The Robins School of Business turns 75
University News
Richmond ranks among the top undergraduate business schools thanks to an evolving curriculum and a network of business-savvy alumni.
In 1949, the Robins School of Business was founded as a bridge connecting the University of Richmond with the local business community — one of the largest business centers in the Mid-Atlantic.
Seventy-five years later, Dean Miguel “Mickey” Quiñones said that mission still drives the school.
“The Robins School was established to prepare our students to succeed and meet the needs of an ever-changing business environment,” he said. “That environment continues to change, and how we prepare students evolves, but the goal is still the same.”
Once established, the Robins School unified several existing pillars: an evening business school program created by the university in 1924, the economics and applied economics departments of Richmond College, and a core liberal arts foundation.
Steve Vick, from the Class of 1978, enrolled in the business school during his junior year when it was a two-year program. His acceptance into the accounting program provided an academic reset and helped direct him along a well-planned career path.
After he graduated from UR, he initially worked for a mid-sized firm before earning his MBA at William & Mary. He later shifted to financial planning and analysis, including a 26-year career with the National Geographic Society as vice president of financial planning and operations.
“Getting into Robins was a fresh start, and I needed that,” Vick said. “The atmosphere was very professional and there was a nice camaraderie, but there was a lot of challenge to keep up. It helped me mature and be ready for a professional career.”
By 2010, Robins was undergoing a transformation. The school was about to open its Queally Hall addition, and the newly appointed dean, Nancy Bagranoff, needed to determine how to make the most of the new space. Bagranoff oversaw the launch of several new programs into the curriculum, including a speaker series that engaged Richmond business leaders, and integrated experiential learning spaces like the Lessing Trading Floor, which provides students access to financial data, news, and trading tools.
A member of the graduating class of 2006, Grant Garcia, a managing director at the financial services network StoneX, advises Robins students who are interested in the field. It’s a way to pay forward the mentorship he received from former business faculty and alum Walter Joseph "Joe" O’Brien. He believes the Robins School offers many opportunities for students to gain a leg up, and he encourages them to take full advantage.
“I ask if they’ve been to the Lessing Trading Floor, if they’ve logged into the Bloomberg terminals, or gotten Bloomberg certified,” he said. “I tell them, ‘Preparation is key, and you need to do something that not everyone else is doing. You need to take it to the next level.’”
Over the last 15 years, the school has focused on expanding experiential learning opportunities to facilitate education, preparation, and connection to alumni and employers, empowering students to achieve their professional ambitions. Robins programs that push the boundaries of business education and inspire innovation, include: RSB Endeavor, a living-learning community for first-year business students; Executives in Residence, featuring senior executives who counsel students on their academic and career goals; and Bench Top Innovations, a year-long student-managed course where students bring a consumer packaged food or beverage product to life.
The school has long looked to an engaged alumni to pulse-check the skills students need to know and close the gap between academia and the real world.
“The business school is very agile. A decade ago, they identified that students needed to know Excel, so they developed a class. Now they’re thinking about data and analytics and AI, and how to embed them into our programs,” said alum Heather Rice, a partner and the U.S. tax leader for consumer and retail at KPMG.
A graduate from the class of 2002, Rice serves on the Accounting Advisory Board and the Dean’s Executive Advisory Council and is also KPMG’s lead recruiter of Richmond students.
“They don’t get stuck in how things have been done. They rely on professionals for insights into where they want to go,” she said.
The Robins School responds to evolving needs by encouraging faculty to pursue innovative teaching methods. Sara Hanson, associate professor of marketing, is the director of the Spider Business Hub, which pairs business students with local and global businesses to collaborate on resume-worthy client projects. The hub has grown from 17 students and a handful of partners in 2020 to about 800 students and 50 partners this year.
“It’s an excellent way to get students working with clients and partners and developing and refining their communication skills,” Hanson said. “I hear from students that it gives them confidence in interviews since they can get involved as soon as their first year. They feel more confident and capable of meeting expectations that are typical of the business community but are difficult to teach without practice.”
Quiñones said that the combination of engaged alumni and innovative faculty allows students to hit the ground running in any business environment — just like they’ve been doing for 75 years.
“Whether that’s learning new technological tools, or through experiential learning and professional development opportunities, we want them to be able to interact effectively and confidently in an environment where they’re solving complex problems,” Quiñones said.