10 Undergrad Business Schools To Watch In 2024

Lehigh University College of Business

The last decade has already been transformative for Lehigh University’s College of Business. Under the leadership of dean Georgette Chapman Phillips, the college has launched disruptive MBA and master’s programs and grew faculty by 23%.

In the undergraduate program, it overhauled the curriculum while adding a business analytics major as well as minors in fintech and international business.

Last spring, the school opened the new 74,000-square-foot Lehigh Business Innovation Building (BIB) with flexible, high-tech meeting rooms, new classrooms, and study spaces to facilitate collaboration.

Today, the College of Business enrolls about 1,300 business undergrads, 400 business and engineering undergrads, and 300 graduate students.

On June 30, Phillips will step down from the deanship to start her next challenge: Retirement.

Lehigh Business has no plans to pause their transformation. We’re anxious to see what they do.

P&Q INTERVIEW WITH NAOMI B. ROTHMAN

We reached out to Naomi B. Rothman, associate professor of management and associate dean and director of undergraduate programs, to tell us about comes next for Lehigh Business.

What are recent and upcoming program developments and innovations that will enhance the experience of future students?

Graduates are even stronger and better prepared for business today and tomorrow thanks to our innovative new program developments.

In Fall 2022, we introduced the new Business Analytics major to prepare students with cutting-edge knowledge and skill sets that will enable them to be competitive in the rapidly growing field of business analytics. In this major, students focus on technological tools to extract, integrate, visualize, analyze and interpret data to support business decision making. These skills can be applied to a broad range of industries.

In Spring 2023, we opened a new, 74,000-square-foot Lehigh Business Innovation Building (BIB). The BIB is focused first and foremost on collaborative student learning, which is essential for preparing students for life after Lehigh, and particularly for working across different fields and disciplines to solve complex problems. This building includes flexible, high-tech meeting rooms, classrooms, and study spaces to facilitate collaboration, as well as open space to encourage a sense of community. It also houses an expanded Bosland Financial Services Lab, the Rauch Center for Business Communications (with video recording studio, coaching rooms and mock interview rooms), a new behavioral research lab, and new Lehigh Ventures Lab.

In Fall 2025 we will open our third inter-collegiate business degree. This time, between Business and Health. This integrated business and health program, an interdisciplinary degree with Lehigh’s new College of Health will train students to become leaders in the health industry. Students from this program will have both an understanding of the core principles of business and an in-depth knowledge of health economics and policy. This program is our newest inter-collegiate program, alongside our two original programs with Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science: (1) the integrated business and engineering honors program (IBE), and (2) the computer science and business honors program (CSB) both of which are more than 20 years old.

Any other notable news coming for 2024 that readers should know?

After 10 years, the current College of Business dean, Georgette Chapman Phillips, announced her retirement effective June 30, 2024.

A generous donation from PWC will allow us to expand even further our new Student to Professional co-curriculum and student experiences, to support Lehigh Business students in their journey to become prepared for the competitive job landscape, connected to alumni, mentored by peers and professionals, and ready to make an impact.

What are your program’s two biggest differentiators from other top undergraduate business programs? How do these prepare students for their careers?

First, Interdisciplinarity. Based on the understanding that complex challenges are often best understood and addressed by bringing diverse experts (and perspectives) together, we intentionally prepare our students to connect knowledge across disciplines and we teach them how to work in (and lead) collaborative interdisciplinary teams, in order to fuel innovative problem solving and collective intelligence. We teach students how to listen, ask questions, give feedback, take others’ perspective, and be less defensive in these teams.

Students practice working collaboratively in cross-functional teams numerous times during their four-year education. We connect our students – across all our departments – to real companies and real problems. Team projects help to translate in-class learning to hands-on-impact. We believe this approach teaches our students to take risks, grow intellectually, cognitively, morally, and even emotionally. This practice, we believe, will prepare our students for careers that make a difference in a dynamic world, and that build a better future.

