After approval was secured from the School's faculty and the University's administration for an M.S. in Accounting Program, the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia approved the graduate program, proposed by a committee assembled by Dean Kaulback and chaired by future Dean Bill Shenkir, in 1971. Five students entered the program, with Shenkir as the first Director, in the fall of 1972, after a national marketing initiative. The first M.S. in Accounting degree was awarded in 1974.