How Florida’s Oldest Business School Is Punching Above Its Weight

When Stetson University’s Centurion Sales team swept three national and international sales competitions in the same year, no one was more surprised than the big-name schools they left behind. 

When students in its Roland George Investments Program grew a modest $200,000 endowment into a $13.5 million fund, Wall Street took notice. 

And when a student entrepreneur walked away from a “Donut for Your Idea” pitch session with a gadget that now sells on Amazon, it underscored a theme that Dean Yiorgos Bakamitsos likes to emphasize: at Stetson, business education doesn’t just stay in the classroom.

SMALL SCHOOL, BIG AMBITION

In DeLand, Florida, a small city of just over 41,000 nestled between Orlando and Daytona Beach, sits Stetson University’s School of Business Administration — the oldest business school in Florida, founded in 1897. Today it enrolls 739 undergraduate students and 219 graduate students, for a total of 958.

Bakamitsos took the helm there in 2021 after nearly a decade as associate dean. A native of Greece, he earned his MBA and Ph.D. at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management before teaching at leading institutions worldwide, from Dartmouth’s Tuck School and Bocconi in Milan to Centrum in Peru and ALBA in Athens. He later became assistant dean for executive education at Tulane University’s Freeman School of Business, where he honed both his administrative and academic leadership skills, before moving to Stetson.

That international résumé, he says, shapes how he sees the role of a small, regional business school with big ambitions. “We’re a tuition-driven institution,” Bakamitsos tells Poets&Quants. “That forces us to be relevant — to offer something distinctive that resonates with students and families making one of the biggest investments of their lives.”

SIGNATURE PROGRAMS ON ‘EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING STEROIDS’

What makes Stetson distinctive is its commitment to experiential learning. Every program embeds hands-on projects with real clients and organizations. In a marketing research course, students once crafted a turnaround plan for De La Vega, a struggling DeLand restaurant that is now one of the city’s most popular dining spots. Sustainability courses tackle water conservation and environmental challenges. Through the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program, students prepare hundreds of tax returns for low-income families, generating more than one million dollars in refunds over the years while learning how to navigate difficult conversations with real clients.

Some programs go even further. The Roland George Investments Program puts students in charge of millions in real funds, supported by a high-tech trading room with 16 Bloomberg terminals. The Centurion Sales Program, endowed by alumnus Leo Fernandez, has become a national powerhouse, producing graduates who win jobs before their vans even leave competition sites. And the Prince Entrepreneurship Program transforms napkin sketches into viable businesses, guiding students from prototype to market.

“These are life-changing outcomes,” Bakamitsos says. “I still get goosebumps when I think about students calling home to say they’ve just accepted a job offer that pays more than their parents ever earned. This is why we’re here.”

RETURN ON INVESTMENT

With tuition a major concern for families, Bakamitsos is blunt about the stakes. “It’s not a rite of passage anymore,” he says. “It’s one of the biggest investments any family will ever make. So we need to show it’s worth it.”

The numbers bear him out. In 2024, 97% of Stetson business undergraduates were employed or in graduate school within six months of graduation. For graduate students, the figure was 100%. Across the entire university, the number was 91%.

EMBRACING THE AGE OF AI

Like every business school, Stetson is wrestling with the rise of artificial intelligence. The school now requires students in its IT foundations course to earn a third-party AI certification, ensuring they leave with baseline literacy in a technology that will shape every career. Faculty are experimenting with AI-enhanced assignments, from simulating case protagonists to improving coding strategies.

“We’re moving away from the paradigm of ‘don’t use it,’” Bakamitsos says. “Instead, we want students to become critical users of AI — to evaluate what they receive, to think about whether they agree, and to use it responsibly. If we don’t train them to do this, we will have failed them.”

REGIONAL MISSION, GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE

Though primarily regional — most students come from Florida and the Southeast — Stetson sees itself as a vital player in Central Florida’s economic development. Its programs and partnerships, from marketing support for small businesses to investment in startups, are designed to strengthen both students and the community.

Bakamitsos’s global background informs his vision. Having taught and worked across Europe, Asia, and Latin America, he brings an international lens to a school that thrives on close ties to its local economy. “We are a critical component of this region’s development,” he says. “Our role is to partner with those who want to advance it.”

Looking ahead, he emphasizes three priorities: agility in launching new programs, staying relevant in a fast-changing business environment, and deepening community impact. A proposed master’s in human resource management is on the horizon, with additional graduate offerings under discussion.

THE STETSON DIFFERENCE

With fewer than 1,000 students, Stetson competes not by scale but by intimacy. Small classes allow one-on-one faculty mentorship, whether students are debating an AI-generated paper or preparing for a national sales competition.

Florida’s oldest business school may be small, but in DeLand it is proving that relevance, agility, and hands-on learning can create an outsized impact for students — and for the region it calls home.

“We don’t get everything right,” Bakamitsos says. “But at least we know what doesn’t work, and we won’t try it again. That willingness to experiment is part of staying competitive.”

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