The University of Utah’s David Eccles School of Business has joined the ranks of “Entrepreneur Magazine’s” Top 25, winning special recognition for its innovative, experience-based approach to business education (www.entrepreneur.com/topcolleges/undergrad/1.html).
“We are honored to be included in such a prestigious ranking. The David Eccles School of Business is an experience-based program with curriculum designed to help students understand how an enterprise operates and to inspire them to create businesses themselves,” said Taylor Randall, dean of the David Eccles School of Business. “We are dedicated to create entrepreneurs and business leaders for life.”
The David Eccles School of Business debuted at No. 16 on the publication’s list for best undergraduate entrepreneurial programs. That honor comes in tandem with the tenth anniversary of the business school’s Pierre and Claudette Lassonde New Venture Development Center (www.lassonde.utah.edu/), recognized as a model of success for student-faculty partnerships in conceiving, planning, marketing and launching new enterprises based on university research.
The University of Utah is ranked first in the country for creating start-up companies – edging out MIT – according to the Association of University Technology Managers’ most recent rankings.
“We have had nearly 100 colleges and universities come through in the past 18 months asking, ‘What is it that you do differently?’ The answer is that we engage students in our university’s technologies within a culture of innovation and commercialization,” said Lassonde Center Director Troy D’Ambrosio. “We don’t see this happening anywhere else in the country, certainly not at the level we have here.”
D’Ambrosio is pleased with the Entrepreneur Magazine honor most for its recognition of focus and effort by students and their faculty professors and advisors. In addition, the joint mission to prepare a new generation of job-creators engages the entire university campus, having enlisted an estimated 1,700 students in business, law, technology, engineering and other disciplines. Nearly 160 businesses have launched from these efforts over the past decade, 127 of which are still operating.
The newest program in the business school’s peer-oriented entrepreneurial effort is The Foundry (www.business.utah.edu/the-foundry), a highly successful incubator for student startups consisting of 49 entrepreneurs. “The program aims to produce ’battle ready’ innovators,” said William Schulze, chair of the school’s Management Department. “The students coming out of the Foundry know how to run a business and anticipate challenges before launching their personal enterprise.”
Between The Foundry’s May 2010 launch and the end of April 2011, the program’s undergraduate entrepreneurs created 43 companies that have generated more than $4 million in revenue and more than 50 jobs.
For more information on the David Eccles School of Business, visit www.business.utah.edu. For news, tips, and promotions, follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/desb_uofu and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ubusiness.
Media contacts
Chris Treasure, David Eccles School of Business, 801-587-9456, christopher.treasure@business.utah.edu
Remi Barron, interim director of public relations, 801-581-7295, cell: 801-230-4413, r.barron@utah.edu
