From its beginning as the Department of Commerce for Southern Methodist University, the Edwin L. Cox School of Business has been educating the country’s business leaders for more than 90 years.
Named in 1978 in honor of Dallas businessman Edwin L. Cox, the Cox School has a rich heritage that began in 1920 when the SMU Board of Trustees established a Department of Commerce at the request of the Dallas business community. In 1921, the Department of Commerce was renamed the School of Commerce, and, in 1941, the Board of Trustees established the School of Commerce as a separate entity from the University. At this point, the School of Commerce became the School of Business Administration, and the new Bachelor of Business Administration degree was approved by the trustees. The graduate program at the School of Business Administration began in 1949 with the authorization of a Master of Business Administration program.
In 1965, the SMU Foundation for Business Administration was established. This group of advisers has helped guide the Cox School throughout the years, and today is known as the Executive Board. Also instrumental in supporting the Cox School are members of its two successful mentoring programs: the Associate Board for M.B.A. students and the Business Associates Program for B.B.A. students. These two boards involve more than 220 area business leaders who volunteer their time and expertise to students who want to start making business connections for the future.
Today, under the leadership of Dean Albert W. Niemi, Jr., the Cox School continues to move up in the ranks of the world’s premier business schools, receiving recognition for excellence in research and teaching.
In 1952, ground was broken for the Joseph Wylie Fincher Memorial Building for the School of Business Administration, and for years the Fincher Building housed all activities in the Cox School. In 1987, two more buildings were added to the Cox School complex - the Cary M. Maguire Building and the Trammell Crow Building. The James M. Collins Executive Education Center was added in 2005 to meet the needs of the growing Cox programs.
The Business Information Center
Sandal Miller, Director
The Business Information Center, the Cox School’s business library, is a premier facility combining the features of a university library with the immediacy of online computer resources. The business library provides access to more than 470 electronic research databases; includes individual and group study areas, more than 70 computer workstations, a presentation preparation/practice room, a multimedia studio, group study rooms and staff offices; and features the Kitt Investing and Trading Center. Special collections include the Hillcrest Foundation International Resource Library, the Edwin L. Cox Business Leadership Center Resource Collection, the Maguire Energy Institute Resource Collection, and the MBA Career Management Center Library. The mission of the business library is to provide the SMU community with personalized reference and instruction services by business librarians, support the integration of information-literacy skills into the curriculum, and enable access to authoritative business information regardless of format. It is a center for research and development for state-of-the-art information technology applications in the business education field.
The Caruth Institute for Entrepreneurship
Simon Mak, Director
The Caruth Institute at Cox was established in 1970 by W.W. Caruth, Jr., to help people learn about the excitement of building their own business, the challenges of management, the uncertainties of the marketplace and the acceptance of adversity as a learning experience. The Caruth Institute focuses on both the entrepreneurial and managerial aspects of starting and growing a business. Programs include credit courses for undergraduate and graduate students, including the Master of Science in Entrepreneurship program as well as certificate programs for the outside business community. The institute conducts the Southwest Venture Forum, which brings together investors, entrepreneurs and the professionals who serve them, and the Dallas 100™ Awards, which honors the fastest growing privately held companies in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. In addition, the institute supports community entrepreneurship activities such as the Metroplex Growth Capital Conference. It also oversees the Cox M.B.A. Business Plan competition and is responsible for the operations of the Cox M.B.A. Venture Fund.
The Center for Marketing Management Studies
Raj Sethuraman, Executive Director
The Center for Marketing Management Studies serves as a focal point for interaction among faculty, practitioners and students who share a common interest in applied marketing management research and education. The center sponsors research and educational programs in marketing management. Since 1989, the center has sponsored the noncredit Marketing Certificate Program, designed to provide current and aspiring business professionals with the latest in marketing thought and practice. The program is held at the Dallas campus and at the SMU-In-Plano campus, one night each week throughout the school year.
The Robert and Margaret Folsom Institute for Real Estate
Joseph D. Cahoon, Director
The Robert and Margaret Folsom Institute for Real Estate was established at the SMU Cox School of Business in 1984. The institute is engaged in a number of initiatives to support applied research and real estate academic programs at the B.B.A. and M.B.A. levels. The institute also serves as a conduit between the commercial real estate industry and SMU students to support and foster industry knowledge, training, internships, networking and community outreach.
The EnCap Investments & LCM Group Alternative Asset Management Center
Bill Maxwell, Director
The center, established in 2009 at the Cox School of Business, places Southern Methodist University at the forefront of training in the most significant growth area in the investment field today. There are more than 200 alternative investment firms in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. The Alternative Asset Management program makes Cox a top provider of trained students for these local firms and other growing firms throughout the United States and the world.
Executive Education Center
Shane Goodwin, Associate Dean, Executive Education and Graduate Programs
The Executive Education Center is one of the pillars of the Cox commitment to the business community. The center’s seminars and certificate programs develop leadership and business acumen through its world-class faculty and facilities. The customized educational experiences for groups of current and high-potential managers improve a company’s organizational performance. More information is available at www.exed.cox.smu.edu.
The Don Jackson Center for Financial Studies
Bill Maxwell, Director
The Don Jackson Center for Financial Studies, which honors retired Cox School Professor Donald F. Jackson (‘63), provides support for student-managed finance clubs, funds for student internships and research assistantships, and travel grants for student attendance at conferences and seminars. The Don Jackson Speaker Series brings leading scholars and financial experts to campus for seminars and presentations each year.
