At Gies Signing Day, business students publicly declare their undergraduate majors with all the pomp you’d expect from a top athlete signing on to a Big 10 university. School namesake Larry Gies, at right, comes to the event every year to talk with every student. Jeremiah Cox/Gies College of Business
The atrium at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign was decked out with all the regalia and pomp you’d expect at a Big Ten signing day: foam fingers, pom-poms, and even custom Air Jordans – all in Fighting Illini orange and blue.
The marching band played the official fight song from the second-floor balcony. There was a live stream, a 360-degree photo booth, and opening speeches by the dean and one very notable alum. The signing table was center stage, set beneath a balloon arch. A line of students extended across the atrium, around the corner, and to the end of a long hallway.
There were even a few reporters.
The voice of Tim Sinclair – the PA announcer of the Chicago Bears, Bulls, and Fire – bellowed from the speakers:
“On your feet Illini fans! Let’s make some noise!”
It was the same deep baritone used to pump up crowds in professional sports arenas.
“This is Gies Signing Day 2025!”
SIGNING DAY FOR BUSINESS MAJORS
The biggest difference between this event and an NCAA signing day is that the students lining the hallway weren’t high school athletes. They were business students. Though the Gies College of Business admits freshmen directly, students don’t declare their majors until sophomore year.
Gies Signing Day is a chance for them to make it official – in front of their peers, faculty and alumni, and even their parents if they happen to be watching the live stream. Each student walks across the stage, hears their name called by Tim Sinclair, and sits at the signing table with college namesake Larry Gies.
W. Brooke Elliott, dean of Gies College of Business
It’s completely ceremonial, and that’s precisely the point.
“Declaring a major is a big milestone in the student journey, and yet, there aren’t many markers of celebration for it,” says Brooke Elliott, Dean of the Gies College of Business.
“Signing Day in athletics has become such a big deal. We thought, ‘Why not take that concept and apply it to academics?’ This is a very important moment in a student’s life. Students love this event, the families love it as well.”
This year, Gies’ Signing Day was held on March 6 in the Business Instructional Facility (BIF), as students and faculty affectionately call it. The event has become an annual tradition for Larry Gies, who returns to his alma mater frequently to teach classes and speak with students.
“A lot of business schools have big donors, but being able to be on a stage with Larry Gies and have a conversation, even if it’s only a few seconds, it really just humanizes what the future of Gies can look like,” says junior Neela Gilbert who declared a double major in finance and marketing.
Gilbert technically declared last year as a sophomore, but felt she fumbled her delivery. She jumped at the chance to try again.
“This is someone who went here and is now extremely successful and is also personable. So I think that’s kind of a goal that a lot of Gies students want to achieve: Not only just professional success, but also personal success and being able to give back to a community. I think it’s just very aspirational.”
Friends, roommates, and family cheer on Gies College students declaring their majors during Signing Day 2025. Jeremiah Cox/Gies
10 YEARS & COUNTING
Before Signing Day, Gies College sophomores declared their majors with academic advisors at tables in the atrium. Gies undergrads can select from 12 majors, ranging from Marketing to Information Systems, from Accountancy to Strategy, Innovation & Entrepreneurship. Gies also offers several data science-integrated options such as Finance + Data Science, Accountancy + Data, etc.
Ten years ago, an associate dean challenged Michel Watkins to make declaration more of a milestone – something festive, something that built community. Watkins, senior program manager for student engagement and formation, has spearheaded the event since and is the creative force behind it.
The first year, they set up some lights and decorations in the atrium. The second year, football coach Lovie Smith came while U of I’s athletic director Josh Whitman attended the third. Larry Gies has been coming since.
For the event’s 10th anniversary on Thursday, between 150 and 200 students declared their major. Gies spoke with every student.
“We do events for two students, we do events for 30, for 1,000 students and for the entire college. But this one is different. Now, we have family showing up, we have roommates and friends coming. This is by far my favorite event – to see how many people it’s impacted, how far it touches,” says Watkins.
Aria Jain, a junior who declared Accountancy at the event, agrees. Jain serves as the VP of Communications for the Council of Presidents Advisory Board, has held multiple leadership roles in a professional business fraternity, works as a peer tutor in the Gies Success Lab, and is a member of Student Consulting for Nonprofit Organizations.
She couldn’t attend the event as a sophomore due to, you know, classes and such. She made it a priority this year.
“Gies does a really good job of bringing people together,” she says.
“Sometimes they do that quietly through smaller events, but this is one of the louder, more outward events where we show how strong the Gies College community is. You can celebrate each other and your friends in a really nice way.”
To commemorate the 10th anniversary, dean Elliott surprised Watkins with a tribute for all the work she puts into the event: A crystal plaque and the promise for the unofficial Gies uniform – a custom pair of Air Jordans in orange and white.
“There is no person in this school who loves and cares about our students more than Michel,” Elliott told the crowd.
