BusinessWeek ranks Kelley 20th in the nation

BusinessWeek magazine ranked the Kelley School of Business’ undergraduate business program 20th in the nation and second among Big Ten universities.

The magazine’s fourth annual ranking of business schools surveyed 3,000 schools nationwide.

Although these rankings are good for the school, Eveleigh Professor of Business Leadership Timothy Baldwin said in an e-mail the Kelley school does not want to be primarily driven by these numbers.

“It’s more of an image,” Sandra Owen, senior lecturer of business communication, said. “It helps as far as people understanding and appreciating who we are, but we know who we are.”

Munirpallam Venkataramanan, chairman of IU Kelley School of Business undergraduate program, attributes Kelley’s ranking to maintaining high standards.

“Predominantly, the school really spends a tremendous amount of energy and time in making sure that we have very highly qualified, good students and great faculty,” Venkataramanan said.

Venkataramanan said “the rankings are not an exact science” and looks to advance Kelley’s facilities and its I-Core program and pushes for students to study abroad.

Sophomore Andrew Campbell would also like to see improvements to facilities such as lecture rooms.

“It’s the most uncomfortable room in the nation,” Campbell said.

The business school has already set in motion major construction plans to develop within the next five years in the undergraduate building. The proposed construction so far is a $60 million campaign.

Kelley plans to revise its I-Core program by establishing a task force to determine where the program is not doing well, Venkataramanan said.

Plans for students to gain a worldly perspective include sending students to countries such as China, Korea, Croatia and Ghana, Venkataramanan said.

“We want to spend our time creating world-class business education, and not just ‘chasing’ ratings,” Baldwin said in an e-mail. “If we do that, the ratings will take care of themselves.”