For the third consecutive year, the Ketner School of Business (KSOB) at Catawba College has earned a Level 4 rating in the Positive Impact Rating (PIR), the global, student-driven assessment of how business schools contribute to society.
The Level 4, or “Transforming,” designation places Ketner among just six U.S. business schools to reach that level in 2026. No U.S. school has ever reached PIR’s top rating, Level 5, making Ketner’s third straight Level 4 one of the strongest streaks among U.S. business schools.
Now in its seventh year, the PIR is unique among global rankings because it is designed by students, for students. This year, more than 20,000 students at 87 business schools across 32 countries evaluated their schools on culture, teaching, and community engagement.
At Catawba, 120 Ketner students completed the survey, organized and distributed by the school’s Future Business Leaders of America chapter. Their responses placed Ketner above the global average, with especially strong marks for culture and governance.
Dr. Joanna Trammell, Chair of KSOB’s Department of Business, Economics & Society and FBLA Co-Adviser, said the survey became more than a data-collection exercise for the students who ran it. “Our students were genuinely curious what their classmates think about sustainability and social impact here,” she said, “and they thought carefully about what the results mean for our school.”
The PIR doesn’t stop at a score. Students also told Ketner what they want more of: hands-on, real-world learning, deeper community partnerships, and continued momentum on sustainability. Ketner treats that feedback less as a report card and more as a roadmap.
Dean Imran Chowdhury said the results speak to something the numbers alone can’t capture.
“Our students are showing the world who we are — a school where social impact isn’t an add-on, but part of the culture,” he said. “And through the PIR, they’re also pointing us toward who we can become.” That partnership between students and the school they’re helping shape, he added, is what makes the Ketner experience and Catawba College distinctive.
KSOB will use these results to continue expanding experiential learning, community partnerships, and student support.
About the Ralph W. Ketner School of Business
The mission of the Ralph W. Ketner School of Business (KSOB) at Catawba College is to prepare students for impactful careers in service of the social good through a distinctive business education complemented by broad exposure to the liberal arts. Accredited by ACBSP at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, KSOB is intentionally interdisciplinary, blending traditional business disciplines (accounting, business administration, entrepreneurship, finance, information systems management, and marketing) with business-adjacent fields such as artificial intelligence, communication studies, computer science, data science, television, film and streaming media, and mathematical sciences, alongside its MBA program.
