University of Virginia Library

GRADUATE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION CREATED

President Darden briefly reviewed the previous steps taken toward the establishment of
a Graduate School of Business Administration, commented on the outstanding work of Virginia
bankers and business men under the leadership of Mr. Henry E. McWane and others in raising
a million-dollar fund for the foundation, and reported that the General Assembly has
appropriated matching funds for the income from this fund of approximately $100,000 for
the coming biennium.

In the discussion which followed, it was emphasized that the new School would provide
graduate instruction at an advanced level for a limited number of persons who have demonstrated
superior capacity in the field either as (1) undergraduate students in economics and related
subjects, or as (2) young bankers or business men demonstrating unusual promise in the performance
of their work, in addition, the School would organize short courses at the University and
elsewhere in Virginia, providing practical training and refresher courses for larger numbers of
working bankers and business men. President Darden pointed out that the School would probably
be unable to admit students earlier than September 1955. The first dean would need a year
in which to plan the organization of the School and its program, to select the teachers, and
to become acquainted with the University faculties and the bankers and business men of
Virginia with whom he must work.

After further discussion, the following Resolution was adopted.

RESOLVED by the Board of Visitors of The Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia
that a Graduate School of Business Administration be and it is hereby created as a separate
School of the University.

The President thereupon nominated as the first Dean of the Graduate School of Business
Administration Dr. Charles Cortez Abbott, now Converse Professor of Banking and Finance in
the Harvard University Graduate School of Business Administration. In reference to Dr.
Abbott's reputation as an authority on banking and finance, President Darden remarked that
his election as the first professor in the new School would be a testimonial to the generous
contributions in time and money which the bankers of Virginia are giving toward the creation
of the School

The Board, after discussing the qualifications of Dr. Abbott, unanimously resolved that
he be elected Dean and Professor, as noted above under Elections.