Happy 100th birthday, Kenan-Flagler!

Experience isn’t just a buzz word scattered across college websites to Charlotte Burnett. It’s what comes to mind when she thinks of her time at UNC Kenan-Flagler's Business School. 

The school celebrated the Undergraduate Business Program’s 100th anniversary on Monday, capping off a century of shaping future business leaders with real-world experience and a balanced education. 

Burnett, an MBA candidate at the Kenan-Flagler, attributed some of her most formative experiences at Kenan-Flagler to her position as president of Carolina Women in Business, a student-run organization dedicated to career and professional development. Burnett said the position helped her learn how to effectively lead her peers as she would if she were running her own small business. 

“In today’s day, if you go to start your own business, or even if you’re working within a business, there’s a 99 percent chance that you’re going to be working with and leading your peers,” Burnett said. “And so that was exactly what I had to with CWIB. I had to find creative ways to ask my board, who ultimately are my friends as well, to do things that they probably don’t always want to do.” 

Burnett, who previously served as a human resources officer in the U.S. Army at Fort Bragg, said she had wanted to find a business school that would foster a collaborative environment and a sense of grit among its students.

Doug Shackelford, the dean of UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School and a graduate of its Undergraduate Business Program, said Kenan-Flagler’s foundation in the College of Arts and Sciences gives the program its competitive edge. 

“We apply business principles on top of great, well-rounded students and that gives them a tremendous advantage long-term in their careers, because they’ve got a balance of not just some science of business but also the great attributes you get from a liberal arts education,” Shackelford said. 

Kenan-Flagler’s core values are excellence, leadership, integrity, teamwork and community. First-year students pre-admitted to the Kenan-Flagler Undergraduate Business Program have the opportunity to implement these values in classes like professor Shimul Melwani’s Foundations of Business and Leadership. 

In the class, student teams pitch startup ideas to faculty judges, and run their business for six weeks. In addition to preparing a business proposal and marketing their service, students analyze their own behavior and strengths in decision-making, negotiating with team members and problem-solving. 

Melwani, assistant professor of organizational behavior, said she is not only impressed by her colleagues and students’ ambition but also their humility and commitment to each other’s success. 

“People just genuinely care about each other,” Melwani said. “We all have this great, symbiotic working relationship, and that is what I think in some way is kind of special: the degree to which nobody has their egos at play."

The Department of Commerce at UNC opened its doors in 1919. Less than 10 years later, it was renamed the School of Commerce in 1927. In 1991, the school was renamed the Kenan-Flagler Business School in honor of two families’ continuous support and generous gifts throughout the years.

Looking ahead, Shackelford emphasized the importance of maintaining Kenan-Flagler’s core values and pushing students beyond the standards of a traditional business education. 

“To be successful in the 21st century, you need to have an awareness and a balance,” Shackelford said. “And the ability to be able to think about extremely complex problems which could fall beyond the basic principles of demands or markets.” 

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