One of the world’s top university accelerators. Research centers that are blazing the trail in entrepreneurship, social innovation, leadership, artificial intelligence, marketing, public policy, finance, and other critical areas of business. Faculty and alumni who are at the forefront of their fields.
Every day, Booth is driving innovation in business education, scholarship, and leadership. It's been that way for more than 100 years. Booth had the first woman to receive a PhD in business. We created the first executive MBA program in the world. We are the first and only US business school with permanent campuses on three continents.
At the heart of innovation at Booth lies the Chicago Approach to business education, our unique educational philosophy. This discipline-based approach to business has helped our faculty win a record ten Nobel Prizes for their groundbreaking research. It fosters a constantly evolving, innovative curriculum that is informed by the critical issues facing business and the world today. It’s prepared Booth alumni to develop groundbreaking startups and excel as innovative leaders able to adapt to a rapidly changing world.
Since our founding in 1898, Chicago Booth has remained an incubator for curious, boundary-pushing individuals to bring their ideas to fruition. Many of those individuals and ideas have profoundly shaped the world as it is today.
Created the World’s First PhD Program in Business
The scientific study of business started here in 1920, with the creation of the nation’s first doctoral program in business. Back then, Booth was known as the College of Commerce and Administration. Today, there are more than 700 PhD alumni globally, many working as academic researchers and scholars at some of the world’s most elite institutions of higher learning.
Launched the World’s First Executive MBA Program
Prompted by a wartime shortage of managers on the home front, Booth established the world’s first Executive MBA Program in Chicago in 1943. Today, the program draws innovative, ambitious students from across the globe to its campuses in Chicago, London, and Hong Kong. The Executive MBA Program remains at the forefront of business education for senior executives leading in a rapidly changing, uncertain world.
Measured the Average Rate of Return on Stocks
In 1960, James H. Lorie, PhD ’47, helped create Chicago Booth’s Center for Research in Security Prices. The groundbreaking stock database supports financial and economic research. The project allowed the average rate of return to be measured for the first time. Today, CRSP data is used by nearly 500 academic institutions in 35 countries, supporting both academic research and classroom instruction.
Redefined How Investors Approach Investing
Eugene F. Fama, MBA ’63, PhD ’64, published his landmark paper “Efficient Capital Markets: a Review of Theory and Empirical Work” in 1970. The efficient-market hypothesis became the organizing principle for decades of empirical work in financial economics. In 2013, Fama shared the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences with fellow UChicago economist Lars Peter Hansen. Today, both men are Booth faculty members and teach courses to MBA and PhD students.
Revolutionized How Stock Options Are Valued
In 1973, the first sound mathematical formula for valuing stock options was published in the Journal of Political Economy. The Black-Scholes model, which is perhaps the most consequential and respected pricing model in existence, was created by finance professors Fischer Black and Myron Scholes, MBA ’64, PhD ’70. In 1997, Scholes shared the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences with professors Robert C. Merton and Fischer Black.
Laid the Groundwork for Modern Banking Theory
Then an assistant professor at Booth, Douglas W. Diamond published “Bank Runs, Deposit Insurance, and Liquidity” in 1983. Diamond’s work has become the standard for analyzing financial crises. Often called the “father of modern banking theory,” Diamond teaches courses in corporate finance to Booth’s MBA and PhD students.
Pioneered Experiential Leadership Education
In 1989, a group of enterprising students with an appetite for experimentation created LEAD, one of the first experiential leadership development programs at a major business school. Today, LEAD is central to the Booth experience in our Full-Time, Part-Time, and Executive MBA Programs. The program allows students to forge lifelong friendships and gain the tools that they need to enhance their self-awareness and interpersonal effectiveness.
Created a World-Class Business Accelerator Program
The Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Chicago began serving the Booth community in 1998. Now serving the entire UChicago entrepreneurship ecosystem, the Polsky Center provides a wide array of resources around innovation, and it supports the commercialization of groundbreaking research at UChicago. Its top-ranked business accelerator program, the New Venture Challenge, has supported more than 330 startups, which have achieved more than $7.5 billion in mergers and exits.
