Gies College of Business

College of Business Receives $150 Million Naming Gift

When Larry and Beth Gies announced their $150 million naming gift for Gies College of Business, it transformed the culture, magnified the sense of pride, and completely altered the trajectory for the 100+ year old business school. Their intent was to create an immediate and lasting impact for current and future students of the College through their investment.

“This investment is, and always will be about the students here and what we can become together-the greatest business school on earth, where purposeful leaders get the tools to pursue their passion to make the world a better place. I’m truly excited for our students and the future of our College,” said Larry Gies.Read more.

Emergency Scholarships Raised in Response to COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the lives of our students. Many have faced difficult decisions about continuing their education. Because of the Gies community’s generosity, the College provided more emergency scholarships than ever before. This helped ensure students were able to continue their education uninterrupted while facing a personal financial crisis.

“This scholarship allowed me to finish my senior year after the loss of both my part-time jobs because of COVID-19. I don’t know what I would have done without the support,” said Sydney Zupan, Business Administration ’20.

Anonymous Gifts Provide Research Funding for Gies Faculty

Gies Business received two generous seven figure gifts from an anonymous donor at the end of 2020 and the beginning of 2022. The gifts provided an unprecedented level of incremental research funding to support the research efforts of Gies faculty as well as support for student scholarships and funds for Gies faculty and staff.

“With this generous support of our scientific mission, Gies faculty members were able to step back and think not only in terms of their next study, but also in terms of their entire research programs,” said Mark Peecher, Deloitte Professor of Accountancy and Associate Dean of Faculty.

Gies Democratizes Education Through Expanded Online Offerings

Gies Business has continued its commitment to breaking down barriers to business education by growing its online academic offerings through three fully online graduate degree programs– an MBA, a master’s in accounting, and a master’s in management that was launched in the early days of COVID. In Spring 2022, the College furthered its commitment by launching a pair of fully online, credit-bearing graduate certificates, the first ever offered by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

“This enables us to serve a new population of learners we might have otherwise never reached–and it’s also a great opportunity for our alumni to stay connected with us for their upskilling and reskilling needs,” said Jeffrey R. Brown, Dean of Gies College of Business. Read more.

Gies Launches Disruption Lab to Drive Innovation

In an effort to prepare students and corporate partners to succeed in a business world being rapidly reshaped by unprecedented technological innovation and social pressures, Gies Business launched the Disruption Lab with Ernst & Young LLP (EY US) as a founding corporate member. The Disruption Lab is a collaborative, cross-campus project aimed at providing extracurricular learning opportunities for students, creating new entrepreneurial opportunities that connect existing campus resources in new ways, and building and strengthening relationships between the College and its corporate partners.

“We believe the Disruption Lab can be an extremely valuable resource for our students and our business partners,” said Robert Brunner, Associate Dean for Innovation and Chief Disruption Officer at Gies College of Business. Read more.