Our story
Through the cooperation of New Brunswick companies and professional associations, a department of business administration was established in the Faculty of Arts during 1951 to service the needs of Canadian business for men and women with specialized training in the field of management.
A school of administration replaced the department in 1975 and the Faculty of Administration was formed in 1980. Since 1987 the Faculty has been based in Ethel Frances Singer Hall, a building named in memory of the first Jewish woman (BA'35, MA ‘38) to graduate from the University of New Brunswick.
The development of the BBA degree between
1951 and 1970 was similar to the experiences of other Canadian universities. It
aimed to develop a broad background, especially in the liberal arts. Delivered
by teaching-oriented generalists, a package of functional business courses and
electives was constructed.
Few faculty members were active researchers, and they carried extremely onerous teaching burdens. The business department initially consisted of Ed Maher. As our alumni occasionally recall: "Enter a class on accounting, it's Ed Maher; finance, Ed Maher; marketing, Ed Maher; policy, Ed Maher yet again." Over the years, he was joined by dedicated, and well-remembered instructors, such as Ross Darling (marketing), Al Laughland (accounting), K.P.K. Nair (quantitative methods), and Harold Sharp (accounting).
The demand for business education sharply increased after 1970. At the same time the focus of the BBA degree was shifted toward a comprehensive grounding in a wide range of functional and management courses. New service activities were bundled into the degree: courses about quantitative methods, organizational behaviour, and the business environment. During this period of growth the Faculty hired more professors with doctoral training, particularly in the quantitative methods area.
Throughout its history, the Faculty has pursued a distinctive orientation. We have designed a curriculum that requires students to learn about different subjects, not just business. Through this approach we are able to meet our responsibility to deliver comprehensive educational services for the province of New Brunswick.
UNB's mission statement declares that the university will "serve New Brunswick, the Atlantic Region and the Nation through the provision of broadly educated graduates." BBA students, for instance, must first gain a foundation of learning in non-business subjects and then study different aspects of business. The curriculum thus consists of three elements: a liberal education that represents 40 percent of degree requirements, another 30-40 percent geared to courses in administration, and the balance potentially as studies about a sub-specialty of management.
During the mid-1980s, the Faculty began to supply a Master of Business Administration degree, an initiative that included an MBA/LLB option. During the late 1990's a ‘Co-op' stream was created within the BBA program. The Faculty's operations were extended abroad. The BBA degree was supplied via two organizations: the Royal Bank Institute of Business and Technology (RBTT ROYTEC) in Trinidad and Tobago, and the Sadat Academy for Management Studies (SAMS) in Egypt.
Extensive program revisions have been undertaken since 2000. The BBA degree was completely redesigned. In addition to the regular BBA, an Honours degree option was created, that allows superior candidates to specialize in different topics of business administration. A MBA in Sport and Recreation Management was launched, through a partnership with the Faculty of Kinesiology; and a MBA in Engineering Management was launched in partnership with the Faculty of Engineering. Higher admissions criteria, enrolment management, and recruitment of new faculty members were undertaken as part of a plan to ‘spiral our programs upward.' The Faculty began offering the MBA program in Ukraine during 2005, in collaboration with the International Institute of Business in Kiev. In 2008 the Faculty launched the UNB BBA degree program in Singapore through in partnership with UNB College (affiliated with the Stansfield Group and the Singapore Institute of Commerce).
The UNB Fredericton Senate approved changing the business school's name to the Faculty of Business Administration in May of 2005. The new name reflects our true mission and recognizes us as the sole provider of professional business education at UNB Fredericton. The Faculty has become one of the top business schools in Eastern Canada, with an enviable record of research and teaching accomplishments.
The Faculty is proceeding with the next
stage in its development, the strengthening of a broad set of quality assurance
standards. It is a proud member of the Association for the 
Advancement of
Collegiate Schools of Business. The mission of AACSB International is to
advance quality management education through accreditation and thought
leadership. The process will build upon the accomplishments of the past and
will shape our strategies and resources to ensure that the Faculty will supply
the best business education possible.
