The University of Omaha Becomes The Municipal University Of Omaha
At the University of Omaha Board of Trustees meeting on February 1, 1929, it was decided to seek legislative permission to attain municipal status for the University. The chairman (the terms of chairperson or chair were not used at that time) of the board anticipated favorable action from both the legislature and the citizens of Omaha. On May 6, 1930, the citizens voted, by a margin of just over 1,000 votes, to establish a Municipal University of Omaha. This designation would permit the University to place up to a one mill tax levy on real and personal property. Following this favorable vote, the Board of Trustees approved enabling resolutions to transfer the properties and assets of the University of Omaha to the newly formed municipal university. However, prior to the change in status, business administration had become a department in the College of Liberal Arts with Professor Dunlap listed as head of the department.
Business administration remained a department within the College of Liberal Arts following the change in University status. The department offered an academic program leading to the degree of Bachelor Science in Business Administration as well as the Bachelor of Commercial Science degree for students enrolled in that program. However, this latter degree program was to be discontinued in favor of retaining the more widely recognized degree in business administration.
The 1931 catalog revealed that business administration courses were moving away from reliance on a lengthy list of job-related practical subjects. Students, however, had the option of applying 10 hours of shorthand and 4 hours of typewriting toward the graduation requirement of at least 125 semester hours. The business degree program required six hours of English, six hours of science, and six hours of mathematics, or 12 hours of two sciences. Other courses included ones in psychology, economic theory, foreign languages, American government, history, and ethics or logic. Business courses included accounting, marketing, money and banking, corporation finance, insurance, economic problems, statistics and business cycles.