Stern Timeline

	From day one, the history of NYU Stern has mirrored that of the city to which it is so closely tied. NYU’s business school was founded just over 100 years ago to provide business training to the sons and daughters of immigrants. Today, the Leonard N. Stern School of Business is at the forefront of business education in America and the world. Here are some of the milestones of the Stern story.

1900 - The NYU undergraduate School of Commerce, Accounts and Finance is founded to provide professional training for young people in the business world.  It is located on the University’s Washington Square campus.

In the same year, the first women matriculate, beginning a long tradition of inclusiveness.

1913 - Jeanette Hamill, J.D., M.A., joins the School’s Economics
department, becoming its first female faculty member.

1916 - The graduate business program is launched in New York’s downtown business district. The School’s "Wall Street Division" serves both full-time and currently employed students.

1928 - The School awards its first Doctor of Commercial Sciences degree.

1936 - Women comprise 15 percent of the total enrollment.

1941 - Business school enrollment reaches 10,000.

1945 - Business school graduates now hail from 36 countries and nearly all 48 states.

1960s - International business courses are introduced and become an important focus of the School’s curricula.

1972 – The School of Commerce, Accounts and Finance is renamed the College of Business and Public Administration. Tisch Hall opens at 40 West Fourth Street to house the undergraduate college.

1988 - A landmark $30 million gift from alumnus Leonard N. Stern (BS, 1957; MBA, 1959) allows the School to consolidate its graduate and undergraduate facilities at NYU’s Washington Square campus. The School is renamed the Leonard N. Stern School of Business.

1992 - Stern's new $68 million state-of-the-art facility is inaugurated.

1993 - The Stern MBA curriculum is restructured to better prepare students for the new realities of a global business environment.

1997 - Stern’s undergraduate curriculum is revamped to provide every student with broader exposure to the arts and sciences, more in-depth business courses, and subsidized opportunities for international study.

1998 - A generous $10 million gift from Dr. Henry Kaufman (PhD 1958), the noted economist and Chairman Emeritus of the Stern Board of Overseers, underwrites a major expansion and upgrading of Stern’s facilities. New and renovated space is used almost exclusively to improve the quality of student life. 

1999 - In response once again to rapid changes in business and technology, the Stern MBA curriculum is retooled to better equip students with the broad-based knowledge, global perspective and cross-functional skills employers most want in an MBA.

Prominent investment banker and Home Depot founder Kenneth G. Langone (MBA 1960) donates $10 million to Stern. The part-time MBA program is renamed the Langone program in his honor.

Stern anticipated its 100th birthday in the year 2000 by launching a $100 million Centennial Campaign, the School’s most ambitious fundraising effort to date. The campaign doubles Stern’s endowment, the number of named professorships, and the level of student financial aid.

Today - Stern’s reputation is at an all-time high, and its contributions to the business life of New York and the nation have never been greater. Today’s Stern is a vital part of the 13 schools, colleges, and divisions that comprise New York University, one of the world’s most dynamic and distinguished learning centers.