Atkinson Graduate School was founded at Willamette University in 1974 and moved into the new Seeley G. Mudd Building in 1975. The first year had 52 students and five professors. The program is older than the management program at Yale University. Stephen Archer served as the school's first dean. The school was first named as the Willamette University School of Administration before being renamed as the George H. Atkinson Graduate School of Management. Atkinson was a businessman in the construction industry and a trustee of Willamette before he died in 1978. He served as president of the board of trustees and made the largest single donation in school history up to that time in 1969 when his foundation gave $3.4 million to the university.