Milestones

Year Milestone
2018 Lee Business School announces the Mel Larson Endowed Chair in Marketing, the first fully endowed chair at LEE.
2017 UNLV ranked #1 most diverse undergraduate campus by U.S. News & World Report (three-way tie which also included Rutgers and Andrews University).

Global Entrepreneur Experience (GEE) is the first UNLV student organization to visit Cuba.

Lee Business School announces $4 million in gifts to propel the school forward and significantly expand the impact of the Center for Entrepreneurship; Announces Center to be renamed the Troesh Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.
2016 Preliminary architectural drawings for a new business academic building are unveiled.

National Science Foundation awards three-year I-Corp grant in the amount of $265,680 to Lee Business School and College of Engineering to provide fifty $3,000 individual grants to fund startups over a two-year period.
2015 Lee Business School approves its first long-term strategic plan to be used as a guide to deliver the school’s mission of cultivating leaders who transform business.

MBA program launches the Lee Business School Sustainability Speaker Series featuring Enterprise Holdings.
2014 MBA launches Fortune 500 Speakers Series featuring Sungard.

Lee Business School launches First Generation Club, which is open to all first-gen students from across campus.

Lee Business School’s fledgling Career & Professional Development Office is expanded to meet the growing needs of an evolving and expanding student body.
2013 Rebel Venture Fund launches its first company, Walls 360, Inc.

Financial Management Association (FMA) UNLV chapter established at LEE to develop and disseminate knowledge about financial decision making and to broaden the common interests and professional interactions between academicians, practitioners and students.

Dr. Brent Hathaway joins UNLV as dean of the Lee Business School and Ted & Doris Lee Professor in Marketing, and launches development of the school’s first long-term strategic plan.
2012 Student-run Rebel Venture Fund is created after a generous gift to establish the fund from local businessman Jeff Moskow.

Percy Poon becomes interim dean of Lee Business School.

DECA launches on campus to prepare emerging leaders and entrepreneurs for careers in marketing, finance, hospitality and management.
2011 College of Business renamed the Lee Business School after a transformative $15 million gift from the Ted and Doris Lee Family to support professorships, scholarships, a visiting professor program, and to establish the Lee Thought Leader Series.
2009 Global Entrepreneur Experience (GEE) is launched by Dr. Janet Runge, supporting entrepreneur-minded students across campus. Cohort 1 began with 20 students and included an international trip to Costa Rica.
2007 Paul Jarley joins UNLV as the dean of College of Business.
2005 Center for Entrepreneurship is established to synergistically add to the University’s ability to transform bright ideas into commercial reality and market-accepted successes.
2002

College of Business launches the Nevada Business Hall of Fame. Inaugural inductees are Las Vegas business legends William “Si” Redd, E. Parry Thomas and Steve Wynn.

College of Business launches the International Business Association (IBA).

Executive MBA Program commences with its first cohort of 21 students.
2000 Lied Institute for Real Estate Studies hosts the inaugural Lieder Awards to recognize individuals or companies that have demonstrated leadership and excellence in real estate.
1999 Richard Flaherty joins UNLV as the dean of the College of Business, after more than 21 years at Arizona State University, including three as the Director of the School of Accountancy.
1998 Dean of Boyd School of Law assumes dual role as interim dean of the College of Business, after Elvin Lashbrooke leaves UNLV for a position at Michigan State University.
1997 Elvin C. Lashbrooke becomes dean of the College of Business.
1996 Norval Pohl is tapped to become UNLV’s Vice President of Finance and Administration. Pohl later leaves UNLV to become President of North Texas University.
1994 UNLV’s Theta Omicron chapter of Beta Alpha Psi launches to recognize outstanding achievements in the field of accounting, finance, and information systems and to provide opportunities for self-development and association among members and practicing financial professionals.
1992 CBER launches its annual Economic Outlook Conference, held each December.
1991 Lee Business School attains the highly coveted Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) accreditation, ranking it among the top five percent of business schools worldwide to hold dual accreditation in business and accounting.
1989 The Institute for Real Estate Studies is established; the Institute is renamed the Lied institute for Real Estate Studies in 1991 after a generous contribution from the Lied Foundation Trust is approved by sole trustee, Christina Hixon.
1986 Norval Pohl becomes dean of the College of Business, after serving for several years as dean of the College of Business Administration at Northern Arizona University.
1985 Tom White returns for a second term as Dean of the College of Business upon the retirement of Dr. George Hardbeck.
1984 College of Business & Economics moves into then newest and most advanced building on campus, Frank & Estella Beam Hall, which it shares with the William F. Harrah College of Hotel Administration. The building receives the designation BEH (Business Economics Hotel).
1978 American Marketing Association (AMA) campus chapter is established (more detail).
1975 Center for Business and Economic Research (CBER) is established to provide seminal research and analysis on important topics impacting local, national and international economies.
1971

UNLV economics and industrial relations professor Dr. George W. Hardbeck becomes the dean of the College of Business & Economics and champions a Ph.D. requirement for tenure.

College of Business & Economics moves into the new Flora Dungan Building from long-time home, Grant Hall.
1969

Nevada Southern University becomes University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV).

MBA graduates triple to 15. 
1968 Business School becomes the College of Business & Economics.

Now in his 50th year at UNLV, Bernie Malamud joins the College of Business & Economics faculty as an ABD (all but dissertation) assistant professor (confirm) of economics.
1967

Department of Business Administration at Nevada Southern University is deemed a school and retired Air Force Colonel and recently-minted Ph.D. Dr. William (Tom) White joins as founding dean, launching a period of rapid program expansion and faculty and student growth.

Masters of Business Administration (MBA) degree is established.

In August of 1967, Ada Lynn Taylor becomes the first graduate to receive an MBA from UNLV College of Business to be followed in June of 1968 by four more newly minted MBAs.
1965

Nevada Southern gains independence from University of Nevada and becomes Nevada Southern University.

Business Administration Department, headed by director Rex Johnson, and new Business Administration degree are formally established.
1964 Business student Jon Eric Cobain, the president of Class of 1964, becomes the first of 29 graduates to walk across the stage at the first commencement ceremony at Nevada Southern (then a division of University of Nevada).

Deans

Name Years
William T. White 1967-1971
George W. Hardbeck 1971-1985
William T. White 1985-1986
Norval Pohl 1986-1994
Elvin C. Lashbrooke 1997-1998
Richard Morgan 1998-1999 (Interim - Also dean of Boyd Law School)
Richard Flaherty 1999-2007
Paul Jarley 2008-2012
Percy Poon (Interim) 2012-2013
Brent Hathaway 2013-2019
Paulette Tandy (Interim) 2020
Wm. Gerard (Gerry) Sanders 2021-Present