The Joseph M. Bryan School of Business and Economics began in 1892 when the Commercial Department was established as one of the three original departments of the State Normal and Industrial School. In 1918, the Department of Economics and Sociology was founded. In 1919, it was renamed the Department of Sociology and Economics. Sixteen years later, in 1935, the two subjects split and an independent Department of Economics was created. In 1940, the Department of Economics broadened its title to the Department of Business Education and Secretarial Administration. In 1963, a new Department of Economics and Business Administration was established, to compliment the existing business department.
In November 1969, upon the recommendation of UNCG Chancellor James S. Ferguson to UNC President William C. Friday, the University of North Carolina’s Board of Trustees approved the establishment of the School of Business and Economics at UNCG. The new school was formed by combining the Department of Economics and Business Administration and the Department of Business Education and Secretarial Administration.
As of 2026, the Bryan School of Business and Economics consists of 22 undergraduate programs, including: Cybersecurity Management, Entrepreneurship, Human Resource Management, International Business Studies, and Marketing. As for master’s programs–they offer an MBA, five discrete MS degrees, as well as having “stackable” certificate programs, allowing students to create a custom master’s degree that suits their specific needs. There is also the Bryan Prelude, a program which provides an opportunity for prospective Master’s students to take designated graduate business courses without having to be formally admitted to a graduate business degree program at the Bryan School. Finally, The Bryan School offers four PhD programs: Management, Consumer, Apparel, and Retail Studies, Economics, and Information Systems.
Deans of the Bryan School of Business and Economics
- David H. Shelton (1970 – 1983)
- Philip Friedman (1984 – 1990)
- James K. Week (1991 – 2011)
- McRae C. Banks II (2011 – 2025)
- Joy Bhadury (2025 – )