Puri Business Award

At the Puri School of Business, our scope of study expands beyond just accounting, management, marketing, finance, and economics. Students and faculty work together to examine the concerns of business and not-for-profit organizations in a dynamic and ever-changing world. We also examine the ethical, political, and social issues arising from the workings of our business world.

Our students live in and work in globally integrated environments. We help students to develop an understanding of the varied business fields, as well as the society in which they live, so that they can become effective participants within the business realm. Creating sustainable successful careers centered on civic engagement is the ultimate goal of earning a degree from the Puri School of Business at Rockford University.

Our courses are centered on collaborative learning, case studies, community-based learning, and internships. Additionally, the Puri School of Business is home of our Bloomberg Business Lab featuring 11 state-of-the-art financial trading terminals, making us the only academic institution in our region with hands-on financial application. Our faculty are not only recognized academic scholars, but also bring with them corporate experience. These are all opportunities for students to make course lessons their own, to match theory with practice. This blend of theory and practical application allows Puri School of Business students to obtain the tools that are imperative for long-term career success within the business realm.

Courses and Degree

The Puri School of Business have FOUR NEW degrees available now including Digital Marketing, Supply Chain Management, Healthcare Administration, and Data Analytics.

In order to help students prepare for a life of civic engagement, we offer a liberal arts education and promote the development of certain fundamental skills. Majors in our department develop the ability to think critically and analytically, to communicate clearly and forcefully with the written and spoken word, and to understand the process and role of decision-making in the business setting. Students should complete as much work as possible in mathematics, statistics, and computer science. In order to understand the society in which we live, students must learn how to evaluate data. Decisions about managing organizations must be informed by data in order to permit those decisions to improve performance. Therefore, quantitative applications are a vital inclusion within our courses in order to refine the processes of problem-solving and decision-making. Furthermore, the quantitative portion of the program is absolutely essential for students who hope to attend graduate school.
 
As faculty, we do not regard the acquisition of these skills as an abstract wish. They are identified specifically as components of our courses, and we demonstrate throughout our courses the practical application of these skills. We model the skills in our interactions with students, and in our professional careers, as we know the transferability of these skills within the business environment.

The Puri School of Business offers the following degrees:

Majors:

  • Accounting, B.A. or B.S.
  • Business Administration, B.A. or B.S.
  • Data Analytics, B.A. or B.S.
  • Data Science, B.A. or B.S.
  • Digital Marketing, B.A. or B.S.
  • Economics, B.A. or B.S.
  • Financial Economics, B.A. or B.S.
  • Healthcare Administration, B.A. or B.S.
  • Marketing, B.A. or B.S.
  • Supply Chain Management, B.A. or B.S.

 Minors:

  • Accounting
  • Business Administration
  • Economics
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Marketing

View degree requirements in the Academic Catalog.

Refer to the following links for more information about business degrees at Rockford University.

About the Puri School of Business

On October 3, 2014, Rockford University formally established the Puri School of Business, thereby recognizing and celebrating the ongoing contributions of Mr. Sunil Puri ’82/’13Hco-founder and President of First Midwest Group.

The Puri School commemorates Mr. Puri’s lifetime commitment to Rockford University. It is the first named school at the University and is home to undergraduate, graduate and certificate programs in economics, business and accounting.

Sunil PuriMr. Puri was born in Bombay, India, and immigrated to the United States in 1979 to attend Rockford College®, graduating in 1982 with a Bachelor of Science in Accounting. From the minute he stepped on campus as an undergrad, a fire sparked inside him that still burns bright. As a dedicated Trustee and tireless advocate for Rockford University, he has proudly promoted and protected the interests of our University; for that we are most grateful.

The School is housed in a 28,000-square-foot building donated by Mr. Puri and is located just to the east of the main campus entrance. The building serves as the hub for all related School programs and is under the umbrella of the University’s College of Social Sciences, Commerce and Education.

Mr. Puri sees this as an effort that goes deeper than the act of a donation, saying, “It is important to my family and me, that the School offers not only an exemplary space for the campus and community to interact and innovate, but also where significant programming and curricular advances can benefit both the University and its ability to partner in the economic revival of this region,” adding, “The liberal arts education I received at Rockford significantly contributed to my success and supporting the Puri School of Business is my way of paying it forward.”

Mission & Vision Statements

2020-2021 Mission:

The mission of the Puri School of Business is to prepare students for successful professional careers by blending a strong interdisciplinary foundation with a cutting edge undergraduate and graduate business education. We achieve our mission in an environment characterized by personal attention and experiential learning using innovative teaching techniques, civic engagement, and the latest technology. Our students develop into business and professional leaders of the highest moral character.

Vision statement:

We develop successful students who embrace challenges, develop new ideas, and who understand, envision, and shape the world.

Puri School of Business
5050 E. State Street
Rockford, IL 61108
815-226-4000

Luis Romero 
Chair of PURI School of Business
815-226-4046