40th Anniversary of Business Management
This year marks the 40th anniversary of our Department of Business Management. We are celebrating this achievement by highlighting exemplars of our 1500-strong alumni and the Washington College professor who helped launch their careers in a campaign called “Purpose Discovered.”
Our Origins
The Business Management program was approved by the Board of Visitors and Governors
in late 1981 and launched in the 1982-82 academic year, the same year Washington College
celebrated its 200th anniversary.
Dr. Michael S. Malone served as the first Acting Director before Dr. Terry Scout joined in 1985. Dr. Scout became the inaugural chair and continued in that role through nearly half of the department’s existence. Dr. Michael Harvey, currently Interim Provost and Dean, succeeded Dr. Scout as chair in 2004. Dr. Susan Vowels was named chair in July 2014, with Dr. Caddie Putnam Rankin being appointed to chair in January of this year.
The initial program included Principles of Accounting I and II; Business Law; Corporate Finance; Marketing; Organizational Theory; Quantitative Methods of Management; Senior Seminar: Management Strategies; Concentration in Economics, International Affairs or a modern language.
Today the Department of Business Management views business as the active liberal art, with ethics and social responsibility central to success in the marketplace. More than 1500 students have earned the Business Management degree, while going on to make positive impact in such traditional business venues as finance, accounting and marketing, and in other organizational contexts such as government and non-profit. We are proud that our alumni embody the Washington College values of critical thinking, effective communication and moral courage. The diversity of our dedicated faculty of teacher-scholars and practitioners reflect the richness of open-minded, innovative thinking and the global nature of business.