Sullivan Business College was founded in 1962 by A.O. Sullivan and his son, A.R. Sullivan, as a one-year school preparing people for careers. In 1972, the school began to offer associate degrees in addition to its one-year career diplomas. The institution was renamed in 1976 to
Sullivan Junior College of Business to reflect its authority to grant associate degrees, and moved to its present Louisville campus on Bardstown Road and the Watterson Expressway. The school soon expanded by opening additional campuses—its Ft. Knox campus was opened in 1982, and its campus in Lexington (currently on Harrodsburg Road) in 1985. In 1987 Sullivan opened the National Center for Hospitality Studies offering degrees in culinary arts, baking and pastry arts, hotel and restaurant management and catering. In 1990, the school was approved by the Kentucky Council on Higher Education to award the Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration. In 2008, Sullivan began its first doctoral program, the
Doctor of Pharmacy, which is accredited by the
Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE). Pharmacy graduates are eligible to sit for the National Board Exam. In 2010, Sullivan launched its first Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) program in management. Sullivan University still reflects its original philosophy of quickly preparing students for careers by offering a "stair step" approach. A student can attain a career diploma in one year, an associate degree in eighteen months (although only a minority of full-time students reach this far Sullivan University merged with Spencerian College and Sullivan College of Technology and Design, creating a single university in 2018. The university's founder, A.R. Sullivan, retired as chancellor in 2020 and was named chancellor emeritus. He still serves on the board of directors. Glenn Sullivan was subsequently named chancellor of the university.
Legal issues In a 2009 lawsuit, it was disclosed that the organization held just $20 million in cash reserves though the Sullivan University System distributed $77 million over the previous 10 years to its two sole stockholders, Chancellor Alva Sullivan and ex-wife Patricia Schrenk. These distributions excluded salaries, bonuses, and other benefits received from employment with the organization. In her filing, Schrenk alleged that college funds were used to pay for personal vacations, to settle sexual harassment lawsuits, and for private lawn care at the stockholders' residences. Though the lawsuit was not lodged against the Sullivan University System, its relatively low cash reserves despite the large distributions made to its stockholders made local and regional news. In August 2011, a special prosecutor was appointed to investigate potential violations of state campaign-finance laws when a former employee alleged that the Sullivan University System Chancellor and other executives asked more than 100 employees to pledge to vote for and donate to Todd P'Pool, a then-candidate for
Kentucky Attorney General. P'Pool was running against incumbent
Jack Conway, who had been investigating the Sullivan University System in several matters since earlier that same year. The allegation stated that executives urged employees to demonstrate their support for the candidate in front of all present at a meeting and to donate to the campaign by presenting a personal check to Sullivan University System executives. In 2011, the Sullivan University System was ordered to pay more than $480,000 to then-current and previous employees for a violation of the
Fair Labor Standards Act. The suit alleged that the system misclassified admissions representatives and failed to accurately track work hours in order to avoid payment of overtime wages. Though alerted to the situation in 1994, the
U.S. Department of Labor did not review the case until 2007, and did not file the lawsuit against both the Sullivan University System and its Chancellor until 2010. ==Culinary programs==