Colorado State University College of Business Maintains National Reputation for Excellence with 10-Year Reaccreditation

The College of Business at Colorado State University was recently awarded a 10-year reaccreditation across its full spectrum of programs by the AACSB, the premier international accrediting agency for schools and colleges of business.

The AACSB is the International Association for Management Education and is considered one of higher education’s most rigorous accrediting bodies, stressing academic excellence and commitment to continuous improvement

"AACSB reaccreditation validates the excellence of our faculty, recognizes our commitment to academic excellence and enhances the value of our undergraduate and graduate degrees," said Provost Loren Crabree. "Under Dean Costello’s leadership, Colorado State’s College of Business is providing outstanding, nationally recognized programs, both on campus and in distance learning."

Of the several thousand colleges and universities with business programs, about 1,200 offer undergraduate and graduate degrees in the field. However, only 370 colleges and universities have received AACSB accreditation, including only 72 Research 1 universities such as Texas A&M University, the University of California at Berkley, Cornell University, Michigan State University and Ohio State University. "International accreditation puts our business college in some truly elite company," said Dan Costello, dean of the College of Business. Colorado State University is one of only two universities in Colorado classified as Research 1 by the Carnegie Foundation.

In a letter to Costello, the AACSB cited the college’s outstanding strategy for using the latest in information technology to prepare students to meet today’s business needs, specifically noting the quality of the college’s computer information systems program. The agency also praised the pioneering and continuing leadership in the field of distance learning.

"We will continue to keep our fingers on the pulse of modern business technology and the global business environment," Costello said. "It is our intention to offer programs that provide our students with hands-on understanding of the latest systems, practices and the highest ethics to give our graduates an edge over the competition in the corporate world."

To achieve accreditation, a business school must meet a broad range of quality standards relating to curriculum, faculty credentials, admissions, degree requirements, library, intellectual climate and financial resources. In recent years, AACSB standards have become more stringent and mission-driven so that, when applied to the college at Colorado State, the standards reflect the mission and classification of the university.

Colorado State University offers programs and courses on its campus in Fort Collins, at the Denver Center in downtown Denver and through distance learning. Forbes magazine ranks Colorado State’s MBA among the nation’s top 20 distance-learning programs.