The University of Utah’s David Eccles School of Business continues to be recognized as a top-10 program for entrepreneurship. In new rankings from U.S. News & World Report, its undergraduate program for entrepreneurship ranked No. 8 overall and No. 5 among public schools for 2022.
The entrepreneurship program at the Eccles School is provided in partnership between the Department of Entrepreneurship & Strategy and the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this 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.
“The top 10 rankings are a great validation of all the work we have put into growing and improving our programs for entrepreneurship,” said Matthew Higgins, chair of the Department of Entrepreneurship & Strategy at the Eccles School. “In a short amount of time, we have become one of the best schools in the country for students that want to launch a company or apply an entrepreneurial mindset to any pursuit or field of study.”
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 among schools across the country for 2022.
U.S. News also ranked Utah as the No. 12 school for MBA entrepreneurship for 2022.
The Eccles School welcomes all students from across campus to get involved with entrepreneurship in many classes and opportunities. Students can choose from many classes, 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 full scholarships and spend nine months launching and scaling their companies with the support from in-depth mentoring, coursework, grants, and 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.
Last year, the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute 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 welcome all students to get involved with our programs, and we have a lot of options, whether they just want to attend a workshop or are looking to spend all of their time launching companies and learning about entrepreneurship,” said Troy D’Ambrosio, executive director of the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute and an assistant dean at the Eccles School. “Students can get involved by signing up for a class or simply walking into Lassonde Studios.”
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 514 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 486 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.
Learn more about the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute 20th anniversary and related events for alumni and the public at lassonde.utah.edu/20years.
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.
