Hispanic Business ranked UTSA third in the nation for graduate business schools for Hispanics this September.

Only the University of Texas at El Paso, which ranked first, and the University of Texas at Austin, which ranked No. 2, surpassed UTSA’s school.

This however, is not the first recognition for UTSA’s College of Business. In fact, this is the fourth consecutive year that it has been recognized and ranked by Hispanic Business.

“This ranking speaks to the quality of our academic programming and the services we provide to our MBA students,” Lynda de la Viña, dean of the UTSA College of Business (COB) said. “It elevates the college into the upper echelon of business schools in the nation. Our goal was to obtain national recognition in five years. We accomplished that goal in three.”

The college follows the motto, “We transform business students into business professionals.”

Bloomberg Businesweek also ranked UTSA’s graduate business program No. 28 in the nation and No. 4 in the Southwest. Further, the Princeton Review ranked the COB among the top 10 graduate business programs nationwide for minority students this year for the sixth consecutive year.

When asked what makes UTSA’s College of Business so successful, De la Viña’s answer was simple. “The college is successful due to the dedication of our faculty, staff and students,” de la Viña said.

“The innovative spirit that our faculty bring into the classroom and the entrepreneurial processes that we employ to provide students with the best educational experience possible,” de la Viña said.

In the future, the college hopes to continue moving forward on the path to success. This academic year, the COB is undergoing the re-accreditation process with the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business International (AACSB) with the expectation of keeping up the tradition of excellence. The COB has been regularly accredited since 1980.

This honor, along with the accreditation of the accounting department since 1997, places the college in the top five percent of business schools not only in the nation, but also around the world. UTSA’s College of Business is also striving to reach two more goals. They hope to become the very first business school in Texas to receive European accreditation and later Accelerated Masters in Business Administration accreditation. These honors would make them “one of the few ‘triple crown’ schools in the U.S. and Latin America,” according to De la Viña.

“I have led the college on a path to achieve an ambitious goal, to raise the academic profile of UTSA’s College of Business to become one of the nation’s best business schools,” De la Viña said. The school’s work towards reaching these goals continues, De la Viña considers achieving them as a crucial first step towards becoming one of the most successful programs in the country.