Opened Business School Campuses on Three Continents
In 2000, we became the only US business school to have our own permanent campuses on three continents. Today, we bring our leading MBA degree and nondegree Executive Education offerings—all taught by our own renowned faculty members—to students around the world. With Booth's Asia campus at The Hong Kong Jockey Club University of Chicago Academic Complex | The University of Chicago Francis and Rose Yuen Campus in Hong Kong at Mt. Davis, we have an educational foothold in the heart of Asia for decades to come.
Became a Hub for Social Sector Innovation
The Rustandy Center for Social Sector Innovation—launched by Booth in 2012 as the Social Enterprise Initiative—is a destination for those committed to helping solve complex social and environmental problems. The Rustandy Center leads the charge to build a better world through launching new social-impact ventures, funding faculty research, and expanding opportunities at Booth’s Asia campus.
Pioneered Modern Understanding of Behavioral Economics
Faculty member and behavioral economics pioneer Richard H. Thaler won the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences in 2017 for his incorporation of “psychologically realistic assumptions into analyses of economic decision-making.” The early-morning phone call from Sweden didn’t keep him from teaching an MBA class later that morning, and he continues to teach behavioral science courses to Booth MBA and PhD students.
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Developed by the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at UChicago, the New Venture Challenge is among the top-ranked university accelerator programs in the world. The Harry L. Davis Center for Leadership is a proving ground for new ideas and approaches to leadership. Booth’s Kent A. Clark Center for Global Markets supports trailblazing research and insights into international business, financial markets, and public policy. The Rustandy Center for Social Sector Innovation is leveraging entrepreneurial thinking to tackle the world’s toughest challenges.
Find out how Booth’s research centers are helping mold the future of business and society.
The Chookaszian Accounting Research Center coordinates accounting research at Booth and hosts research brown bags and workshops. It also publishes the Journal of Accounting Research, one of the top accounting research journals in the world.
Chookaszian Accounting Research Center
Bringing together researchers from the entire Chicago economics community, the Becker Friedman Institute for Economics fosters novel insights on the world’s most difficult economic problems.
Becker Friedman Institute for Economics
The Center for Applied AI supports researchers from across Booth and UChicago in making revolutionary advances in the applications of AI. Their work touches fields as diverse as finance, health care, public policy, education, and behavioral science.
Center for Applied Artificial Intelligence
Positioned at the forefront of the rapidly developing field of behavioral science, CDR is devoted to building a richer understanding of human behavior and experience.
Roman Family Center for Decision Research
An affiliate of Chicago Booth, CRSP, LLC is the leading provider of historical stock market data for researchers. The center has long been an integral part of the academic and commercial world of financial and economic research.
Center for Research in Security Prices, LLC
With a mission to push the boundaries of research in finance, the Fama-Miller Center provides institutional structure and support for researchers in the field.
Fama-Miller Center for Research in Finance
The Stigler Center promotes and disseminates research on regulatory capture, crony capitalism, and the various distortions that special interest groups impose on capitalism.
George J. Stigler Center for the Study of the Economy and the State
The Davis Center for Leadership supports students and alumni as they develop their leadership identities and skills.
Harry L. Davis Center for Leadership
The Healthcare Initiative serves as a center of gravity for the diverse disciplines that engage in healthcare research at Booth and across the university.
Healthcare Initiative
The Kilts Center for Marketing advances marketing at Booth by facilitating faculty research, supporting innovation in Booth’s marketing curriculum, funding scholarships, and creating engaging programs.
James M. Kilts Center for Marketing
The Clark Center for Global Markets organizes Booth faculty efforts to influence public policy and the practice of business around the world. By hosting expert panels, visiting thought leaders, and conferences, the Clark Center raises the impact of Booth research.
Kent A. Clark Center for Global Markets
The Polsky Center bridges the gap between knowledge and practice, idea and action, and research and impact through education, partnerships, and new venture creation.
Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation
As Booth’s social impact hub, the Rustandy Center offers hands-on learning opportunities, supports innovative courses, and pursues research—all with the goal of developing people and practices with the potential to solve the world’s biggest problems.
Rustandy Center for Social Sector Innovation
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