BUSINESS ON PURPOSE
With a couple hundred students to get through, Sinclair does his level best to keep the event moving. There’s just not enough time for Gies to talk with each student as long as he’d like.
Next up is Valeria Ibarra. She sits next to Gies at the signing table and the banter begins.
Gies College of Business freshman Valeria Ibarra declares a double major in Accountancy and Operations Management alongside alum and college namesake Larry Gies during Gies Signing Day on March 6, 2025. Jeremiah Cox/Gies College of Business
“What year are you?” (She’s a freshman.)
“Where are you from?” (Cicero, Illinois.)
“What are you studying?” (Accountancy and Operations Management.)
“Oh! Our first Ops Management” Gies cries. “Hey, you come run a plant for me – I’m being serious. When you get done, send us your resume. We need more people like you.”
On the count of three, Ibarra and Gies each hold up bright orange signs with her two declared majors for the three cameras set up in front. Gies posed with her for an extra second so that her roommate could snap a picture from the crowd.
“Ok, let me sign my career away,” Ibarra jokes as she signs her major declaration form, which also serves as her ticket for top-of-the-line Gies swag.
“At least you know what you’re doing. I like that,” Gies says as she walks off the stage. “Wise choice.”
Gies does this with every student who wants to declare. It takes more than two hours to get all the way to the back of the line. It’s hard to overstate the impact this kind of face-to-face interaction has on the young business students.
He isn’t just a name on a building.
A 1988 graduate of the U of I business school with an accountancy degree, he went on to build Madison Industries, one of the largest privately held companies in the world. In 2017, he and his wife pledged $150 million to the college, which was renamed in his honor.
“Whenever they want me, I’m here. It’s so much fun to give to students and hang out,” he says.
For Gies, education is personal. He believes it is the great equalizer, something he first realized when volunteering as a tutor on the West Side of Chicago.
“Education levels the playing field. It changes the trajectory not just for students, but for their whole families. It’s not about a salary, it’s not about fame and fortune,” he said. “It’s about how you can have an impact on the world. We want students to start thinking about that now.”
The tagline for Gies College is “Business on Purpose.” It is emblazoned on walls, embedded in the curriculums, and in events like Signing Day. The challenge is for students to take that sense of purpose with them through their careers.
“I think the consistency is in the passion of the people and in the mission. We want to help these students think about how to impact the world and to develop that muscle memory early,” Gies says.
After 10 years, friends, family, and alumni look forward to Gies College of Business Signing Day almost as much as the students. Jeremiah Cox/Gies
IMPACT BEYOND GIES
As a senior majoring in finance and information systems, Emilie Reina knew this was her last chance for the photo op and to have Larry Gies personally ask about her career plans.
“Gies wants all their students to feel empowered in their purpose: What they’re studying and where that is going to take them in their careers and in the rest of their lives. How they can use business, and their interests combined with business, to impact other people,” Reina says.
“And so I think that getting students excited about their majors in this way is just one of the first steps in sending students off with that feeling that what you’re studying is important. What you’re studying is a community that you’re a part of.”
As for those career plans? Reina will be working in cybersecurity consulting on M&A deals for PwC after graduation.
Rhea Kumar, meanwhile, is a junior majoring in Finance while also pursuing a dual degree in Brain and Cognitive Science as a pre-med student. She hopes to open a clinic in the future, which led her to ICT (Intercollegiate Transfer) into Gies to gain essential business skills alongside her science education.
Talk about impact and purpose: She is chairwoman for the Council of Presidents (COP), and deeply involved in the Business Council where she has served as DEI Chair, New Member Chair, and Charity Fundraising Chair. She is also a member of the Illinois Medical Screening Society (IMSS), which provides free clinical screenings in the Champaign-Urbana area.
“There’s definitely more of a family feeling at Gies. The fact that Larry Gies comes and speaks in our classes – I mean, he is going to be one of our speakers for my class in a few weeks,” she says.
“In LAS (Liberal Arts & Sciences), there’s definitely nothing similar to this. It’s a huge college as well, but I think that family feeling really just makes you feel at home, and that’s something I appreciate a lot about the Gies College of Business.”
Then it was time for Pranjall Marfatia to step on the stage. The sophomore declared Finance and Accountancy with hopes of eventually becoming an investment banker. He decided on those majors after taking core business classes his freshman year, which introduced him to all of the 12 majors available at Gies.
Marfatia is from New Jersey, so his parents aren’t able to come to all the events at U of I. But they could watch him at Gies Signing Day.
“They saw me with the business guy, Larry Gies.’ That means something. It just shows how much Larry, Michel, and the dean actually care about the success of students in Gies. It really means a lot,” Marfatia says.
His parents watched as he held up his orange ‘Finance’ sign and Gies held up ‘Accountancy.’
They watched as Gies asked him if he was eating, sleeping, and having some fun. They listened as Gies gave a shout out to Mom and assured her that Marfatia was behaving himself.
After shaking Gies’ hand and walking off the stage, Marfatia’s mom sent him the most Mom-text ever: “You look really nice.”
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