Business Administration
- Degree Type Bachelor of Science
- Department Business Administration
- Academic Division The Williams School
- Offerings Major Entrepreneurship minor
Business administration is one of the most popular majors at W&L. We offer small classes (usually 16 to 22 91传媒) that are innovative and experiential. Our professors maintain open-door policies and are regularly available to 91传媒 outside of class. Quality teaching is unquestionably our highest priority.
Business Administration
Business 91传媒 engage in multiple aspects of business administration and how they relate to the broader social and cultural aspects of society and the world.
Typical areas of interest are in the financial industry (such as banking, investments, Wall Street and real estate development), marketing (advertising and branding), entrepreneurship, corporate social responsibility, environmental sustainability and business consulting. Business Administration 91传媒 engage in case studies focusing on many aspects of business (finance, marketing, organizational behavior, leadership, strategic management, law and ethics). They have the opportunity to critically analyze real companies in current situations and make recommendations.
The Connolly Center for Entrepreneurship
The J. Lawrence Connolly Center for Entrepreneurship is an interdisciplinary center intended to help 91传媒 from across campus learn how to turn their creative ideas into successful business ventures. Students are immersed in a course of study that emphasizes analytical thinking, qualitative and quantitative reasoning, creativity and innovation.
The Connolly Center provides 91传媒 with the necessary tools to develop business plans that are both executable and fundable, and an extremely supportive faculty and alumni community help shepherd 91传媒’ ventures from concept to business plan to launch and beyond.
The Roger Mudd Center for Ethics
The Roger Mudd Center for Ethics advances dialogue, teaching and research about issues of public and professional ethics across all three of the university’s schools — the College, the Williams School, and the School of Law. It was established in 2010 through a gift to the university from award-winning journalist Roger Mudd ’50.
“I enjoy the process of analyzing problems, finding the best solutions and supporting my decisions with evidence.”
Joe Wen
Class of 2019
Related Programs
The Shepherd Program for the Interdisciplinary Study of Poverty and Human Capability integrates thought and action in direct service to disadvantaged communities. Through an array of courses and service opportunities, the program prepares 91传媒 from a variety of majors and political perspectives to work with those communities to address the problems associated with poverty.
The Environmental Studies Program is designed to educate 91传媒 in a broad class of issues related to the environment and humanity’s place in the natural world.
News
Students explored real-world applications of sustainable business practices in the Social Innovation in Scandinavia Spring Term Abroad course.
At W&L, Walker discovered a passion for English and its focus on learning how to think critically, creatively and empathetically.
This round of recipients marks a record-setting Gilman Scholar cohort for W&L.
The 2025 Entrepreneurship Summit brought 91传媒 together for networking, honing their pitch skills and sharing ideas with alumni.
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Studying abroad in Paris allowed Agbeyegbe to learn more about the intersection of fashion and business.
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Williams is a self-starter, including founding several small businesses and a club squash team.
The Williams Investment Society鈥檚 $25.5 million assets under management rank sixth nationally according to a survey conducted by the Center for Investment Research.
Stephen Welker 鈥05 honors his past by shaping the future.
Davis will deliver a lecture titled 鈥淲eb Scraping for Research on Novel Data鈥 on campus on March 27.
Helen Ezgo 鈥25 and Maina Shodmonbekova 鈥25 traveled across the world to expand their horizons at W&L thanks to the John M. Gunn International Scholarship.
After
W&L
Business administration majors can look forward to careers in investment banking, marketing, consulting, finance, retailing and manufacturing. A number of alumni enter MBA programs at the finest schools in the country.
Meet the Faculty
At W&L, 91传媒 enjoy small classes and close relationships with professors who educate and nurture.
Amanda Bower
Charles C. Holbrook, Jr. 鈥72 Professor of Business Administration and Head of the Business Administration Department
- P: 540-458-8615
- E: bowera@wlu.edu
Bower teaches courses in marketing management and creative strategic planning. She has studied the relationship between the liberal arts and a business environment, which gives her courses an interdisciplinary aspect.
Andrew Hess
Ehrick Kilner Haight Sr. Term Professor of Business Administration
- P: 540-458-8346
- E: hessa@wlu.edu
Hess is a 1997 alum who researches and teaches in areas of social innovation, strategy and international business. Before returning to W&L, he worked for Fleet National Bank and Silicon Valley Bank in Boston.
Nathan Bowden
Visiting Assistant Professor of Business Administration
- P: 540-458-8013
- E: bowdenn@wlu.edu
Professor Bowden is an attorney, educator, and consultant whose primary research interests involve how we regulate financial institutions and other businesses that offer products and services to consumers. His teaches courses about conflict of laws, secured transactions, and financial regulation in the U.S.
Andi Coulter
Assistant Professor of Business Administration
- P: 540-458-8922
- E: acoulter@wlu.edu
Professor Coulter teaches business communication and social media strategy. Her research interests include the music industry, user-centered design, and social sustainability in art. Professor Coulter wrote a book for the 33 1/3 music series on the New York underground band Suicide, and her current research looks at short-form video and engagement analytics.
Gavin Fox
Associate Professor of Business Administration
- P: 540-458-8018
- E: foxg@wlu.edu
Fox teaches marketing and works extensively with the entrepreneurship faculty. His background is in supply chain management and he served a tour in Iraq as a quartermaster First Lieutenant in 2004. He researches viral marketing.
Bright Frimpong
Assistant Professor of Business Administration
Elisabeth Gilbert
Assistant Professor of Business Administration
- P: 540-458-5076
- E: egilbert@wlu.edu
Gilbert teaches courses in the area of organizational behavior. Her research focuses on how people can improve their experiences at work, including such topics as voice, employee well-being and constructive deviance in organizations.
Lingshu Hu
Assistant Professor of Business Administration
- P: 540-458-8383
- E: lhu@wlu.edu
With a PhD in journalism focusing on computational methods and a graduate certificate in AI and Machine Learning, Professor Hu鈥檚 primary teaching interests include making data analytics accessible to 91传媒 in the social sciences and helping 91传媒 master storytelling skills with data analytics and visualization.
Keri M. Larson
Assistant Professor of Business Administration
- P: 540-458-8601
- E: larsonk@wlu.edu
Larson teaches courses that help 91传媒 learn to understand and use data in areas of management. She has researched the analytics of unstructured textual data to support organizational decision making.
Jayson Margalus
Johnson Professor of Entrepreneurship and Leadership and Director of the Connolly Center for Entrepreneurship
Jeffrey Schatten
Associate Professor of Business Administration
Professor Schatten teaches courses on organizational behavior, leadership and decision making, as well as a unique class composed of 91传媒 and inmates and taught at a minimum-security prison near Lexington.
Robert D. Straughan
Crawford Family Dean of the Williams School and Professor of Business Administration
Straughan teaches corporate responsibility and marketing and has authored dozens of studies on sustainable business and cross-cultural business. He has served as Dean of the Williams School since 2015 and worked briefly for Shell Oil鈥檚 Refining and Marketing Division prior to entering academia.
Pooja Thakur-Wernz
Assistant Professor of Business Administration
Thakur-Wernz is a strategic management and international business educator and scholar. Her research focuses on the impact of strategic choices made by firms, such as offshoring, outsourcing and international expansion, on the innovation of firms, especially in the pharmaceutical industry.