Students take an intentionally interdisciplinary curriculum from week one of coursework. Our undergrad curriculum sets the stage for both broad and deep learning. Our students gain broad knowledge about business through core courses, deep knowledge about a business discipline (or two) through their majors, and the 33 hours of non-business electives – beyond business – challenge them to broaden their perspective and grow their potential for contribution. We try to remove boundaries across disciplines.

Students find synergies that align with their interests. They find synergies within the Lehigh College of Business – double majoring or minoring across business disciplines – and they find synergies with other Lehigh Colleges – often minoring in psychology, computer science, or international relations, for instance. As a result, students both grow deep roots and explore broad interests through combining majors and minors in eclectic ways.

Second, beyond the classroom, Lehigh has an ethos around creating high-impact, interdisciplinary learning opportunities for all students. Students transform curiosity into action outside of the classroom through Lehigh’s office of Creative Inquiry, that supports a wide range of interdisciplinary initiatives. The opportunities seem almost limitless for teams of students, faculty and external partners to collaborate on projects that have the potential to address the most relevant and complex problems of our times, and to pursue new intellectual, creative, and artistic projects. Lehigh’s Baker Institute for Entrepreneurship, Creativity & Innovation, established in 2010, empowers students to spark creativity and challenge the status quo through their numerous programs: The Hatchery – student idea accelerator, Eureka! – venture program, Lehigh Silicon Valley, Lehigh Ventures Lab – supporting Lehigh founders, and Design Thinking curriculum.

Students can also spend the summer with Startup Academy working at an early-to-mid stage startup in San Francisco for 10-weeks, or work in a remote internship through Lehigh@Nasdaq Innovation Internship during the semester.

What separates your graduates from other business school graduates?

The mission of Lehigh University College of Business is to provide an intellectual and professional learning environment that advances knowledge through research and scholarship and that develops future leaders through experiential learning, rigorous analysis and the discipline of a strong work ethic – the hallmarks of a Lehigh University business education. We have a well-earned reputation for being a challenging academic program. Students who are going to be successful at Lehigh Business learn to work hard and carry that with them, ready to accelerate into their careers. But Lehigh Business students don’t just work hard, they are also known for being well-balanced, collaborative, and creative problem-solvers.

Explain the career services, programming, and extracurriculars that give your students an advantage in career outcomes?

Lehigh Business’ Student to Professional program is a multi-year co-curriculum that supports students’ professional development along their journey from the first semester of college through students’ 3rd year.

Tier 1 students build a foundation for their essential career skills and knowledge through required coursework in their first semester. Tier 2 students engage in community building, cohort based, co-curriculum in the spring semester of their first year. This tier strengthens students’ knowledge and planning in key professional areas. Tier 3 enhances our students’ personal preparation as they actively apply for experiential learning opportunities, including internships. This is a self-paced co-curriculum. Tier 4 allows students to participate in specialized activities/programs organized by major, industry, or skill.

The Student to Professional program at Lehigh Business works closely with the Center for Career and Professional Development (CCPD) to deliver this program, and CCPD offers support to students for two years after graduation.

Our 23 student clubs organize numerous events on campus throughout the year, including the Women in Business annual conference and Lehigh Consulting Summit.

The Business Club Council provides club members with the opportunity for collaboration in experiential learning opportunities, networking, and the development of leadership skills. It also provides exposure to the College of Business degree programs, co-curriculum, events and career awareness. The council serves as a bridge between all clubs, classroom content and industry-specific opportunities. The council provides social organization for all business clubs to develop relationships with their peers, as well as, with prospective business partners and employers.

Indicative of our incredibly strong alumni family, our alumni created the Lehigh Wall Street Council, open to Lehigh alum, parents, and friends to cultivate a Lehigh alumni community within the global financial services industry that supports the advancement of the professional and academic goals of Lehigh alumni, students, faculty and the university.

