The Bryan School at 50

By Eddie Huffman

One North Carolina business wanted to sell pickles abroad.

Another wanted to sell chemical products for racing engines. Both found new markets across the Atlantic with help from students in the Bryan School of Business and Economics at UNC Greensboro.

“It would be a rare student that would graduate from the Bryan School who had never done a hands-on consulting project,” says McRae Banks, the school’s dean since 2011.

The Bryan School celebrates its 50th anniversary this fall, a half century marked by dramatic growth and change. The school’s success and longevity comes from staying ahead of trends in business and education, as well as from interaction with the business world on consulting projects and other partnerships.

“These students are doing things for companies that are serious about getting results, because they know that those results can keep them from making major mistakes, or they can open up new markets to them,” Banks says. “A project can also help them refine their business model.”

In 2019, the Bryan School offers its 4,200 students 11 undergraduate degrees, six master’s degrees and four doctoral degree programs. The school also offers customized executive education and certificate programs in areas such as cybersecurity and supply chain management. An everevolving curriculum helps keep the school ahead of the curve and provides employers with graduates who fit their needs, Banks says.

The thousands of Bryan School alumni include Ray Crouse, president and CEO of Parsons Federal Credit Union; Melissa Stone Sale, general manager at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory; and Gary Keffer, director of strategic marketing at Universal Music Group Nashville.

Prominent local grads include Nido R. Qubein, president of High Point University; Greensboro developer Marty Kotis; and Tracy Hamlett Myers, the executive vice president of member engagement at the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce and an adjunct professor in the Bryan School.

Banks met with a number of local executives when he first came to Greensboro to learn why they hired or rejected the school’s graduates.

“One thing they told me pretty uniformly was that our students outperformed the students they hired from other, better-known business schools in North Carolina,” Banks says. “They said, ‘They’re really well-prepared technically, but they’re also really hard workers. They don’t take anything for granted; they don’t expect to be given anything; they expect to work for anything that they get.’”

Lauren Kalo of Burlington was drawn to the Bryan School because of its prestigious reputation, and she “fell in love with the vibe of the campus.” She’s just starting her junior year, and after earning her degree hopes to live on the West Coast and build up to a career in brand management.

“When I go into the Bryan School, it feels like walking into my home,” says Kalo, who serves as president of the Student Government Association at UNCG. “The faculty there genuinely want you to do well. Every school will tell you they want you to do well, but they don’t necessarily show it.”

Another aspect of the Bryan School that attracted Kalo was the diverse makeup of its student body, currently 27 percent African-American, 9 percent Hispanic and 15 percent other minorities. International students and faculty were rare when Bill Tullar started teaching at UNCG in 1973 – as were male students. The university was called the Woman’s College of the University of North Carolina just a decade earlier.

“I was in a master’s program here in ’69-’70,” Tullar says. “When I first started here, it was very predominantly female.”

He has witnessed dramatic changes to the student body and the faculty. His colleagues now hail from around the world, with other professors from Nepal, Iran, Canada, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Finland and beyond.

“My department has three Chinese professors,” Tullar says. “My department head’s from Ghana.”

A series of evolutionary stages led to the creation of the Bryan School at UNCG. The Department of Economics and Business Administration and the Department of Business Education and Secretarial Administration merged in 1969 to form the School of Business and Economics.

Other highlights include approval of the MBA program in 1970, opening of the school’s current building in 1980 and accreditation of the school’s undergraduate and graduate degree programs in 1982 by the AACSB. In 1987, the school changed its name to honor Joseph M. Bryan, a prominent Greensboro philanthropist and major donor.

The Bryan School established an alumni association in 1994 and created The Center for Global Business Education and Research in 1996. In 2003, the school got approval to offer doctoral programs in economics and information systems. The North Carolina Entrepreneurship Center launched in 2009, followed by the North Carolina Sales Institute in 2015.

“When I started, I learned that we had the first part-time MBA program in the state of North Carolina,” Banks says.

He regularly hears from alumni who have fond memories of carpooling from locales such as Raleigh for that innovative program. They tell him things like, “On the way back, we would talk about what had happened in class and the assignments that were coming up for next time. Some of those guys are still my best friends in the world.”

“We hear stories like that all the time,” Banks says.

For the 2019-20 academic year, the school is placing an increased emphasis on professional development and problem solving. Students will be required to take a four-year series of classes focused on personal and professional development.

“Students will develop skills such as understanding oneself and one’s strengths and values, in addition to building the professional and career skills employers seek,” Banks says.

He recounts his initial meetings with area employers to explain his passion for developing exceptional problem solvers.

“Executives routinely told me that the reason they achieved success was their ability to solve problems and add value to their workplace,” he says. “Companies do not come to us to hire leaders. They come to us to find graduates with leadership skills who know how to solve problems.”

The Bryan School’s current building was constructed in the late 1970s and opened in 1980.

Want to learn more?

For a list of events celebrating the milestone, as well as photos, videos and more on the history of the Bryan School, visit

bryan50.uncg.edu