Howard Thomas, dean of the college and James F. Towey Distinguished Professor of Strategic Management, was elected vice chair of the Graduate Management Admissions Corporation (GMAC) board of directors in June 1998. He will become chair of the board in June 1999. GMAC manages and administers the GMAT, the business examination used by graduate business programs to screen prospective students. GMAC also conducts studies of aspects of graduate business education.
--Alice Waldoff

They said yes in a big way. More than 50 percent of those accepted by the university for Fall 1998 decided to attend, making the UIUC Class of 2002 a bumper one. And while this influx only increased CBA’s freshman class by about ten, college numbers have soared overall by around 200 students because of cross-campus transfers. “The quality of the LAS students applying to transfer has improved,” observes Larry Johnson, CBA’s assistant dean of undergraduate affairs. “And the demand for business majors has for whatever reason increased.”

Johnson explains that the option of cross-campus transfer is open to UIUC students at junior level and above, who have a B average and meet other requirements. Of fall enrollment he says: “Our first-day figures stood at 3,133. That’s 167 more than last year.” Interestingly, more students come from Illinois this year. Overall, first-day enrollment at UIUC stood at 35,364, up 256 from a year ago.
--Mary Timmons