The University of Utah’s David Eccles School of Business continues to be recognized as a top program for entrepreneurship. In new rankings from U.S. News & World Report, its undergraduate program for entrepreneurship ranked No. 5 overall and No. 2 among public schools for 2023.
The entrepreneurship program at the Eccles School is provided in partnership between the Department of Entrepreneurship & Strategy and the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute, which celebrated its 20th anniversary last year. Together, these programs provide a growing and broad range of programs from grants and workshops to elective courses, a unique graduate program, and a living-learning community.
“We have a deep tradition of entrepreneurship at the Eccles School, and we continue to grow that legacy by giving our students the best opportunities we can to learn what it takes to be an entrepreneur,” said Rachel Hayes, dean of the David Eccles School of Business. “We teach our students to be doers. We challenge all of them to launch a product or company, or join one, then we give them the information and resources to do it.”
In related rankings issued earlier this year, U.S. News & World Report ranked the MBA program at the Eccles School No. 11 for entrepreneurship overall (No. 5 among public schools) for 2023.
The Eccles School welcomes all students from across campus to get involved with entrepreneurship in many classes and opportunities. Students can choose from many electives, degrees, study-abroad options, and more. One of the newest opportunities is Lassonde+X, a three-class program designed for students from any major to add an entrepreneurial mindset to any field of study and career path.
The Eccles School launched the unique Master of Business Creation program in 2019. Founders in the program receive scholarships to launch and scale their companies with the support from in-depth mentoring, coursework, grants, and more. Starting in January 2023, founders will be able to enroll in the new MBC Online option.
To support alumni, the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute launched the Lassonde for Life program. New for fall 2022, the program welcomes all University of Utah alumni, from every major and college, to participate in a variety of activities and events to explore entrepreneurship and grow a product idea or business.
“We have been growing our entrepreneurship program in many exciting ways and are proud to be recognized for our efforts,” said Matthew Higgins, chair of the Department of Entrepreneurship & Strategy at the Eccles School. “We invite all students who are interested in entrepreneurship to learn more about us. We have classes, degrees, startup support, exceptional faculty and mentors, and much more.”
Outside the classroom, the Eccles School provides many options for all students on campus to experience entrepreneurship by launching companies and building products at the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute. Opportunities there include workshops, mentoring, startup support, grants, meetups, and more. Students can also “live, create, launch” at Lassonde Studios, a five-story building in the center of campus with an innovation space on the first floor and dorm space on the upper levels. Lassonde Studios has been featured by The New York Times and Architectural Digest and continues to attract worldwide attention.
The Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute also recently launched the Lassonde Founders program. It is a residential entrepreneur community for incoming students who are active entrepreneurs. Students receive scholarships and the opportunity to live and launch with an exceptional group of young entrepreneurs. All incoming students are invited to join this program.
“We have programs for every student on campus to experience entrepreneurship and learn by doing,” said Troy D’Ambrosio, executive director of the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute and an assistant dean at the Eccles School. “We work with thousands of students and hundreds of student startup teams ever year, and our new alumni program will allow us to continue that support for their lifetime.”
The U.S. News best business school rankings are based on the judgments of deans and senior faculty members at peer institutions. This year, they surveyed deans and senior faculty members at each of the 516 undergraduate business programs accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business.
For the U.S. News graduate business school rankings, U.S. News surveyed all 493 MBA programs accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business.
Find complete rankings on the U.S. News website for undergrad entrepreneurship rankings here and the graduate entrepreneurship rankings here. Read more about the ranking methodology for the undergrad ranking here and the graduate ranking here.
Learn more about entrepreneuring at the Eccles School, where entrepreneur is a verb, here: eccles.utah.edu/entrepreneur.
About the David Eccles School of Business
The Eccles School is synonymous with ‘doing.’ The Eccles experience provides a world-class business education with a unique, entrepreneurial focus on real-world scenarios where students put what they learn into practice long before graduation. Founded in 1917 and educating more than 6,000 students annually, the University of Utah David Eccles School of Business offers nine undergraduate majors, four MBAs, eight other graduate programs, a Ph.D. in five areas and executive education curricula. The School is also home to 12 institutes, centers and initiatives that deliver academic research and support an ecosystem of entrepreneurship and innovation. For more information, visit Eccles.Utah.edu or call 801-581-7676.
About the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute
The Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute is a nationally ranked hub for student entrepreneurship and innovation at the University of Utah and an interdisciplinary division of the David Eccles School of Business. The first programs were offered in 2001, through the vision and support of Pierre Lassonde, an alumnus of the Eccles School and successful mining entrepreneur. The institute now provides opportunities for thousands of students to learn about entrepreneurship and innovation. Programs include workshops, networking events, business-plan competitions, startup support, innovation programs, graduate seminars, scholarships, community outreach and more. All programs are open to students from any academic major or background. The Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute also manages Lassonde Studios, a five-story innovation space and housing facility for all students. Learn more at Lassonde.Utah.edu.
Congrats to Lassonde and team for always doing amazing work with entrepreneurs and keeping the student start up community in Utah at the forefront of small business and new enterprises.