JCPenney Center for Retail Excellence
Edward J. Fox, Executive Director
The center was created through a generous endowment from the JCPenney Company Inc. to advance the understanding of consumer shopping behavior and promote the development of leaders for the retail industry. The center facilitates professional development through speaking engagements, networking events and internship opportunities. M.B.A. students are encouraged to participate in events and to use the center for networking opportunities.
The Kitt Investing and Trading Center
Bill Maxwell, Director
The Kitt Investing and Trading Center is a state-of-the-art instructional and research facility and designed to integrate finance curriculum, enhance innovative faculty research and teach students practical finance and investment applications. The facility contains an LED stock ticker, three video walls, 24 high-end work stations and 12 Bloomberg Professional terminals. In addition, students have access to data feeds and financial software such as Morningstar Direct, Standard and Poors’ Capital IQ, S&P NetAdvantage, Thomson One Analytics and WONDA.
The Maguire Energy Institute
W. Bruce Bullock, Director
The Maguire Energy Institute encourages the study of policy, marketing, and management issues related to oil, natural gas and electricity. The institute conducts seminars and training programs focusing on the business, economic and managerial aspects of the energy industry; hosts conferences to facilitate the exchange of ideas and information among educators, practitioners, media and government officials; and provides material for students and teachers to foster a better understanding of the role of the energy industry in the world economy.
The MBA Business Leadership Center
Paula Hill Strasser, Director
The MBA Business Leadership Center augments the Cox School of Business graduate curriculum with strategic leadership knowledge and practical applications essential for business success in today’s global market. The BLC offers diagnostic assessments, classes, seminars, roundtables, special programs and individualized executive coaching to enhance leadership development under eight themes: customer innovation, personal development, team dynamics, productive leadership, managerial leadership, communication skills, interpersonal relations and business leaders roundtables. Programs offered through the BLC are developed and taught by industry professionals who bring highly advanced expertise from leading companies such as Accenture, Grant Thornton, Dell Services, Texas Instruments, Capital Alliance and The Walt Disney Co.
William J. O’Neil Center for Global Markets and Freedom
Robert Lawson, Director
The center was established in 2008 by William “Bill” J. O’Neil (B.B.A., ‘55) and his wife, Fay C. O’Neil, to study the impact of competitive market forces on freedom and prosperity in the global economy. The O’Neils created the center to offer education and training for today’s forward-looking individuals and businesses that recognize the importance of globalization in changing the paradigm in which everyone is operating. More information is available at www.oneilcenter.org.
The Albert W. Niemi Center for American Capitalism
Maribeth Kuenzi, Director
The Niemi Center is named in honor of Dean Albert W. Niemi who has spent 20 years at SMU as an administrator and professor with the Edwin L. Cox School of Business. Through his visionary leadership and constant focus on the needs of students and faculty, he has helped build one of the most prominent business schools in the country. The Niemi Center’s flagship program provides undergraduate and graduate students opportunities to be involved in impactful and world-changing research on campus and at the George W. Bush Institute to drive positive change in the world. The Niemi Center also provides students the context in which they will work by providing a history and analysis of American capitalism and how dynamics are changing. Courses to SMU students and the community provide the knowledge and tools to navigate and positively change today’s business landscape. The Niemi Center is developing principled leaders and influencing the way the world does business, one student at a time.
The Brierley Institute for Consumer Engagement
Marcia Armstrong, Director
To change the business world, transform the fundamental interaction between a customer and a company. The Brierley Institute will be the first academic institute in the nation devoted to the study of customer engagement. Led by the Harold M. Brierley Endowed Professor, the Institute seeks to create a rich collaborative environment – an exchange of ideas, insights and practices – bringing together students, professors and business practitioners to advance knowledge and improve business practice, driven to understand how and why customers engage with brands and how engagement drives customer loyalty and value.
The Institute will create innovative learning experiences for SMU Cox MBA students that lead to successful careers in marketing, business analytics and consulting. These students will learn to promote business practices that build customer relationships, leverage digital and traditional media, measure financial impact, and create customer experiences, which engage customers and create loyalty and value. MBA scholarships and student research grants will be awarded.
To advance knowledge and improve business practice, the Institute will feature an annual invitation-only conference focused on bringing scholars from top academic institutions and practitioners from well-known corporations together to develop faculty research agendas, influence curricula and solve current business challenges. In addition, the Institute will offer faculty research grants.
National Center for Arts Research
SMU’s National Center for Arts Research, the first of its kind in the nation, acts as a catalyst for the transformation and sustainability of the national arts and cultural community. The center will analyze the largest database of arts research ever assembled and make its findings available free of charge to arts leaders, funders, policy-makers, researchers, students and the general public.
NCAR’s mission is to be the leading provider of evidence-based insights that enable arts and cultural leaders to overcome challenges and increase impact. The scope of this work requires the collaboration of multiple national organizations such as the Cultural Data Project, the National Center for Charitable Statistics, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Theatre Communications Group, TRG Arts, IBM, the Nonprofit Finance Fund and the Boston Consulting Group. Additional information is available at www.smu.edu/artsresearch.
Southwestern Graduate School of Banking Foundation
S. Scott MacDonald, President and CEO
The SW Graduate School of Banking offers a carefully crafted and executed approach to graduate banking education that melds personal growth and professional wisdom by emphasizing intellectual as well as leadership development. The program, which is divided into three integrated two-week resident sessions, is guided by some of the industry’s top management consultants and educators. More information is available at www.swgsb.org.
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