Celebrating its own 150th anniversary, the College of Business Administration shines

This year, Rider University has invited a Pulitzer Prize winner to campus, broken a world record and established a medal of excellence in celebration of its 150th anniversary. Along with these significant milestones, Rider’s College of Business Administration is also celebrating 15 decades of excellence in education.

Started in 1865 as the Trenton Business College, the College of Business Administration, or CBA, remains the foundation of what grew into the university that generations of faculty, staff and students know today. 

The link between business and higher education has been evident to the College since its founding in 1865, when William C. Whitney, Henry B. Bryan and Henry D. Stratton founded it as the Trenton Business College. It was one of several private business colleges opened after the Civil War, when demand for office workers was booming.

The College began in facilities that cost $50 a month to rent. Of the fifty students who enrolled in the first year, most were Civil War veterans. They took classes in penmanship, correspondence, arithmetic and business law. Evening classes were offered as early as 1866.

Trenton Business College was incorporated under the name Rider Business College in 1897, named after the College’s owner and president. Rider had moved to Trenton in 1866 at 23, when he became the school’s third principal. The school then merged with competitor Stewart Business College in 1921. The name officially changed to Rider College in 1920, the same year the first scholarship and endowment funds were established by donations from Rider. The following year, the school moved to its first owned building, on East State Street in Trenton. When Rider received university status in 1994, it changed name once again, to Rider University.

Despite all the changes, Rider’s identity as a student-focused business college has remained constant. Today, the CBA boasts high national rankings that place it alongside the most prestigious schools in the country. Several programs, including global supply chain management and forensic accounting, regularly achieve Top 25 rankings by industry leaders.

New programs continue to enter the pipeline. The sport management co-major recently received state approval and new health care management major was recently announced. Notably, the CBA’s links to veterans continue. With generous support from Grand Bank, a free entrepreneurship training program to veterans is now underway — a testament to how the CBA evolves while remaining true to its historical roots.

In honor of its rich history as well as its promising future, the CBA has scheduled a variety of events over the sesquicentennial year it shares with the university at large.

On Oct. 24, 2014, CBA alumni, faculty, staff and friends a gala at TPC Jasna Polana in Lawrenceville to kickoff its own celebration. Several upcoming events continue to mark the College’s anniversary. An open house on Jan. 22 from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. in Sweigart Hall featured food, drink, and the chance to mix and mingle with CBA faculty and friends, as well as a presentation of a Sesquicentennial Medal of Excellence to the student organization DAARSTOC.

The College, along with the New Jersey State Chamber of Commerce, the Mid-Jersey Chamber of Commerce and the Princeton Regional Chamber of Commerce will also host “Strengthening New Jersey’s Future: advancing the partnership between businesses and higher education,” on March 10 at Rider. To register, visit alumni.rider.edu/cba/trichamber.