The Michael G. Foster School of Business is the

business school A business school is a university-level institution that confers degrees in business administration or management. A business school may also be referred to as school of management, management school, school of business administration, o ...

at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

. It was founded in 1917. The school has more than 50,000 alumni, and is accredited by the

Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, also known as AACSB International, is an American professional organization. It was founded as the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business in 1916 to provide accreditation to ...

. The school offers bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees. Enrollment each year is about 2,500 students in its undergraduate and graduate programs and more than 1,000 working professionals in its executive education seminars and lifelong learning programs.

History

Founded in 1917, the UW School of Business Administration was the second business school in the western United States. In 1981, American businesswoman and University of Washington alumna Nancy Jacob became the ninth dean of the School of Business Administration, making her the first woman to lead a major American business school. On September 7, 2007, it was announced that the UW Business School would be named for Michael G. Foster. Michael G. Foster was a University of Washington graduate who went on to become the president of his family’s local investment firm.

Academics

At the undergraduate level, Foster offers a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration (BABA) degree, with 7 formal options of study: accounting, entrepreneurship, finance, human resources management, information systems, marketing, and operations & supply chain management. Students pursue a common curriculum in the lower division and upper division core courses, then specialize in their area of focus. Foster undergraduates can also earn a Certificate of International Studies in Business (CISB) or participate in the Foster Honors Program. Meanwhile, entrepreneurship and business minors are available for non-business UW students. Non-business UW Students may also earn a Sales Certificate or participate in the Lavin Entrepreneurship Program. At the graduate level, the University of Washington Foster School offers a full-time

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

(MBA) program, Global Executive MBA program, Evening MBA, Executive MBA, Hybrid MBA (online program), Technology Management MBA, and a doctoral program. The school also offers one-year master's programs in entrepreneurship, accounting, information systems, and supply chain management. For the 2015-2016 academic year, there are total of 102 full-time faculty with 44 endowed chairs, professorships, and research fellowships. The Financial Times ranked the Foster School 24th in the world for research in 2014 and 2015. Foster School of Business also has a PhD Program in Business Administration, a full-time and year-round research-based program.

Admissions

Admission into the Foster School of Business is highly competitive. At the undergraduate level, the majority of students are admitted through Standard Admission. Through Standard Admission, students first matriculate to the University of Washington as pre-major students, then apply to Foster after completing certain prerequisite courses, prior to their sophomore or junior year. A small number of students are admitted through the Freshman Direct program, directly out of high school. These students are selected from the pool of students admitted into the University of Washington, and exhibit "exceptionally competitive academic records". In 2018, admitted Freshman Direct students had an average high school unweighted GPA of 3.91 (on a 4.0 scale). Rankings The Foster School of Business MBA program is ranked 30th in the nation by

Bloomberg Bloomberg may refer to: People * Daniel J. Bloomberg (1905–1984), audio engineer * Georgina Bloomberg (born 1983), professional equestrian * Michael Bloomberg (born 1942), American businessman and founder of Bloomberg L.P.; politician and ma ...

, 22nd by

US News ''U.S. News & World Report'' (USNWR) is an American media company that publishes news, consumer advice, rankings, and analysis. It was launched in 1948 as the merger of domestic-focused weekly newspaper ''U.S. News'' and international-focused ...

and 8th by

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...

for "Top MBAs for Women." The Financial Times B-School rankings 2017 ranks the Foster School of Business at #41 in the world. An objective ranking of Faculty Scholarly Productivity Index by Academic Analytics ranks University of Washington #1 in research productivity in Business Administration and #8 in marketing. ''U.S. News & World Report'' ranked Foster's Evening MBA program 8th among public universities in 2014.

U.S. News ''U.S. News & World Report'' (USNWR) is an American media company that publishes news, consumer advice, rankings, and analysis. It was launched in 1948 as the merger of domestic-focused weekly newspaper ''U.S. News'' and international-focused ...

ranks Foster's undergraduate program #19 nationwide on their list of Best Undergraduate Business Programs, out of 504 U.S. schools, and #9 among public universities.

