Troy, N.Y. — BusinessWeek has ranked Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Lally School of Management & Technology 26th in the nation among the magazine’s 2008 list of top 50 undergraduate business programs. The Lally School also is ranked as one of the top five in the Northeast, and the program came in at number 19 on the list of private institutions offering students the biggest return on their investment.

Last year, the Lally School was one of nine new schools to be named to BusinessWeek’s list, making its debut at number 40.

“The Lally School is proud of its continued ranking among the elite 50 universities in the nation,” said David Gautschi, dean of the Lally School. “Our undergraduate program creates leaders who are actively sought after by a wide variety of business organizations, and many of our graduates start their own businesses. This recognition demonstrates that the Lally School competes with the very best business schools in the world.”

To identify the best undergraduate business programs, BusinessWeek used nine distinctive measures, including surveys of nearly 80,000 business majors at 127 schools and more than 600 corporate recruiters. The BusinessWeek rankings measure schools in several areas, including teaching quality, student services, recruitment of graduates, salary offers, number of graduates each program sends onto the pre-eminent MBA programs, and quality of academic programs, among others.

“The academic rank and the ranking our students give the program signals to us that we have improved,” Gautschi said. “Our goal is to continue to improve by cultivating closer ties with industry partners in the United States and abroad, and by continuing to develop innovative new programs to attract prospective students.

Recently, the Lally School launched the M.S. in Commercialization of Technology, in collaboration with Albany Law School. Students come mainly from Rensselaer’s undergraduate programs in management, biomedical engineering, materials science, architecture, computer science, design, innovation, and society, and cognitive psychology. Students also receive training in management as well as selected technologies from the cited disciplines.

Upon completion of at least 30 graduate credits, students have the option of taking their new technologies to market as start-up entrepreneurs, pursuing Albany Law’s M.S. degree in Legal Studies — Concentration in Technology Transfer, or working for 12 months in a technology-related industry and then returning to Rensselaer for another year to earn an MBA.

Next fall the Lally School will launch a new track of study in financial modeling and analytics to prepare students for careers that are in high demand on Wall Street and in risk management positions in corporations around the world.  Members of Lally’s Advisory Council have been instrumental in opening doors to players in the financial services industry to support this new track, added Gautschi.

More than 370 undergraduate students are enrolled in the Lally School. Students in the undergraduate program study finance, marketing, human behavior, information technology, innovation and entrepreneurship, operations management, and organizational analysis and development. Students also are encouraged to take courses from Rensselaer’s other schools in areas of cognitive science, humanities and social sciences, architecture, and computer science. In addition, a quarter of Lally School students who qualify study overseas at some point during their undergraduate program.

Gautschi noted that participation in such courses provides students with a strong background in analytical reasoning, interpersonal skills, and an understanding of how to use technology to their competitive advantage when making business decisions. Students also understand and learn the importance of social responsibility, and how to seek out the ethical and social implications of their business choices

In an effort to enhance the overall student experience, the Lally School works closely with Rensselaer’s student services offices, and also has created its own student services office, which houses the undergraduate program administration and academic advisers. This “one-stop shopping” creates a natural gathering area where Lally School students can get more personalized attention to discuss advising matters, obtain academic forms and program information, or get help with any other needs.

“Changing times demand a new way to teach business leaders,” Gautschi said. “The Lally School is relatively small with a collegial faculty and students who expect and create change. This mind-set creates an environment that fosters innovation and entrepreneurial thinking, and the faculty and students are working shoulder-to-shoulder to advance thought and practice in areas of commercialization of technology with global reach and global impact.”  

To view the 2008 BusinessWeek undergraduate rankings, go to: http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/

About Rensselaer’s Lally School
Rensselaer’s Lally School of Management & Technology was founded in 1963 as an integral part of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the nation’s oldest degree-granting technological university. Building on Rensselaer’s heritage of more than 175 years of leadership in science and engineering, the Lally School is dedicated to advancing business through innovation. The Lally School’s curriculum is designed to produce leaders who combine creative passion with the ability to integrate technology across business functions. The faculty emphasizes the value of hands-on experience available through campus resources such as the Severino Center for Technological Entrepreneurship and the nation’s first on-campus business incubator. Rensselaer’s Lally School offers graduate and undergraduate degree programs in management, doctoral programs in management and technology, an Executive MBA program, and a joint Sino-U.S. MBA for companies operating in China. For more information on the Lally School, go to www.lallyschool.rpi.edu.