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MEETING EVOLVING NEEDS e School's beginnings are truly a tale of an exemplary learning institution rising from economic ashes. It was in the midst of the Great Depression when the business curriculum was voted upon by the University's Board of Trustees. e program was initially within the Department of Economics, but went on to become a school in its own right within the University system, offering majors in accounting, secretarial studies and labor, among others. Its first dean, Laurence Justin Ackerman, was announced in May of 1941. He served until 1963. In the decades to come, seven more deans and six interim deans would follow, all bringing structural and strategic change to the School with a unified goal: a place at the forefront of relevancy in terms of the business world around us. e same year the School's first dean was announced, the U.S. was entering World War II. Two faculty members were granted military leaves. e University agreed to 1978-79 Executive Office Administration and Executive Secretarial majors discontinued. 1979 Health Care Management is added as a specialization to the MBA program. 1980s 1980 Connecticut Small Business Development Center (CTSBDC) is established. 1981 Information Management becomes an academic department, spinning off from Management, and eventually becomes OPIM. 1982 Business Career Center is established through a grant from Cigna. 1984 Thomas J. & Bette Wolff Program in Entrepreneurship is established. 1985 Accounting programs receive AACSB International accreditation. 1987 First students are admitted into the Ph.D. Program. 1988 Steve Messner serves as interim dean until David Kidwell is appointed the School's fourth dean at the beginning of the Fall semester. 1990s 1990 First students are admitted into the Executive MBA Program in August, a program that had been under consideration since 1984. After starting out in a dormitory basement, the School of Business Administration moved into Storrs Hall (pictured) in 1949. Business Class 1940s 8 UConn: School of Business