Campus

The University of Washington Foster School of Business campus comprises six buildings, five in Seattle, Washington, and one in Kirkland, Washington. * Founders Hall will be opening in June 2022 and is being funded entirely by private gifts from leadership donors. The building will house classrooms, student team rooms, space for student programs, career services, and experiential learning centers. It will be one of the greenest buildings on the University of Washington campus, designed to achieve a 79% reduction in energy consumption over the next 60 years. * PACCAR Hall is one of two new buildings that serve as headquarters for the Foster School. It contains faculty offices, classrooms, a cafe and commons. The

Foster Business Library The Foster Business Library is the business library at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington. As part of the university system of libraries, it serves the 3,500 students, faculty, and staff of the Foster School of Business. The 21,5 ...

is accessible from PACCAR. * Dempsey Hall, named for Neal Dempsey, general partner with Bay Partners and lifelong supporter of the University of Washington. Dempsey Hall opened in fall 2012. * Mackenzie Hall, named in memory of Donald Mackenzie, Chair of the Department of Accounting from 1949 to 1955. Mackenzie is home to the offices of the Foster School's Consulting & Business Development Center, the Global Business Center, the Center for Leadership and Strategic Thinking, as well as the Foster School Advancement and Alumni teams. In August 2020, demolition of Mackenzie Hall began to make way for Founders Hall. * Bank of America Executive Education Center houses the offices, classrooms, and lounge spaces for the Executive Education and Executive MBA programs for the Foster School of Business. * Eastside Executive Center is located in Kirkland,

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

, and houses offices and classrooms, and collaborative study spaces for the Technology Management MBA Program.

Centers and Programs

The following centers and specialty programs are part of the UW Foster School of Business. * Arthur W. Buerk Center for Entrepreneurship. The University of Washington supports Seattle and the Pacific Northwest, one of the primary

venture capital Venture capital (often abbreviated as VC) is a form of private equity financing that is provided by venture capital firms or funds to startups, early-stage, and emerging companies that have been deemed to have high growth potential or which ha ...

and

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values th ...

communities in the West Coast,

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The Buerk Center for Entrepreneurship connects students, faculty and business community members together and serves as resource for start-ups and companies. * Center for Leadership and Strategic Thinking. The Center for Leadership and Strategic Thinking (CSLT) examines methods and effectiveness of leadership in various industries including health care, defense, and aviation. Center research employs simulations and game theory as new approaches to teaching business management * Center for Sales and Marketing Strategy. The Center for Sales and Marketing Strategy aligns important sales and marketing problems with academic research and analysis techniques to develop strategies that improve business performance, and facilitate business-academic collaboration to create and disseminate sales and marketing knowledge. * Consulting and Business Development Center. The Consulting and Business Development Center provides students with consulting experience, pairing student teams with growing businesses in economically distressed and under-represented minority communities. * Global Business Center. The UW Global Business Center works in partnership with the

United States Department of Education The United States Department of Education is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government. It began operating on May 4, 1980, having been created after the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare was split into the Department ...

to contribute to the international competitiveness of American business by developing and supporting international business programs for students, faculty, and the business community. * Certificate in International Studies in Business. Created in 1992 with support from the Center for International Business, Education and Research, the Certificate of International Studies in Business at the University of Washington enables undergraduate business students to gain knowledge of international issues and global business practices. *The Product Management Center. The Product Management Center *USTC-UW Institute for Global Business and Finance Innovation. The University of Science and Technology of China-UW Institute for Global Business and Finance Innovation fosters collaborative research, promotes student exchange, and supports international education and training through a partnership between the School of Management at the University of Science and Technology of China and the University of Washington Michael G. Foster School of Business. *Foster Customer Analytics Center. The Foster Customer Analytics Center develops and fosters relationships between businesses, researchers, and students in the fields of machine learning and marketing analytics. *Creative Destruction Lab.

Student Life/Foster Community

UW students can join over 1,000 registered student organizations. Some registered student organizations include: * Out in Business, a student organization that positions Foster MBA students to be "leaders of LGBTQ+ inclusion" in business. * Global Business Association, a student organization that enhances Foster MBA candidates’ understanding of cross-border and cross-cultural business issues that permeate the modern business environment. * Business Ethics Association, a student organization that spotlights the importance of ethical business practices. * Business Impact Group UW, a student organization that works with the UW’s Consulting & Business Development Center to develop tactical strategies for small business. * Asian Business Student Association. * Diversity in Business, a student organization in the Foster MBA program. * Alpha Kappa Psi Business Fraternity, a student organization for those who have an interest in business to be provided with opportunities to learn and grow through professional development, philanthropy, and social events. * Association of Black Business Students, a student organization that recruits, assists, and organizes to promote the interest and success of students from underrepresented communities majoring in or interested in business.

