The School of Management reflects a rich legacy that is integral to the University of San Francisco, and has contributed enormously to the development of the institution.

In 1924, the University of San Francisco began offering evening courses in accounting and business administration. By the fall semester of 1925, these courses and others in banking, advertising, taxes, business law, foreign commerce, corporate finance, auditing, and business ethics, formed the basis for the then College of Commerce and Finance.

The College of Commerce and Finance awarded the bachelor of commercial science degree to its first 10 students in May 1928. After World War II, enrollment soared at USF, fueled by the G.I. Bill of Rights, and the College of Commerce and Finance was renamed the College of Business Administration. In 1953, the college became one of a small number of schools to be nationally accredited by the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB). The college’s first MBA program was introduced during the 1964–65 academic year. USF received a major grant in 1973 from the Irvine Foundation to remodel the west end of Phelan Hall on the USF campus. The grant honored Norman McLaren, a long-term trustee of the Irvine Foundation and a USF regent. The College of Business Administration was renamed the McLaren College of Business. Accreditation was granted by AACSB to the graduate programs in the McLaren College of Business in 1981, and most recently reaffirmed at the undergraduate and graduate levels in 2012. In 2003, a major donation by Putra Masagung, a 1974 graduate of the business school, underpinned a capital campaign involving more than 3,000 donors to build a new wing for the business school, a state-of-the-art facility that opened in 2004. In recognition of Mr. Masagung’s lead gift, the MBA programs were offered within the Masagung Graduate School of Management. In recognition of a major closing gift by Thomas E. Malloy, class of 1961, and his wife Sharon, the new business school facility was named Malloy Hall in 2004.

In 1975, the Office of Continuing Education, the immediate predecessor of the College of Professional Studies, began at USF. It offered an innovative selection of undergraduate degrees in the evenings and on weekends, mostly to working adults who had undertaken some college work but had not completed a degree. The degree programs were premised on a cohort model: a group of learners began and ended an entire degree program as a community of learners in such disciplines as applied economics, human relations and organizational behavior, public administration, and public service. The cohort model, an experiential learning component, and the delivery of the programs in the evenings and on the weekends placed USF on the cutting edge of adult education in the United States. The Office of Continuing Education was upgraded to the School of Continuing Education in 1979, and the Board of Trustees approved renaming the School of Continuing Education the College of Professional Studies in 1980. In 1983, Michael O’Neill, former dean of the USF School of Education, developed a master’s degree in nonprofit administration in the College of Professional Studies, one of the nation’s first master’s degrees in the nonprofit field.

 In June 2009, the University of San Francisco created the School of Business and Professional Studies by merging the School of Business and Management with the College of Professional Studies. The merger built upon the strengths of both legacy schools, bringing into a single administrative structure faculty and staff with complementary expertise. The merger also united two alumni populations, and as of June 2012, there were over 40,000 living alumni. Among those alumni, there are more the 5,000 leaders in business, the professions, government, and education, including nearly 40 college professors.

On June 1, 2011, the School of Business and Professional Studies, was renamed the School of Management. As a School with degrees that encompass for for-profit businesses, nonprofit organizations, and government sectors, the new name reflects the evolving reality that our current and future graduates need to be prepared for more inclusive management careers that encompass all three sectors. The undergraduate school is now called the McLaren School of Management, offering a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (BSBA) and a Bachelor of Science in Management (BSM) degrees. The graduate school is now called the Masagung Graduate School of Management.