America’s strong economy is beginning to pay dividends for the College of Business, which is enjoying its largest increase in enrollment since it opened in 1984.

“Enrollment at the College of Business is on the rise because, during the Reagan administration in the 1980s, business wasn’t a popular major due to the poor economy. Business tends to go in cycles,” said Marc Harding, director of admissions.

This year, the business college has 787 freshman and transfer students, 146 more than last year, Harding said.

“It’s growing at Iowa State for a number of reasons,” Harding said. “The building of a new college attracts some students; management information systems is in high demand due to the wide use of computers, and there is a favorable economy, allowing students to make money in the field of business.”

Ann Coppernoll Farni, director of undergraduate programs for the College of Business, noted that there has been a great deal of growth this year over previous years in the college.

“There are 17 percent more students in MIS over last year, and there is an 8 percent growth of new students in pre-business,” Farni said.

Despite the increase in enrollment, some students said they don’t feel their education is being compromised.

“If I want or need help with something for business, whether it be advising or homework, there are enough people out there available to help me,” said Randy Vyhnalek, sophomore in pre-business. “I haven’t seen a lack of resources for help, I just need to find them and use them.”

To meet the demands of an increase in enrollment, a new adviser will be hired to accommodate more students, Farni said. Also, more faculty will be added so the school is able to offer more classes and class times to keep them at a reasonable size.

“The College of Business will build a new building, the Gerdin Business Building, to accommodate more students for the future.” said Farni. “To be a top land-grant College of Business, a need was seen that we must have our own building to do well.”

The Gerdin Business Building, expected to be completed in 2003, will be named for Russell and Ann Gerdin, who gave $10 million toward the school for the building’s construction.

Farni said the interest in MIS is great because “there is a higher demand in the work sector for it, some of it brought on by Y2K.”

“Computers are invading our culture and can be found in many homes and offices. Therefore, there must be people able to work on computers to do networking for businesses and software and hardware repair,” Farni said.

Gregory Topp, senior in MIS, choose that field because “it is a combination between computers and business. It gives someone both a technical and business background, which is very important when looking for a job.”