Business school takes new direction
Nov. 14, 1988
When Bill Daniels bestowed the University of Denver with a $10 million gift, he did so with two caveats: that DU generate matching donations and incorporate courses emphasizing integrity, ethics and professional conduct into its MBA curriculum. Daniels, a Denver cable TV executive and self-made millionaire with only two years of post-secondary education, presented DU with the first installment of $1 million on Nov. 14, 1988, saying that while many MBA graduates of the day possessed astute academic knowledge, “they have no training in business manners such as punctuality and positive communications, or in the handling of people.” With the Daniels gift and matching funds, the University instituted required courses on ethics, integrity, demeanor, communications, negotiating, and logic and reasoning. These courses helped the Daniels College of Business — named for Bill Daniels in 1994 — to become one of the top-ranked business schools in the nation, particularly in the area of ethics.