Business School renamed to honour Adam Smith’s legacy
Issued: Wed, 30 May 2012 17:38:00 BST
From 1 June 2012, the Business School has officially been renamed – the School will now be known as the University of Glasgow Adam Smith Business School. The new name reflects the University of Glasgow’s long association with the moral philosopher and political economist, Adam Smith, and the School’s aim to celebrate his legacy.
The name of Adam Smith is recognised worldwide as one of the most influential figures to emerge from the Scottish Enlightenment and the field of Economics. His name has immense recognition worldwide. Naming the Business School in his honour commemorates his close ties to the University and will enhance the University’s international reputation.
Adam Smith (1723?-1790) enrolled at the University of Glasgow in 1737. He went to Balliol College, Oxford as a Snell Exhibitioner in 1740, returning to Scotland in 1746. He was appointed Professor of Logic at the University in 1751 and became Professor of Moral Philosophy the following year and held the chair until 1764. Smith served as Dean of Faculties and as the library's Quaestor (an official in charge of accounts), and he was elected to serve as Rector from 1787 to 1789.
He established his reputation as a teacher and writer at the University of Glasgow; Theory of Moral Sentiments was published in 1759, based on his lectures on Ethics. He left Scotland in 1764 and returned three years later to live in Kirkcaldy, where he worked on his classic study An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, published in 1776. In 1787, he remembered his years as a professor at the University as "by far the happiest and most honourable" in his life.
The Adam Smith Business School is committed to honouring and developing the academic tradition of Adam Smith at Glasgow and to sustaining and enhancing the School’s traditionally Scottish, broad, and multi-disciplinary approach to education. The School’s ambition is to develop enlightened, enterprising and engaged graduates and to produce internationally recognised research that has an impact on society.
By engaging in multi-disciplinary and research led teaching we engender in our students an appetite for critical enquiry and learning. We also encourage, informed by an employability and engagement agenda, the development of 21st century graduate attributes and skills. Internationally recognised research that informs academia, policy and practice will drive the Adam Smith Business School forward; its dissemination will inform teaching, shape our culture and deliver impact, whilst promoting the tradition of Scottish enlightenment and enterprise.
Farhad Noorbakhsh, Head of School, commented:
“The University of Glasgow Business School is developing rapidly in its mission to be internationally known and highly regarded for both teaching excellence and high quality research. Our link to such a distinguished scholar differentiates the University and the Business School and demonstrates our interdisciplinary approach to business disciplines.”
The official launch of the Adam Smith Business School will be celebrated with a gala event in September, followed by a series of events in Scotland and abroad throughout the 2012/13 academic year. There will also be a special issue of Aspire magazine. Further information about the schedule of events will be made available on www.glasgow.ac.uk/business.