Company Profile
Catawba College
Company Overview
About the Ketner School of Business
The Ralph W. Ketner School of Business embodies Catawba College’s mission to provide an education rich in personal attention that blends the knowledge and competencies of liberal studies with career preparation. The Ketner School builds on the strengths of its liberal arts environment. Students are taught by our exceptional teacher-scholars in both traditional business disciplines such as Accounting, Business Administration, Economics, Entrepreneurship, Information Systems, Marketing, and Organizational Behavior, as well as in business-adjacent disciplines such as Communication, Computer Science, Data Science, Digital Media, and Mathematics.
Ketner offers a broad range of undergraduate majors, an MBA program, and access to unique internship, co-curricular, and experiential education opportunities. Faculty at the Ketner School also contribute to an online BBA program serving non-traditional learners. The Ketner School of Business is a member of the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) and the Global Business School Network (GBSN), and accredited by the Accreditation Council of Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP).
Company History
About Catawba College
Founded in 1851 and perennially ranked as one of the best colleges in the South, Catawba College provides an education focused on an institutional philosophy of a liberal education, which entails a broad range of knowledge, intellectual and practical skills, and individual and social responsibility fostered and developed in all academic programs. Catawba is a learning community that provides students unique opportunities to explore vocation, helping students to consider their calling, their passions, and their purpose as they prepare to reach their highest potential.
Catawba College’s scenic campus is located within the historic piedmont city of Salisbury, North Carolina, (pop. 34,000), part of the greater Charlotte area. Spread out over 276 wooded acres and 41 buildings, the campus is a beautiful blend of neogothic architecture set on a shaded hillside adjacent to the Center for the Environment facility and the ecological preserve. Centrally located, it is only two hours away from the Appalachian Mountains of western North Carolina and four hours away from some of the best beaches on the Atlantic Coast. Salisbury is a 45-minute drive from Charlotte Douglas International Airport, one of the busiest airports in the United States (10th nationwide in passenger traffic in 2022) with links to numerous domestic and overseas destinations.
Catawba offers 70 academic majors to 1,300 students hailing from 34 U.S. states and 19 foreign countries. Like the student body, the Catawba faculty, constituting nearly 90 full-time members, is broadly diverse. It embodies a significant range of opinion and philosophy, founded in study at leading institutions within the United States and abroad. Thirty-six percent of students identify as first-generation students, 45 percent of students are Pell-eligible, and 45 percent of first-year students identify as non-white (21 percent African American, 11 percent Hispanic). All Catawba students receive financial aid, and a significant proportion of financial need is met by the College for most students. The first-year retention rate for full-time undergraduates is 73 percent. Within six months of graduation, 97 percent of Catawba alumni are employed professionally or enrolled in graduate school.
Catawba College enjoys a strong financial picture. The College's endowment of $320 million supports the College's educational and service activities. The remarkable $200 million gift the College received in late 2021 transformed Catawba's future. One-third of the gift is earmarked to provide recurring funding to support and enhance Catawba's well-established programs in environment and sustainability, including programs the intersection of sustainability and information systems. In April 2023, the College became the 13th campus in the United States to achieve carbon neutrality and the 1st in North Carolina.
Catawba College is committed to contributing to a more sustainable world through its programs and people.