Eugene M. Isenberg School of Management

Business courses were first offered at the Massachusetts Agricultural College in the early 1900s. The 1905-1906 Catalogue of the Massachusetts Agricultural College offered general economic courses and by 1907-1908, agricultural economics courses were being taught by the Department of Rural Social Sciences. When the college restructured during the 1911-1912 academic year, the Department of Agricultural Economics was established under the Division of Rural Social Sciences. From 1912 until 1935, Dr. Alexander E. Cance served as head of the department. In 1935 courses in general economics and business-related subjects transferred to the newly organized Department of Economics in the Division of Social Sciences, with Dr. Cance appointed Head. Cance remained in the position until 1942 when he was replaced by Dr. Phillip E. Gamble. Between 1935 and 1947, the curriculum expanded with many new courses such as Money, Banking, and Credit; Business Law; Principles of Transportation; Economics of International Trade; and Labor Problems.

In 1947, the Board of Trustees established the School of Business Administration. From 1947 to 1952, the faculty and curricula of the School of Business Administration and the Department of Economics were closely integrated, and Dr. Gamble served jointly as Head of the Department of Economics and Acting Dean of the School.

As a result of the rapid growth in faculty, and the diversification of student majors and curriculum offerings in the immediate post World War II period, the School of Business Administration was reorganized in 1952 and Dr. Milo Kimball was appointed Dean. In 1954, the School conferred graduate degrees for the first time to three students who had successfully completed the requirements for the degree of Master of Business Administration.
In February 1957, Dean Kimball resigned his administrative responsibilities and returned to full-time teaching. Provost Shannon McCune assumed the duties of Acting Dean pending the arrival of the newly appointed Dean, Dr. Himy B. Kirshen.

The School was accredited at the undergraduate level by the American Association of Collegiate Schools of Business in May 1958, and in March 1959, the Board of Trustees authorized the establishment of four academic departments within the school: Accounting, General Business and Finance, Management, and Marketing. The initial administrative officers of these departments were, respectively, Professors John W. Anderson, James B. Budtke, John T. Colon, and Harold E. Hardy.

In April 1965, the Business Advisory Council, a group of executives from a wide variety of industrial and service firms, was established to consult with the School on the development of its curricula and its research and service programs. In July 1967, the School established the Center for Business and Economic Research to encourage and support applied research by faculty and students in all areas of management and administration. Dr. George Simmons was appointed Director of the center. In September 1967, a program leading to the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Business Administration was introduced. In 1983, the School of Business Administration changed its name to School of Management. In 1998, it was renamed the Eugene M. Isenberg School of Management.

The record group consists of annual reports, deans’ records, correspondence, committee reports, long-range planning, self-study reports, proposals, research reports, faculty reprint series, lists of faculty publications, general publications, brochures, seminar information, newsletters, newsclippings and other related materials.