Achievements

Some achievements of the

Business School: * UW Foster School of Business has the 2nd most productive management research faculty in North America, according to a joint study out of Texas A&M University and the University of Florida. * UW Team won the Leeds 2011 Net Impact Case Competition, the nation’s premier case competition built around businesses facing sustainability challenges. * University of Washington Foster School of Business PhD Program in Accounting ranks among the top five in the world in a study conducted by Brigham Young University and Utah State University.

Publication

* ''Foster Business''. Business magazine reports on the news from the UW business school. * ''Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis''. It highlights theoretical and empirical research in financial economics. * ''Seattle Growth podcast'' is led by UW Foster professor, Jeff Shulman, and discusses the thoughts of residents, businesses, and city leaders about what Seattle’s economic and population growth means to them. * ''Conversations on Careers and Professional Life'', hosted by Senior Associate Director of MBA Career Management, Gregory Heller, this podcast goes into conversations with UW and UW Foster faculty, staff, alumni, executives, current MBA candidates and other experts relating to career development, planning, and resilience. * ''Frank Discussions'', a series of brief executive interviews hosted by UW Foster Dean Frank Hodge. * ''UW Foster Blog'', reports on the news of the UW Foster business school

Notable alumni

Arts and Entertainment *

Kenny G Kenneth Bruce Gorelick (born June 5, 1956), known professionally as Kenny G, is an American smooth jazz saxophonist, composer, and producer. His 1986 album ''Duotones'' brought him commercial success. Kenny G is one of the best-selling artis ...

, American smooth jazz saxophonist * Chika Yoshida, Japanese

YouTuber A YouTuber is an online personality and/or influencer who produces videos on the video-sharing platform YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006. Influence Influent ...

Athletics * Jim Beattie, former pitcher for the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...

and

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West division. The team joined the American League ...

Fred Beckey Friedrich Wolfgang Beckey (14 January 1923 – 30 October 2017), known as Fred Beckey, was an American rock climber, mountaineer and book author, who in seven decades of climbing achieved hundreds of first ascents of the tallest peaks and best ro ...

, American rock climber and mountaineer *

Paige Mackenzie Paige Mackenzie (born February 8, 1983) is an American professional golfer who played on the LPGA Tour. Early years Born and raised in Yakima, Washington, Mackenzie is a 2001 graduate of Eisenhower High School, where she was selected as a first- ...

, professional golfer *

Edgar Martínez Edgar Martínez (born January 2, 1963), nicknamed "Gar" and "Papi", is an American former professional baseball player and coach. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a designated hitter and third baseman for the Seattle Mariners from 19 ...

, former Seattle Mariner and

MLB Hall of Fame The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests. It serves as the central point of the history of baseball in the United States and displays baseball-r ...

r *

Robert Moch Robert Gaston Moch (June 20, 1914 – January 18, 2005) was an American rower who won Olympic gold at the 1936 Summer Olympics. Moch was born and raised in Montesano, Washington. He was the class valedictorian at Montesano High in 1932. His ...

, American

rower Rowing, sometimes called crew in the United States, is the sport of racing boats using oars. It differs from paddling sports in that rowing oars are attached to the boat using oarlocks, while paddles are not connected to the boat. Rowing is di ...

in the

1936 Olympics 1936 Olympics may refer to: *The 1936 Winter Olympics, which were held in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany *The 1936 Summer Olympics The 1936 Summer Olympics (German: ''Olympische Sommerspiele 1936''), officially known as the Games of the XI ...

* Courtney Thompson, former volleyball player, former member of the United States women’s national volleyball team *

Marques Tuiasosopo Marques Tavita Tuiasosopo (born March 22, 1979) is an American football coach and former player. He played professionally as a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for eight seasons with the Oakland Raiders and New York Jets. Tu ...

