The school the nation’s first undergraduate business school, was established through a $100,000 gift from Joseph Wharton (1826-1909), an industrialist who later donated more money to ensure the schools success.
The school awarded its first degrees to women in 1908. A year later, it began offering courses in advertising and salesmanship originally offered in the merchandising department.
Wharton school served as an institutional model and intellectual influence for subsequent American business schools.
Today know as the Wharton School of Finance and Commerce, Joseph Wharton sought to create in the university a school that would offer a ‘liberal education in all matters concerning finance and commerce’.
Its founder, Joseph Wharton, was born into a prominent family in Philadelphia. He ruled an empire that included steelmaking and nickel mining in Pennsylvania, gold mines in Nevada, dredging operations in Idaho and railroad interest stretching from mid-Atlantic to the Pacific West.
Wharton School of The University of Pennsylvania
