AIB College of Business; An Impressive History
Posted by Brian Buethe
on Sep 14, 2015
American Institute of Business (AIB) was founded in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1921. The institution, now known as the AIB College of Business, will officially close its doors on June 30th, 2016. While this will be a sad day for many who have attended, worked for, or otherwise supported the college over the years, the fine history of this institution should not be lost. Jane Schorer Meisner (pictured right) has been the Director of Public Relations at the college for the past four years. She was on hand at the regular meeting (September 14th, 2015) of the Rotary Club of West Polk County, at the invitation of Seargent of Arms and Rotarian Jennifer Gordon (pictured left) to share some of the highlights of the school’s history.
The first President of AIB College of Business was Everett O. Fenton; a position he held until his retirement in 1957. Originally established as a for profit entity, the college reorganized as a non-profit in 1941. Keith Fenton assumed the role of President in 1957 and served in that capacity until 1998. During his tenure, the college grew substantially adding different courses of study, majors, acquired property and built new facilities. One of the renowned degrees offered at the college was in the field of Court Reporting and Captioning Center, a program that was dropped in recent years due to lack of interest from incoming students.
While the college had a very successful women’s basketball program in its early years, athletics had been absent for decades, before they began to establish new programs in 2007. Between 2007 and last year, the college instituted eleven new competitive teams including golf, basketball, volleyball, soccer, bowling, baseball and softball. The programs were seeing some success, but have since been disbanded in lieu of the pending closure of the college. Nevertheless, some people will always hold fond memories of the fighting AIB Eagles and their mascot “E.O.” named in honor of President E.O. Fenton.
AIB College of Business, over its 95+ year history has offered much to its many students, faculty, and surrounding communities. The Rotary Club of West Polk County would like to offer our sincere best wishes to the students, faculty, alumni, and staff of AIB College of Business (past and present) as the forthcoming transition looms. We would also like to thank Jane Schorer Meisner for sharing the remarkable history of the college with our group.