The University of California, Davis, will welcome its first cohort of students to a new business major in the fall of 2025, bringing to fruition a degree program that was decades in the making.

“We look forward to deepening connections with our business community and sparking new relationships that will support the experiential learning of undergraduate students in this new academic degree program,” said UC Davis Chancellor Gary S. May. “Our alumni and industry partners already support us in many meaningful ways, and we look forward to further engaging with them in opportunities to advance the success of our students.”

In 2021, a working group composed of faculty in the Graduate School of Management, the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, and the College of Letters and Science was tasked with continuing previous work to make the business major a reality. With a solid foundation from prior committees’ work, members of the Joint Working Group for the Creation of a Business Major — Steve Boucher, Joseph Chen, Giovanni Peri, Hollis Skaife, Derek Stimel and Jeffrey Williams — collaborated across departments and dedicated countless hours toward review, deliberation and thoughtful discussion with colleagues across campus. The result is a major built on pillars of math, statistics and economics, which draws from courses in the Departments of Agricultural and Resource Economics,  Economics and GSM. The rigorous academic program was approved by the Davis Division of the Academic Senate this year.

Details on the new major will be released in the coming months on a dedicated website and published in admissions materials in the fall.

“This new major directly responds to student and industry requests for a business major at UC Davis,” said Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Mary Croughan. “It enhances our significant role in preparing tomorrow’s leaders, innovators, and entrepreneurs by drawing on areas of significant strength across the campus, with outstanding expert faculty who will offer students an exceptional educational experience.”