North Carolina A&T State University Names Building After Dean, Former BGS President

The business school's part of the new building is named for Quiester Craig

By John Newsom, News & Record (Greensboro, NC)

When North Carolina A&T State University's business school moved into its new home last summer, Dean Quiester Craig got a fourth-floor office with a stunning northern view of Aggie Stadium.

On Wednesday, Craig got something so stunning it left him speechless.

A&T officials announced Wednesday that the business school's half of the General Classroom building would be named Quiester Craig Hall after the man who had led it for 32 years.

"Craig's done more for this school of business," said Velma Speight-Buford, vice chairwoman of A&T's Board of Trustees, which approved the building's name. "Craig knew what he wanted to do with the school. He felt he could truly make it his school."

The announcement came on the first of a two-day business school alumni reunion scheduled to coincide with the building's dedication. Nearly 200 A&T business school graduates attended, including some accountants who managed to break away from their tax deadlines to be there.

Alumni and other A&T friends were treated to a second announcement, the creation of a $1.2 million scholarship fund. The accounting firm KPMG and the KPMG Foundation, the company's charitable arm, contributed $300,000 apiece to match a federal government grant of $600,000. The first scholarships for undergraduate business majors will be awarded in the fall of 2005.

But the day belonged to Craig, a Montgomery, Ala., native who was hired from Florida A&M University in 1972.

He was appointed dean and professor of accounting of A&T's School of Business and Economics, which had just become a school of the university after years as a department. The change gave the business school the same campus stature as the engineering school and the arts and sciences college.

Craig was the only certified public accountant on faculty at the time, so he taught. And he was tough.

"When we were going through, you couldn't get through A&T without going through him," said Diane Hill, a 1977 graduate and Charlotte resident who is now a principal with IBM.

During Craig's tenure, the business school was accredited by AACSB International - The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, and installed a chapter of Beta Gamma Sigma. Craig later became the first African-American national president of both groups. The school also established a transportation institute in 1991 and a master's degree program in 2001.

The naming came as a surprise to Craig, 66, who learned about it mid-bite at an afternoon luncheon.

Later, Craig thanked the team of administrators, faculty and students who helped the business school grow and prosper over the years.

"Keep your eyes on us...because this university is not stopping now," Craig said.

The $20 million General Classroom Building, with 147,000 square feet of classrooms and office space, was finished in May 2003.

The business school shares the space with A&T's College of Arts and Sciences. That section of the building has not been renamed.