A Golden Anniversary
The McCoy College of Business is celebrating its golden anniversary this year with the theme “50 Years of Excellence: Celebrating Past, Present and Future.”
With its original mission to educate public school teachers on bookkeeping, stenography, and typing, the Business Administration Department officially became the School of Business Administration in September 1970. The college has come a long way since it housed classes in the education building and offered two bachelor’s degrees and one master’s degree.
The full-time tuition and fees for the 1970 academic year were $170, according to the undergraduate catalog. Dr. Leland Wilson was the first dean and served until 1979. A professor of business and chair of the department, Wilson joined the university in 1959. Today, there is an endowed professorship being funded in his name.
Between 1975 and 1980, the business student enrollment jumped 75%. By 1980, one in four students at Texas State were seeking business degrees. Dr. Ed Roach, named dean in 1979, left in 1984 to become president of West Texas State University in Canyon.
Accreditation Earned
Under his successor Dr. Paul Gowens, dean for 15 years, the School of Business succeeded in earning American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) accreditation. “Achieving this goal was no small undertaking since accreditation standards were such that only about 25% of the nation’s business schools were accredited. The university’s and the business school’s remarkable growth during this time period made accomplishing the accreditation goal even more difficult since state funding lagged enrollment growth by up to two years, and resources were always scarce,” Gowens says.
“Everyone at the university worked together to accomplish this goal that reflected the quality of the business school’s faculty, its degree programs, and the education students were receiving,” he says. “AACSB accreditation was a landmark achievement that sent an important message to prospective donors and employers about the quality of the students from Texas State.”
In 1999, Southwest Texas State University celebrated its centennial and designated academic schools as colleges. Gowens transitioned from dean to faculty as the university’s first NCAA faculty athletics representative.
Dr. Denise Smart was named dean of the College of Business in 2000. “It was clear that Southwest Texas State and the School of Business had an accomplished faculty with a commitment to providing an excellent educational experience for students and a general readiness to move to the next level. The potential was palpable,” she recalls. “There was an energy that developed with the announcement that a new home for the business school would be built. Advisory boards, alumni, and businesses increased their interest and engagement. Then in 2004, Emmett and Miriam McCoy pledged a $20 million gift that truly transformed the School of Business and set it on an extraordinary trajectory.”
In 2006, the 126,000-square-foot building, McCoy Hall, opened. The building was under construction when the McCoy’s gift was announced. At that time, Emmett McCoy, the retired CEO of McCoy’s Building Supply Centers, was quoted as saying: “We think this gift can make a real difference for the College of Business Administration and will help make it a better college. We believe it can be one of the best in Texas.” The generous gift provides funds for endowed chairs and distinguished professorships as well as undergraduate and graduate scholarships, student and faculty development, and program support.
McCoy College Today
Today, the McCoy College of Business offers a bachelor of business administration (B.B.A.) from the following majors: accounting, computer information systems, economics, finance, management, and marketing. Students can also earn a B.A. in economics. The School of Business earned a specialized AACSB accreditation in 2013 for the accounting programs.
Its seven graduate degree programs are: Master of Business Administration (M.B.A) – Full-Time Cohort, Master of Business Administration (MBA) – Flex, Master of Accountancy (MAcy), Master of Science in Accounting and Information Technology (MSAIT), Master of Science in Human Resource Management, Master of Science in Marketing Research and Analysis, and a Master of Science in Data Analytics and Information Systems. The McCoy College of Business also is home to the Center for Entrepreneurial Action, the Center for Professional Sales, and the Institute for Global Business.
The total number of degrees (bachelors and masters) awarded in 2018-19 stands at 1,413. There are three business minors: business administration, economics, and international business. By 2019, enrollment in the McCoy College of Business exceeded 4,600 majors and also served nearly 3,000 business minors.
Currently, there are 25 active business student organizations — these include international organizations, honor societies, and college clubs for accounting, marketing, entrepreneurship, IT professions, and sustainability among others. Over the years many of these organizations, including international organizations, have won state, regional, national and international honors.
Growth of Endowments and Scholarships
Since it was established in 2004, the McCoy College
of Business Foundation has established in excess of 137 endowments and has approved distributions of more than $9.6 million in support of faculty, students and program funding. There are more than 120 scholarships designated for all business majors.
Among the university’s more than 200 Distinguished Alumni (DA) are 35 with business degrees. The DA award began in 1959, when then-Sen. Lyndon Johnson was recognized with the first award.
“These individuals represent the breadth of career successes that started with an excellent foundation gained in the business school fostered by faculty and staff committed to preparing students to lead and contribute to ethical business practice and enhancement of their communities and world,” Smart says.
“As the college begins its next 50 years, faculty will continue providing students with relevant educational opportunities along with undertaking research that solves challenges facing business now and those that have yet to be imagined.” ✪