In that same vein is the Lehigh Finance Mentorship Program. The program provides Lehigh Business finance students with a young alumni mentor, who is working in the financial services industry. The young mentor, in turn, is mentored by a distinguished alumni mentor. Creating connections is more important than ever and our Lehigh alumni, who conceived this program, continue to be a resource for undergraduate students.

When alumni look back on their time in your undergraduate business program, what would they consider to be their signature experience?

We like to say that at Lehigh College of Business you will enjoy “big university” opportunities with a “small university” feel. We are small enough for you to have personal relationships with faculty, staff and alumni, and you will develop friendships and networks that will last a lifetime.

After all, “the people make the place.” Students feel welcomed into a very special, Lehigh community where students, faculty and staff are working hard, together.

Amidst all our innovative programming our “signature experience” is something quite simple: Lehigh Business offers close relationships with world-class faculty. Our faculty are accessible to students, and our institution is deeply committed to excellence in both teaching and research.

What is the most underrated feature of your undergraduate business program and how does it enhance the experience for your business majors?

All our students are engaged in “signature experiences” whether it be on campus and in class projects, class simulations, capstone projects or outside of these traditional learning modalities.
Although our classrooms in the state-of-the-art Business Innovation Building are awe inspiring, learning is not confined to the classroom at Lehigh Business. Students are invited to apply theory to solve real problems in a wide variety of centers—beyond the classroom.

From our many student-led clubs and organizations to worksites across the world and the USA, students can start applying their business education from the very start.
Students have so many additional unique opportunities to have “signature experiences” or global immersion trips, projects or experiences at Lehigh that it is inevitable they will take part in one of them; it’s simply structured into our DNA.

For example, we have numerous study abroad opportunities, and the opportunities continue to grow.

Over 25 years ago, The Tauck Scholars Program, endowed by Arthur Tauck ’53, was established, providing an opportunity for business students to participate in an international internship or other international educational experience during the summer before their senior year with stiped provided.

More recently, Lehigh faculty have developed various programs during the summer and winter breaks. Current Lehigh faculty-led summer programs for Business include Lehigh in Belgium (Leuven), Lehigh in Ireland (Galway), Lehigh in Milan, and Lehigh in Greece. A winter program for January 2024 engages students to learn about real estate development in Dublin, Ireland.

Closer to home, students can work on launching a new start-up through Lehigh Ventures Lab: created in partnership with Lehigh’s Baker Institute for Entrepreneurship Creativity and Innovation. In fact, this lab has helped launch over a dozen new startups.

Which employers are the biggest consumers of your undergraduate talent and what have they told you about your alumni that make them so special?

Over the last two years, our top employers have been EY, PwC, KPMG, Deloitte, Bank of America, Vanguard, Merrill Lynch, BASF, Crowe, Johnson & Johnson, BNY Mellon, J.P. Morgan, Citi, Amazon, Walmart, FTI Consulting, Wells Fargo, Protiviti, Alvarez & Marsal, Prudential, Goldman Sachs, Accenture, Susquehanna International Group, LLP (SIG).

Lehigh recruiters universally described Lehigh graduates as hardworking, resilient, well-rounded and well-balanced. (2022, The Career Leadership Collective Consulting Report)

Top employer partners at Lehigh have shared that Lehigh students and graduates demonstrate strength of content knowledge within their major and exhibit work-based, experiential skill sets within their industry. They are collaborative and understand the value of teamwork in the workplace. Students are highly communicative and articulate with strong abilities to not only listen and process information, but also to problem solve and offer suggestions for creative and viable solutions.

What else would you like readers to know about your program?

With the leadership of the College of Business dean, Georgette Chapman Phillips, Lehigh Business has cultivated a culture characterized by innovation and experimentation, collaboration across difference, hard work and grit, and all with a focus on fairness and ethics. Her vision has inspired so many new, innovative changes at Lehigh Business. Built on an already strong foundation and tradition of excellence, she has pushed us to Break Boundaries and her legacy will live on. There’s much more to come. Watch us!

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