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. 7 overall and No. 4 among public schools for 2024.
The entrepreneurship program at the Eccles School is provided in partnership between the Department of Entrepreneurship & Strategy and the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute. Together, these programs offer a growing and broad range of programs from grants and workshops to elective courses, a unique graduate program and a living-learning community.
“Our tradition for entrepreneurship continues to be recognized in our top-10 ranking,” said Rachel Hayes, dean of the David Eccles School of Business. “At the Eccles School, we welcome students from across campus to learn about entrepreneurship inside and outside the classroom. We have something for every student to learn the values of entrepreneurship, including what it means to innovate and persevere through any challenge.”
In related rankings issued earlier this year, U.S. News & World Report ranked the MBA program at the Eccles School No. 12 for entrepreneurship overall (No. 5 among public schools) for 2024.
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 MBC Online option.
“We are proud to have one of the largest entrepreneurship departments and as great a number of opportunities as any university,” said Jennifer Brown, chair of the Department of Entrepreneurship & Strategy at the Eccles School. “We offer students many ways to learn about entrepreneurship, including the opportunity to see entrepreneurship in action. Many students start in our introductory entrepreneurship classes, then they progress to a minor, major or master’s.”
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 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.
“Entrepreneurship is not just something students do in the classroom at the University of Utah,” said Troy D’Ambrosio, executive director of the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute and an assistant dean at the Eccles School. “Students can take the lessons they learn in class and work with us to prototype their idea, build a team and launch a thriving business.”
To support alumni, the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute created 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.
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 523 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 496 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 more than 20 institutes, centers and initiatives, which 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.
