The Gordon Ford College of Business faculty gathered on the fourth floor of Grise Hall Wednesday for a reception to celebrate the business school’s recent accreditation.

Jeff Katz, dean of the Gordon Ford College of Business, said the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business recently accredited the business school.

“Every five years, colleges of business are evaluated on 21 different standards,” Katz said.

“We document and report to that association our achievement of those objectives and then the on-site team comes and evaluates it here on campus,” he said.

Katz said an AACSB team evaluated the Gordon Ford College of Business at the end of January.

Bob Hatfield, associate dean of graduate programs and research, said the Gordon Ford faculty learned in a memo released Monday that the college had been accredited.

“Today we’re celebrating that we have been reaffirmed for another five years for our accreditation in business and accounting programs,” Katz said.

Hatfield said this is something all the business schools strive for.

He said Gordon Ford was accredited this year for its accounting programs, as well as its business programs.

Hatfield said the University of Kentucky and the University of Louisville are the only other colleges in Kentucky whose business and accounting programs have both been accredited.

“Only three have that one-two punch of business and accounting, and that’s reason enough to celebrate,” he said.

A press release from the College of Business said 178 collegiate schools worldwide have accredited business and accounting programs.

Katz said AACSB accredited schools are regarded to have better teachers and higher-earning graduates than non-accredited schools.

President Gary Ransdell spoke briefly at the reception and congratulated and thanked the Gordon Ford faculty.

During the reception, many members of the Gordon Ford faculty were honored for their contributions to the school and presented with commemorative clocks, each with ‘AACSB Accreditation 2013’ inscribed below the clockface.

The College of Business’s press release said less than five percent of university business programs have AACSB accreditation.