, retired quarterback for the

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Oakland from its founding in 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019 before relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan area where they now play as the Las Vegas Raide ...

Banking/Financial *

David Bonderman David Bonderman (born November 27, 1942) is an American billionaire businessman. He is the founding partner of TPG Capital (formerly Texas Pacific Group), and its Asian affiliate, Newbridge Capital. He is also one of the minority owners of the ...

, founding partner of TPG *

Yoshihiko Miyauchi is a Japanese businessman. He is Senior Chairman of ORIX Corp. and was a former CEO of ORIX Corp. Miyauchi served as President of the Council for Promoting Regulatory Reform in Japan. As of 2007, ORIX was Japan's largest leasing and leading d ...

, chairman and CEO of Japanese financial services group ORIX Corp * Ronald "Ron" Oliveira, CEO of

Revolut Revolut is a British financial technology company that offers banking services, but did not have a UK banking licence. Headquartered in London, it was founded in 2015 by Nikolay Storonsky and Vlad Yatsenko. It offers accounts featuring currency ...

USA *

Richard Roll Richard Roll (born October 31, 1939) is an American economist and professor of finance at UCLA, best known for his work on portfolio theory and asset pricing, both theoretical and empirical. He earned his bachelor's degree in aerospace engineerin ...

(MBA 1963), American economist, best known for his work on

portfolio theory Modern portfolio theory (MPT), or mean-variance analysis, is a mathematical framework for assembling a portfolio of assets such that the expected return is maximized for a given level of risk. It is a formalization and extension of diversificatio ...

and

asset pricing In financial economics, asset pricing refers to a formal treatment and development of two main Price, pricing principles, outlined below, together with the resultant models. There have been many models developed for different situations, but cor ...

Beauty/Fashion *

Michelle Gass Michelle D. Gass (Petkers) is an American businesswoman who currently serves as the CEO and Director of Levi Corporation, a position she has held since December 2022. Education and career Gass has a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering fro ...

, CEO and Director of

Kohl’s Kohl's (stylized in all caps) is an American department store retail chain, operated by Kohl's Corporation. it is the largest department store chain in the United States, with 1,165 locations, operating stores in every U.S. state except Hawa ...

Bruce Nordstrom Bruce A. Nordstrom (born October 1, 1933) is an American billionaire businessman, and the former chairman of the retailer Nordstrom, a company founded by his grandfather John W. Nordstrom. He ran the company from 1968 until 1995 and resumed his ...

, former chairman and CEO of

Nordstrom Nordstrom, Inc. () is an American luxury department store chain headquartered in Seattle, Washington, and founded by John W. Nordstrom and Carl F. Wallin in 1901. The original Wallin & Nordstrom store operated exclusively as a shoe store, and ...

Annie Young-Scrivner Annie Young-Scrivner is a Chinese-American business executive who is now serving two years as the chief executive officer of Wella Company. She previously held senior positions at Godiva Chocolatier, PepsiCo, and Starbucks. Early life and ed ...

, CEO of Wella Education *

Hean Tat Keh Hean Tat Keh () is a professor and chair of the Department of Marketing Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including sele ...

(PhD 1998), Professor of

Marketing Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience; selection of certain attributes or themes to emph ...

and Director of Research at

Monash University Monash University () is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Named for prominent World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. The university has a ...

Food *

Marcus Charles Marcus Charles (born November 13, 1973) is an American restaurateur and entrepreneur in Seattle, Washington. He is known for fostering and expanding the Capitol Hill Block Party, resurrecting the Crocodile Cafe music venue, and founding Neumos Cry ...

, restaurateur and entrepreneur *

Fran Bigelow Fran's Chocolates, or Fran's, is a chocolate company founded by Fran Bigelow and based in Seattle, Washington. The company is best known for their salted chocolate-covered caramels. Fran's Chocolates has locations in the Seattle metropolitan area ...

, founder of Fran’s Chocolates *

Ivar Haglund Ivar Johan Haglund (March 21, 1905 – January 30, 1985) was a Seattle, Washington, Seattle folk music, folk singing, singer, restaurateur and the founder of Ivar's. Background Ivar Johan Haglund was born in Seattle, Washington, the son of pion ...

, founder of Ivar’s *

Orin C. Smith Orin C. Smith (June 26, 1942 – March 1, 2018) was an American businessman who served as president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Starbucks Corporation from 2000 to 2005. He joined Starbucks as vice president and chief financial officer i ...

, former president and CEO of

Starbucks Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational chain of coffeehouses and roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It is the world's largest coffeehouse chain. As of November 2021, the company had 33,833 stores in 80 c ...

Corporation Government and Judiciary *

Andrew Brimmer Andrew Felton Brimmer (September 13, 1926 – October 7, 2012) was an American economist and business leader who served as a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors from 1966 to 1974. A member of the Democratic Party, Brimmer was the ...

, the first African American to serve as governor of the

Federal Reserve System The Federal Reserve System (often shortened to the Federal Reserve, or simply the Fed) is the central banking system of the United States of America. It was created on December 23, 1913, with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act, after a ...

Suzan DelBene Suzan Kay DelBene (née Oliver; ; born February 17, 1962) is an American politician and businesswoman who has been the United States House of Representatives, United States representative from Washington's 1st congressional district since 2012. ...

, American politician and businesswoman *

Tobias Read Tobias Read (born July 1, 1975) is an American politician who is the current Oregon State Treasurer. He was a member of the Oregon House of Representatives, representing District 27 from 2007–2017, which comprises parts of Beaverton, southwest ...

(MBA 2003),

Oregon State Treasurer The Oregon State Treasurer is a constitutional officer within the executive branch of the government of the U.S. state of Oregon, elected by statewide vote to serve a four-year term. As chief financial officer for the state, the office holder heads ...

and former businessman Gaming *

Robert Khoo Robert Khoo was the President of Operations and Business Development of ''Penny Arcade'' from 2002 until 2016. He was the Business Manager for the company and the Show Director for PAX, the largest consumer gaming show in the United States. Khoo a ...

, President of

Penny Arcade ''Penny Arcade'' is a webcomic focused on video games and video game culture, written by Jerry Holkins and illustrated by Mike Krahulik. The comic debuted in 1998 on the website ''loonygames.com''. Since then, Holkins and Krahulik have establish ...

Peter Adkison Peter D. Adkison is an American game designer and businessman who is the founder and first CEO of Wizards of the Coast (1993–2001). During Adkison's tenure, Wizards of the Coast rose to the status of a major publisher in the hobby game indust ...

, game designer and founder of

Wizards of the Coast Wizards of the Coast LLC (often referred to as WotC or simply Wizards) is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and List of science fiction themes, science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for ga ...

Healthcare * Ivan Liachko, Founder and CEO of Phase Genomics Real Estate *

Donald Bren Donald Leroy Bren (born May 11, 1932) is an American businessman. He is chairman and owner of the Irvine Company, a US real estate development corporation. With a net worth of $16.2 billion, he ranks number 112 on the 2022 Forbes Billionaires L ...

, Chairman of the

Irvine Company The Irvine Company LLC is an American private company focused on real estate development. It is headquartered in Newport Beach, California, with a large portion of its operations centered in and around Irvine, California, a planned city of more ...

Travel * William S. Ayer, president and CEO of

Alaska Airlines Alaska Airlines is a major American airline headquartered in SeaTac, Washington, within the Seattle metropolitan area. It is the sixth largest airline in North America when measured by fleet size, scheduled passengers carried, and the numb ...

* Stanley McDonald, founder of

Princess Cruises Princess Cruises is an American cruise line owned by Carnival Corporation & plc. The company is incorporated in Bermuda and its headquarters are in Santa Clarita, California, Santa Clarita, California. As of 2021, it is the List of cruise lines# ...

* Brad Tilden, CEO of the

Alaska Air Group Alaska Air Group is an American airline holding company based in SeaTac, Washington, United States. The group owns two certificated airlines, Alaska Airlines, a mainline carrier, and Horizon Air, a regional carrier. Alaska Airlines in turn whol ...

References

External links

Interview with Erin Ernst - Foster MBA Admissions Director
{{DEFAULTSORT:Washington Foster, University of Colleges, schools, and departments of the University of Washington Business schools in Washington (state) Educational institutions established in 1917 1917 establishments in Washington (state)