Founded in 1925, as the College of Commerce, Gatton College of Business and Economics is a college of the University of Kentucky and is accredited by AACSB International (The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business).
The college rapidly expanded post-war, with enrolment topping 1,000 students in 1948. Some 200 students were graduating every year after 1952 and this doubled by 1965. The 1960s and 1970s saw various reorganisations of the college’s departments and, in the late 1980s, the college was expanding its international programmes.
Undergraduate courses offered cover accounting, economics, finance, management and marketing.
Gatton’s MBA is available in one year, professional, executive, dual degree and Greek forms, with the latter being a collaboration with the Technological Education Institute of Piraeus. Master's courses are offered in accounting, economics and finance.
The college’s PhD in business administration comprises of accounting, finance and quantitative methods, management and marketing and supply chain disciplines. A PhD in economics is also offered.
Gatton’s Research Centers include: the Center for Business and Economic Research; LINKS Center for Social Network Analysis; University of Kentucky Center for Poverty Research; Institute for the Study of Free Enterprise; Kentucky Research Data Center
and the Von Allmen Center for Entrepreneurship.
The Von Allmen Center was designed to "accelerate the Kentucky economy" by commercialising the university’s research and assisting entrepreneurs and small businesses in creating jobs. Von Allmen is located in the Advanced Science & Technology Commercialization Center. ASTeCC, is the university’s business incubator which houses new and emerging technology-based companies.
