[4] Michigan Ross maintains the tenth largest endowment among all business schools in the United States, with a total of $435 million as of 2016.

Economics Department Chairman Henry Carter Adams oversaw the expanding practical courses to prepare students for business careers.

[5] In 1918, the university's College of Literature, Science, and the Arts began issuing a Certificate of Business Administration.

In 1923, University President Marion LeRoy Burton hired Edmund Ezra Day to serve as the founding dean of a new business school.

[5] In 1926 after serving three years, Day was replaced as dean by Clare Griffin, who initially came to the university to teach marketing.

In 1974, Alfred Edwards joined the faculty as a professor of business administration and director of the research division, later becoming known as the school's ambassador for diversity.

In 1980, total degree-program enrollment reached 2,000, including about 600 BBA students, while the number of faculty members exceeded 100.

In 1983, the school joined the Consortium for Graduate Study in Management and began offering a Master of Accounting degree.

In 1991, White and Associate Dean Paul Danos introduced a major MBA curriculum overhaul by initiating the Multidisciplinary Action Project (MAP), a full-time, seven-week project that allowed teams of students to work on real-world business challenges for sponsor companies.

[5] During White's tenure, other initiatives, such as research on how to supplement the GMAT, helped cement the school's reputation for innovations that produce business leaders.

[14] During Davis-Blake's tenure, the school broadened its global presence, increasing the number of overseas experiences for students and beginning a partnership with Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

[15][16] The Desai Accelerator for startup businesses—a joint effort between Ross and the University of Michigan College of Engineering—opened in downtown Ann Arbor in 2014.

[17] The same year, Davis-Blake oversaw a large, donor-funded construction project[18] that includes the new Jeff T. Blau Hall,[19] as well as renovations to several older buildings on the business campus.

[20] In 2015, Davis-Blake announced that she would step down at the end of her five-year term in 2016 to pursue a broader role in higher education.

Her research focuses on industrial organization, vertical relationships, contracting and franchising, and entrepreneurship, along with related public policy issues.

[23] On May 19, 2022, the University of Michigan announced that it had selected Sharon F. Matusik, the culmination of an eight-month-long national search for the next dean.

In the most-recent U.S. News & World Report[31] specialty rankings for 2019, Michigan Ross's full-time MBA program was ranked third in the Management and Production/Operations categories, fourth in Marketing and Accounting, fifth in Nonprofit and International, sixth in Supply Chain/Logistics, seventh in Entrepreneurship, and tenth in Finance.

[34] The Ross School of Business was ranked third worldwide in 2011 for research output,[35] and first in 2013 for sustainability by Bloomberg Businessweek.

Upon its establishment in 1924, the business school was located in Tappan Hall, the oldest extant classroom building on campus.

The business school was the first skyscraper on campus and was designed by architects Lee and Kenneth C. Black, of Lansing, Michigan.

The second gift was used for facilities upgrades, including high-tech classrooms, a new career services space, and additional areas for practical research; as well as student scholarships.

WDI supports international activity at the University of Michigan by funding research, hosting visiting scholars, organizing seminars and speaker series, sponsoring summer internships, and creating dynamic and current teaching materials.

WDI's publication initiative houses a collection of international business and social impact teaching materials.

In 2013, Michigan Ross (Erb Institute) received the top ranking for MBA programs with a Sustainability specialty (Bloomberg Business MBA Rankings) Joel D. Tauber donated $5 million in 1995 to establish the Joel D. Tauber Manufacturing Institute, which trains graduate engineering and business students in operations management.

In 2012 the institute was awarded the first UPS George D. Smith Prize from INFORMS[43] for its effective and innovative preparation of students to be practitioners of operations research, management science or analytics.

[45] The fund invests with the active involvement of MBA students, faculty assistance, and an advisory board composed of professional venture capitalists and entrepreneurs.

It researches topics such as positive leadership, meaning and purpose, ethics and virtues, and relationships and culture in an organizational setting.

A Ross MBA community tradition is the Ross MBA college football tailgate, which takes place before and after every home game at "The Bus", a 1985 Ford school bus that is painted in maize and blue, Michigan's colors, and is decorated with a dance floor, a DJ on the roof, and couches in the interior.

On game days, The Bus is parked in a nearby Lumber Yard for an event called the Ross MBA tailgate, which attracts over 500 students, alumni, and friends.

It was established in 2007 by William Moon and publishes theses, empirical research, case studies, and theories relating to accounting, economics, finance, marketing, management, operations management, information systems, business law, corporate ethics, and public policy.