University of Utah: David Eccles

The David Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah is the flagship public business school of Utah's flagship public research university, founded in 1917 and located in Salt Lake City. Named after industrialist and philanthropist David Eccles following a landmark gift, the school operates as part of a Carnegie R1 research university — the highest classification for doctoral research activity — while maintaining a strong orientation toward applied learning and regional economic impact. Its academic philosophy is shaped, in part, by proximity to the "Silicon Slopes," Utah's technology corridor, which has made entrepreneurship, innovation management, and finance recurring intellectual preoccupations for its faculty. Today the school enrolls roughly 6,000 students across undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral programs, making it one of the larger business schools in the intermountain West.

Accreditations and Rankings

Accreditations:

• AACSB accredited (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business)

Rankings:

• U.S. News & World Report: Part-time MBA ranked among the top 25 in the United States (2024)
• U.S. News & World Report: Undergraduate business program ranked among the top public business schools nationally (2024)
• Princeton Review: Among the best business schools nationally (2024)
• University of Utah overall ranked in the top tier of national public universities (U.S. News & World Report, 2024)

Executive Education at a Glance

The Eccles School's executive education portfolio is delivered primarily through its Professional Education division, offering open-enrollment programs and corporate custom engagements designed for working professionals and organizations in Utah and across the region. The school is particularly recognized for programs tied to its core faculty strengths: leadership development, finance, data analytics, entrepreneurship, and supply chain management — all areas directly relevant to the industries driving Utah's economy, from technology and outdoor retail to healthcare and financial services.

Programs range in duration from single-day intensives to multi-week certificate series, with both in-person formats on the Salt Lake City campus and online delivery options that extend reach beyond the Mountain West. Indicative open-program pricing typically runs from a few hundred dollars for short workshops to several thousand for multi-module certificate programs, positioning Eccles as a strong value proposition relative to coastal peer institutions. Custom corporate programs are scoped and priced based on organizational need. The school's Management Development Certificate series and finance-focused offerings have been particularly active draws for regional professionals seeking structured, credential-bearing development without committing to a full degree.

Campus and Facilities

The University of Utah campus occupies 1,534 acres on the eastern bench of Salt Lake City, with the Wasatch Mountains rising visibly to the east — an environment that is, practically speaking, unlike any other major urban business school campus in the United States. The Eccles School is anchored by the Spencer Fox Eccles Business Building, a modern facility housing tiered classrooms, collaboration spaces, and the resources of the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute, which provides executive participants with direct exposure to the school's deep startup ecosystem. Salt Lake City itself adds meaningfully to the learning environment: a mid-sized, rapidly internationalizing city with a globally connected business community, a major Delta Airlines hub, and a cost-of-living profile that makes multi-day residential programs genuinely practical. For participants in outdoor industry, mining, tech, or healthcare, being embedded in Utah is professionally relevant, not merely scenic.

Faculty and Research

The Eccles School employs approximately 120 full-time faculty, with research strengths spanning entrepreneurship and innovation, behavioral finance, operations and supply chain management, and organizational behavior. Faculty are notably active as advisors and board members in Utah's private sector, which keeps their classroom contributions current and commercially credible — not an incidental benefit when executive participants are themselves operating companies. The school's Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute, though university-wide in scope, draws on Eccles faculty expertise to produce economic research that regularly shapes state-level policy and business planning across Utah. Doctoral research productivity places the school solidly within the upper tier of public research business schools, with publications appearing in top-tier journals across finance, marketing, and management.

Student Body, Alumni, and Career Outcomes

Eccles's MBA cohorts are characteristically diverse in industry background, with strong representation from technology, healthcare, government, and the outdoor and consumer goods sectors that define Utah's commercial identity. The school's alumni network exceeds 60,000 graduates and is concentrated heavily in the Mountain West — a practical asset for executive participants building professional relationships in the region. Notable alumni include figures prominent in Utah's private equity, real estate, and technology sectors, and the school's proximity to companies such as Adobe's largest North American office, Qualtrics, and a dense cluster of fintech and SaaS firms creates ongoing recruitment and partnership activity. For executive education participants specifically, alumni engagement through the school's professional networks frequently extends program value well beyond the classroom.