Foster Centennial Pop Quiz

1917. From its first day of operation, the Foster School of Business offered both BBA and MBA degrees.

George Stigler. William Sharpe received the 1990 Nobel Prize in Economics for his work developing the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) while on the UW School of Business Administration faculty in the 1960s. But he was preceded by the economist and Foster alumnus George Stigler (BA 1931), a leading figure in the “Chicago School” of economics, who received his field’s preeminent award in 1982 for his fundamental contributions to the economics of information and regulation.

Bobby Moch. After leading the Husky Clipper to improbable victory in front of Adolph Hitler at the 1936 Berlin Olympiad, Moch went on to coach crew at the UW and MIT, partner in a Seattle law firm and serve as president of the UW Alumni Association.

Kenny G. Kenneth Gorelick (BA 1978) earned his degree in accounting before becoming one of the biggest-selling artists of all time, with global sales of his smooth jazz and sultry saxophone totaling more than 75 million records.

1920. Twelve Chinese students were enrolled in the College of Business Administration’s first international exchange. Several were Boxer Indemnity Scholars, their tuition and travel financed by the Chinese government as part of its war reparations to the United States for damage done during the Boxer Rebellion.

Edgar Martinez. After retiring as one of baseball’s all-time greatest hitters, the future MLB Hall-of-Famer enrolled in the Executive Development Program to hone the skills required to manage his family apparel branding business.

False. The school’s namesake attended the UW but left early to begin his career in finance, eventually joining the local brokerage firm of Foster & Marshall that was co-founded by his father, Albert O. Foster (BA 1928), who was a Foster grad. In 1984, Albert, Evelyn and Michael founded The Foster Foundation, which has given $50 million to the school.

12. The School’s highest teaching award has honored 16 faculty members since it was established by PACCAR Inc in 1998. Recipients include Karma Hadjimichalakis (1998), Steve Sefcik (1999), Elizabeth Stearns (2000), Jennifer Koski (2001, 2008, 2015), Ali Tarhouni (2002), Rocky Higgins (2003), Jane Kennedy (2004), Dan Turner (2005), Mark Forehand (2006), Mark Hillier (2007, 2013), Shelly Jain (2009), Thomas Gilbert (2010, 2017), Lance Young (2011), Erich Studer-Ellis (2012), Frank Hodge (2014), and Kathy Dewenter (2016). Of this best-of-the-best roster, the only ones no longer teaching at the Foster School are Karma Hadjimichalakis (passed away in 2011), Ali Tarhouni (left to lead a revolution in Libya), Rocky Higgins (emeritus professor) and Jane Kennedy (now a Distinguished Professor of Accounting at the University of San Diego).

Delta. Beta Alpha Psi was established at the College of Business Administration in 1921, the organization’s fourth (or delta) chapter.

1962. The intensive residential program is still educating Boeing managers today, making it the longest-running corporate custom program in the nation.

1350. With the First World War ending, enrollment at the school spiked, ranking it among the four largest schools of commerce in the United States. Through the 1920s, nearly one-in-four undergraduates at the UW majored in business; one-third of them were women.

1970. Professor Karl Vesper, dubbed the “dean of entrepreneurial studies,” developed the school’s first classes in entrepreneurship before most even knew what the word meant.

George Tsutakawa. The internationally renowned sculptor’s “Fountain of Reflection,” commissioned for the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair, was installed in the Mackenzie Hall courtyard in 1987.

1921. At the time, UW became one of only 20 American business schools to be accredited by the influential AACSB. Today the number is 789 business schools in 53 countries.

Alan Greenspan. Headlining the inaugural BLC, held in 1992 on the occasion of the school’s 75th anniversary, was Greenspan, the powerful chairman of the Federal Reserve Board. Over the years, the school’s marquee event has featured many of the preeminent names in American corporate leadership including Schultz of Starbucks (1998), Eyler of FAO Schwartz (1995), Grove of Intel (1997), Jeffry Immelt of GE (2003), Jamie Dimon of JP Morgan Chase (2011) and Robert Iger of Disney (2014).