executive MBA, 90 global MBA, 280 fully employed MBA, and 360 full-time MBA students every year. UCLA Anderson’s teaching model combines case study, experiential learning, lecture and team projects. UCLA Anderson’s curriculum consists of ten core classes (required courses which cover a broad range of business fundamentals) and twelve (minimum) elective courses. Students are assigned to cohorts, called sections, of 65 students throughout the core curriculum.

The cohort system is almost entirely student run, with each cohort electing 17 different leadership positions ranging from President to Ethics chair. In addition, there is the student-led Anderson Student Association (ASA) which deals with all issues of student life including company recruiting, social clubs and academic issues.

Students may choose (but are not required) to focus in one or more of the following areas:

Anderson also offers an Applied Management Research Program (AMR), consisting of a two-quarter team-based strategic consulting field study project required during the second year of study in lieu of the comprehensive exam for the master's degree. Students complete strategic projects for companies partnering with the school, ultimately presenting recommendations to senior management. The program has been around since the late 1960s and is presently led by Professor Gonzalo Freixes, its Faculty Director. In 2004, two alternatives to the field study were introduced: a Business Creation Option, and a research study option.

Doctoral program

The following academic units currently offer doctoral training:

Rankings

UCLA Anderson has consistently been ranked a first tier business school, both in United States and international rankings. This ranking is a composite of five major MBA rankings published by Bloomberg BusinessWeek, The Economist, The Financial Times, Forbes, and the U.S. News & World Report which is meant to eliminate anomalies and other statistical distortions that are often present in any single ranking.

In 2015, national rankings of UCLA Anderson's MBA program include #13 by Bloomberg BusinessWeek, #15 by U.S. News and World Report, and #17 by Forbes. In global rankings, UCLA Anderson was ranked #9 by The Economist and #34 by Financial Times (#16 in the US).

Academic research rankings

UCLA Anderson was ranked 30th worldwide in the Naveen Jindal School of Management's Worldwide Business School Rankings Based on Research Contributions, from 2011 to 2015.

Research

The Harold and Pauline Price Center for Entrepreneurial Studies oversees all teaching, research, extracurricular, and community activities related to entrepreneurship at UCLA Anderson. It helps participants such as Head Start directors, early childcare professionals, and owners of developing businesses to direct and grow their organizations with a focused, well-managed, entrepreneurial flair.

The Laurence and Lori Fink Center for Finance & Investments (CFI) is named for BlackRock CEO Laurence D. Fink, and sponsors research, teaching and the application of financial knowledge in the global corporate and investment community. UCLA Anderson Forecast provides forecasts for the economies of California and the United States. Its quarterly conferences are attended by business, professional, and government decision-makers from across the U.S. The Richard S. Ziman Center For Real Estate was established in 2002. UCLA Anderson also has a Center for International Business Education and Research, which was founded in 1989 as part of a network of 28 CIBERs created by the United States Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988.

The Center for Managing Enterprises in Media, Entertainment and Sports (MEMES) examines the forces of change on the management of enterprises in entertainment and media including the impacts of technology, consolidation, and globalization. The Center and its predecessors have been around since the late 1970s and have approximately 1,000 graduates in management positions in the media, entertainment, and technology industries. 150-200 MBA students each year participate in classes, lunches with executives, Days on the Job, field studies, speakers, and other activities with the Institute. The student-run organization linked to the MEMES Center is called the Entertainment Management Association (EMA).

Alumni

The UCLA Anderson alumni network consists of 37,000 members in over 25 chapters in over 75 countries worldwide.

Student life

Anderson also has a very strong focus on giving back to the community. One of the biggest clubs on campus is the Challenge for Charity, a competition between the top West Coast business schools to put in the most volunteer hours per student and raise the most money for Special Olympics per student. In 2010, Anderson was the #1 school for total volunteer hours.