Tech Savvy. Business Smart.
The world is experiencing rapid transformation in the face of new technologies and global challenges. A new type of leader is required for this world — one who is analytically skilled, entrepreneurial-minded, and forward-thinking.
The Georgia Tech Scheller College of Business is uniquely qualified to cultivate leaders who know how to solve problems, leverage opportunities, and drive positive change in an increasingly unpredictable, tech-driven world. Scheller offers Undergraduate, MBA (Full-time, Evening and Executive MBA), Ph.D., Graduate Certificate, Executive Education programs. We are also the home to 10 Centers & Initiatives dedicated to cultivating the growth of our students.
The History of the Scheller College of Business
The Scheller College of Business has a distinguished history as part of the Georgia Institute of Technology, one of the top 10 public research universities for almost 100 years.
The College was established more than a century ago in 1912 as the School of Commerce. In 1933, the Board of Regents consolidated Georgia’s higher education system, and the School of Commerce moved to the University of Georgia in Athens. However, to meet the need for management training in technology, an Industrial Management program was established at Georgia Tech, with a master's degree in the subject becoming the first professional management degree offered in the state in 1945. In 1969, the School of Industrial Management became the College of Industrial Management, and the professional degree became the Master of Science in Management in 1985. In Fall 2002, this degree became the MBA. The Ph.D. program was initiated in 1970.
In 1989, the College of Industrial Management was combined with the social sciences, humanities, and economics departments to form the Ivan Allen College of Management, Policy and International Affairs. By 1998, the College of Management once again separated from the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts to become its own college.
On November 6, 2009, the College of Management received an anonymous gift of $25 million. The donor was later identified as Ernest Scheller, Jr., a Georgia Tech alumnus with a degree in Industrial Management and former chairman of Silberline Manufacturing, a Philadelphia-based paint pigment manufacturer. Scheller used $20 million of his donation as a one-to-one challenge grant to inspire charitable gifts and commitments from other donors. Fundraising for the challenge concluded on June 30, 2012.
In June 2012, the College announced a second gift of an additional $25 million from Mr. Scheller, Jr. This combined $50 million gift became the largest cash gift in Georgia Tech's history.
The College of Management was renamed the Ernest Scheller Jr. College of Business, and his donations have been used to double the College's endowment, enrich academic programs, grow the faculty, strengthen the Ph.D. programs, and build the College’s impact on future generations.
Our Home in Tech Square
In 2000, Georgia Tech undertook a $180 million building project in Atlanta called Technology Square, a fusion of business, education, research, and retail space in Midtown Atlanta. This new multi-building complex became home to the Scheller College of Business.
On November 24, 2006, Scheller dedicated the 2,000-square-foot Ferris-Goldsmith Trading Floor. The trading floor includes 54 dual-display computers as well as electronic stock information on walls. The floor is used to train all levels of management students to use financial analysis and electronic trading tools. Business faculty use the facility to research improved human performance in trading environments as well as create new financial service models.
In September 2018, Georgia Tech announced the beginning of the Tech Square Phase III initiative. The two-tower complex will add more than 400,000 gross square feet of space to Tech Square. One of the two planned high-rises, Scheller Tower, will be a new resource for the Scheller College of Business that expands the College's footprint within Tech Square.