Tuck School of Business - History

History

At the turn of the 20th century, Dartmouth College president William Jewett Tucker decided to explore the possibility of establishing a school of business to educate the growing number of Dartmouth alumni entering the commercial world. Turning to his former roommate from his undergraduate years at Dartmouth, Tucker enlisted the support of Edward Tuck, who had since become a wealthy banker and philanthropist. Tuck donated $300,000 in the form of preferred stock shares in a Minnesota railroad company as the capital to found the school. It was named the Amos Tuck School of Administration and Finance, after Edward Tuck's father and Dartmouth alumnus Amos Tuck.

The new school's annual tuition was $100 for the few students who enrolled in the first year; graduates of the two-year program received a Master of Commercial Science degree (MCS). The curriculum involved both traditional liberal arts fields as well as economic and finance education. Undergraduate professors taught most of the first-year courses, while outside guest instructors and businesspeople educated students in their second years. As the nation's first graduate school of business, the Tuck School's emphasis on a broad education in general management was adopted by many other emerging business schools, and was dubbed the "Tuck Pattern".

In the late 1920s, Dartmouth president Ernest Martin Hopkins sought to unify the Tuck School by establishing a central campus, uniting the school's academic and residential facilities. Edward Tuck, then an aged man living in France, donated an additional $570,000 for the effort. Using primarily his funds, four new buildings were constructed in 1929 on the west side of Dartmouth's campus.

In 1942, the school's name changed to the Amos Tuck School of Business Administration, and in 1953, the degree program changed to the modern Master of Business Administration (MBA). Until the late 1950s and early 1960s, the Tuck School catered primarily to Dartmouth students, accepting undergraduates during their third year. Under Dean Karl Hill (1957–1960), Tuck shifted its focus to soliciting a national student body. The resulting expansion under Dean John Hennessey (1968–1976) in the late 1960s saw additional growth of the campus with the construction of a new dormitory (1969) and the Murdough Center (1973), which contains the Feldberg Business and Engineering Library. Under Deans Richard West (1976–1983) and Colin Blaydon (1983–1990), the school's curriculum and faculty expanded extensively, and applications increased by one-third. Since the late 1980s, Tuck has continued to expand in student body and faculty size, and has seen the establishment of two new campus buildings as well as several research centers and nondegree business programs.