May 14, 2008—In its first-ever ranking of undergraduate specialty programs, BusinessWeek magazine crowned McIntire’s business law specialty tops in the nation. The School took the No. 2, 3, and 4 spots in corporate strategy, marketing, and financial management, respectively, as well as the No. 8 spot in accounting. McIntire maintains an overall ranking of No. 2 in the magazine’s annual assessment of the nation’s undergraduate business programs.

McIntire Professor John Wheeler, the sole proprietor of the business law specialty, says he views himself as a storyteller with a full-time job. “Every rule I cover,” Wheeler says, “is associated with a story. The law is such an abstract subject; by using stories, I give students something concrete that their brain can latch on to.”

Wheeler, who practiced law for 12 years before teaching it full time, says he works hard to try to cover legal topics that students are likely to encounter in their own lives and careers. “The law is a vast topic,” Wheeler says. “You can’t possibly cover it all.”

Based on his own experience as a lawyer, though, and by constantly reading practitioners’ journals, Wheeler says he’s able to cover the rules that come up most in the real world. Says Wheeler, “It’s not necessarily what’s most interesting to me—it’s what the students are likely to encounter.”

Check out BusinessWeek’s rankings here.

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