Students of the Cameron School of Business now have an edge over all other North Carolina business students, thanks to the re-accreditation of the program by the AACSB.

The Association to Advance Collegiate School of Business accredits only about one third of the 1,200 business schools across the United States. The accreditation means degree criteria are at the highest level of academic excellence. The quality of the education provided by the program will continue to be monitored by the AACSB.

“This accreditation places UNCW as the top ranking business school in North Carolina,” said Larry Clark, dean of the Cameron School of Business.

The AACSB initially accredited Cameron in 1993. The periodic re-accreditation was necessary to ensure that the university continued to reflect the changing business technologies and available knowledge mirrored in the business world outside of campus. Criteria for re-accreditation required an extensive self-evaluation in the program’s mission, curriculum, degree requirements, faculty resources and performance, student placement, technology, and student resources. Following the university evaluation, a team of peer reviews from the AACSB also visited the campus to reaffirm that the Cameron School of Business met the stringent requirements.

Students are receiving one of the best business educations in North Carolina now that the Cameron School of Business has achieved this re-accreditation, Clark said.

He addressed about 50 people in the Warwick Center last Friday evening, in celebration of this achievement. The gathering was originally intended to be much larger, but the AACSB announced its re-accreditation of the Cameron School of Business last Tuesday, only minutes before terrorist attacks in Washington, D.C. and New York. The meeting ended shortly after the decision was made.

“We didn’t feel like celebrating in a way we would have otherwise (on Friday),” Clark said. Provost John Cavanaugh spoke about the role of faculty in the accreditation at the gathering.

“(Faculty members) are the ones that make this business school. This is the best (business school) I have ever been associated with. We offer something that no one else does in the state,” Cavanaugh said.

Former deans of the business school, present faculty and staff and local business people all came together to celebrate the re-accreditation.

Among those in attendance were Norm Kaylor, the original dean of the Cameron School of Business; Bob Warwick, Board of Governors member, and the individual after whom the Warwick Center was named; as well as Bruce Cameron, one of the founders of the Cameron School of Business. Warwick is the leader of the Executive Advisory Board. This board consists of a group of local business people who act as advisors to the management of the business school. This executive advisory board tries to keep the school in touch with the business world.

“When it started we didn’t have any idea it would end up how it has,” Cameron said, with regard to the school’s success.