2 min read June 2023 — The University of North Texas G. Brint Ryan College of Business is a constituent college of the University of North Texas in Denton, offering undergraduate, master’s and doctoral degrees including MBAs, MScs and joint programs. Their state-of-the-art business leadership building stands as proof of their commitment to providing high-quality education. Invest: spoke with Marilyn Wiley, dean of the G. Brint Ryan College of Business about their recent achievements, the current state of higher education in North Texas and how they get younger generations interested in business careers.
What have been some of the biggest highlights for the University of North Texas in the last 12 months?
The University of North Texas is first and foremost very proud of the new campus that we’ve opened in Frisco. It’s a campus designed to serve at least 3,000 students and probably more than that. Our building opened in early January right in the heart of the market growth in the Frisco area next door to the PGA site and other businesses coming in. We will be continuing to offer many of our business degrees there at the undergraduate, master’s and doctoral levels in addition to the broad portfolio of degrees we offer at our Denton campus. We’re still expanding. We are also increasing our focus on corporate and executive education at that campus. Next year, we’ll be offering our Doctor of Business Administration and our professional MBA, which will also be weekend-format programs. So, we are targeting the business community there with the ability to upskill, reskill and grow in their education and leadership.
What’s your take on the current state of higher education in North Texas?
Higher education is in an interesting place. We are still in a location where we’re fortunate to have an increasing student population. The University of North Texas and particularly the G. Brint Ryan College of Business have grown steadily over the past nine years. It’s partly because of the business in-migration and demographics. In the northeast and the central part of the U.S., we’re seeing high school student enrollment decline. So, the population of new college students is decreasing in many areas, in some cases dramatically, and it’s a challenge. We are fortunate to not be seeing that. Another change we’ve seen was a strong and growing demand for the general business analytics degree, but that is evolving toward a more targeted emphasis on specialized areas within analytics. We are focusing on marketing analytics, healthcare analytics and accounting analytics. What we’re also seeing in higher education in the North Texas region are more students who want a menu of flexible choices in how they acquire their education and their degrees. We are offering some different format online degrees than we had in the past. We are partnering with Coursera for an online bachelor’s degree in general business, which is a very flexible business degree.
What sets Ryan College of Business apart from other higher education institutions in the region?
We’re a comprehensive university and we offer a very rich campus environment in that we have music, art, sports and all of the things that are traditional about higher education. But within the Ryan College of Business, that lets us offer more industry-specific degrees because we can partner with those other colleges within UNT. So, for example, we have an entrepreneurship master’s degree designed for biotech engineers and biomedical engineers. We have an MBA in Music Business taught in partnership with our College of Music. And because of the naming gift we received from Mr. Ryan five years ago, we’ve been able to significantly grow our research resources. We have endowed chairs in every area of the college, meaning that we have world-class scholars who lead our intellectual discovery, provide new knowledge for business and enrich our classroom space. And in that process, we’ve seen our rankings rise significantly. We now have the top 100 programs in virtually every area of business. All of our MBA formats are top 100 and hold that distinction from U.S. News and World Report. We are also the number six logistics program in the country. We have just received accounting research rankings that place us number five in the world for our breadth of research. That’s a testament to our accounting faculty, but it also is reflected in our classrooms and through our graduates when they come to the workforce. They are even more prepared because of the excellent first-class date education that they’re getting from those outstanding professors.
What does the growth of the area and all the new residents coming into the region mean for the College of Business?
First of all, it means that we are now the largest college at UNT. Business is a first-choice destination for many of those new graduates, partly because some of them have grown up here and they see the business expansion. And also, companies that are moving here are bringing their families and those students have seen the leadership success that their parents have experienced in their business careers and they want to emulate that. We’ve also developed some amazing corporate partnerships where companies get an opportunity to engage more closely with us and get a more personalized recruiting experience. And then particularly the sports arena continues to grow with the PGA fully completing the move of their headquarters to Frisco. Our Sport Entertainment Management degrees (BBA and MBA) work with the PGA, Cowboys, Mavericks, Rangers,farm teams, and international sports organizations. Having most of those groups right there gives our students incredible internship opportunities that most schools can’t offer. We’re very excited to have those partners participating with us.
How are you at the College of Business reaching the younger audience and getting them interested in studying business?
There’s a national “demographic cliff” with a dropoff in the number of high school graduates That hasn’t yet reached Texas, but it will, so we need to prepare for that and work to make sure that group has the post-high-school experience they are seeking. Students not choosing to go to college increased in number during and after the pandemic period. Now we have a very hot job market, and a lot of students are saying, well, I don’t need to go to college. I can get a great job right out of high school – and they can, but those high initial salaries may not continue to grow in the future if they don’t have the right skills or credentials.. So, what we’re trying to do is reach high school students and help them think about their longer-term career path. We’re telling our story to high school students much more directly and we have our recruiting team in the College of Business now that can present those opportunities. We try to emphasize the toolkit philosophy. You may get a marketing degree with us and you may start in a marketing job, but what we have given you is a set of significant skills that you can apply to any job and a credential that will help you rise to management levels.
Where do you see UNT’s College of Business and the local higher ed ecosystem going in the next two to three years?
This region is fortunate to be so rich in higher education institutions. There is something here for everyone, not just the student, but also the business. So, we are going to make all of that visible and available to our community, to continue to be more connected to our corporate partners so that we grow as they grow, and we are prepared to offer them the workforce that they need. Even after that, we’ll be here for the future with all of the tools that people need to stay engaged with the world and prepared for growth and new technology, skills, information and resources. We are focusing on meeting those changing needs and also on continuing to grow our research presence and our quality.
For more information, visit:
