The school’s renewed goal is “to be the premier public urban business school in the world”, boasting over 65,000 alumni across 99 countries and an impressive 95.2% job placement rate for 2017 Global MBA grads within three months of graduation.
To reach its ambitious aim, Fox strives to provide student-centric, market-driven business and management education, always staying true to their founder - Russell H. Conwell - and his vision of a diverse and inclusive business school environment.
Working from a mission which centres around innovation, inspiration and integrity, the school is looking forward to a bright future ahead, currently ranked 56th in the world by the Financial Times.
Indeed, despite always maintaining its founder’s vision, the school is not shy of progress and development, committed to equipping its students with the skillset necessary to tackle the challenges of a rapidly-revolutionizing world.
“Steeped in tradition, but defying convention” aptly summarises the school’s culture, advocating a fiercely forward-thinking learning environment.
So, how is the Fox School of Business planning on celebrating this momentous milestone?
In tune with the business school’s progressive and dynamic outlook, this autumn sees ‘Foxtoberfest’ come into full swing.
All 9,000 students, plus alumni and staff, are invited to congregate on campus for an evening of food, music and numerous alumni-owned vendors.
In another eagerly-anticipated highlight of the night, Ronald Anderson, the newly-elected dean, will see the unveiling of a new state-of-the-art space at 1810 Liacouras Walk, expanding the school by 77,000 square feet. The area also features a special Wall of Honor to recognize the Centennial Honorees.
And so, Fox’s 100 year anniversary provides the perfect opportunity to review the achievement-studded history of this unique school, looking back at what’s changed over the years…
To begin, 1943 was the year of the MBA for Fox, establishing its first Master of Business Administration course - which is now world-renowned.
Back in the 40s, the program was largely a part-time evening course, sparking the nickname ‘owls’, jokingly referring to Temple students as nocturnal.
In fact, just a year earlier in 1943, Temple University became the first institution in Delaware Valley to offer a master’s in business as a night course.
To go way back to the 19th century, an early ‘College of Business’ first appeared at Temple University in 1898 but was abandoned due to lack of student registration.
Nowadays, the Fox School of Business still champions small class sizes, yet is the largest business school in the Greater Philadelphia region. Lack of student turnout is certainly no longer an issue!
Moving along the timeline to the roaring 20s, annual fees for the 1929-1930 academic year cost a grand total of $265…
Today, fees for the MBA and other popular courses cost a little more than that, but Fox offers merit-based scholarships as well as scholarships for veterans, 300 of which were handed out in 2017 alone.
Full-Time MBA students are also eligible for financial aid and various loan programs to help make the course as accessible as possible.
And, of course, how can we forget the highly successful alumni Fox has produced throughout its 100 years?
Since the first business student to receive a Bachelor of Science degree at Fox, Dorothy Murdoch, in 1922, the business school has rolled out masses of high-flying grads who go onto make it big in their chosen fields.
To name just a few: Atish Banerjea, 1991 grad, chief information officer at Facebook; John A. Carrig, 1974 grad, former COO of ConocoPhillips; Steven McAnena, 1993 grad, president of business insurance of Liberty Mutual Group Inc; Larry Miller, 1983 grad, president of Jordan Brand, a division of Nike; and Meg M. McGoldrick, 1976 grad, president of Abington-Jefferson Health.
In order to continue churning out some of the world’s most influential business leaders, Fox knows what it needs to do.
Founder of Temple University, Russell H. Conwell, once said, “we must know what the world needs first, and then invest ourselves to supply that need, and success is almost certain”.
For the Fox School of Business, this observant and adaptive attitude towards business education is still just as pertinent today. Here’s to the next 100 years!
