The Eller Times, Summer 2004 - Eller Entrepreneurship Equals Excellence


	Summer 2004

Eller Entrepreneurship Equals Excellence

The Karl Eller Center and McGuire Entrepreneurship Program reached new heights in 2004, rated #2 in the nation by entrepreneurship program directors, faculty and alumni in Entrepreneur magazine’s rankings of top colleges for entrepreneurs. In a separate and more scientific assessment of entrepreneurship education at 279 U.S. colleges, Entrepreneur named Eller one of twelve programs designated top tier and one of just five to repeat in the top tier from last year. The scientific assessment is based on analysis of 60 variables, including number and variety of courses, internships, endowments, incubated businesses, faculty experience and alumni success. Find complete listings of programs and methodology details at www.entrepreneur.com/
topcolleges. Karl Eller Center Entrepreneurship placed 13th in the nation in the 2004 U.S. News & World Report graduate and number 11 undergraduate program rankings, the eighth straight year of upward movement.

Top 10 National/Regional Programs

Ranked by program directors, faculty and alumni.
Courtesy Entrepreneur magazine.

1. Babson College

2. The University of Arizona

3. University of Pennsylvania (Wharton)

4. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

5. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

6. University of Colorado at Boulder

7. Southern Methodist University

8. University of Southern California

9. Wake Forest University

10. Ball State University

The richness of the entrepreneurial learning environment in the Karl Eller Center is reflected in the events and announcements concluding the academic year. The 2004 Business Plans Competition, capstone event for undergraduate and graduate majors, held April 30th and sponsored by Ventana Medical Systems, Inc., saw six finalist teams present fully developed business plans to a panel of faculty, executives and investors. Plans ranged from providing commercial kitchens and business services for start-up culinary ventures, to using genetic analysis technology to increase accuracy of diagnosis and treatment for cancer patients.

Ventana Medical Systems, Inc. Business Plans Competition Winners

Graduate Business Plans

Grand Prize
Genetic Information Technologies (GIT) by Todd Egle, Daniel Keltner and Henry Hsieh

Excellence in Business Planning, Finalist Award
Culinary Suites by Carolyn Kraus, Ben Tong, Michael Gottlieb and Randy Schoenfeld

Excellence in Business Planning, Finalist Award
Simpli Software by Keith Baron, Sa Uk Chang, Jennifer Perez and Sam Shan

Undergraduate Business Plans

Grand Prize
InstaDerm by Brent Causey and Nita Umashankar

Excellence in Business Planning, Finalist Award
Rapid Feedback Systems by James Benedict, Steve Machtley, Patrick McNamara and Feliz Zaborsky

Excellence in Business Planning, Finalist Award
Vinology Monitoring by Marshall Baca, Stephen Herman and Nathaniel Trobiani

The Eller entrepreneurial community expanded on April 30th, as well. Director Gary Libecap named three new Entrepreneurial Fellows, honoring their contributions to the Arizona economy, and inducted two entrepreneurship education leaders into the Eller Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame.

2004 Entrepreneurial Fellows

Brian Boubek, Founder, CEO & President, Cultural Experiences Abroad, Phoenix, providing study abroad opportunities for U.S. college students

Robert Morrison, Executive Director, Arizona Desert Angels, Tucson, attracting local investors and capital to early stage companies

Patrick Jones, Director, Office of Technology Transfer, University of Arizona, facilitating intellectual property and technology transfer at UA

2004 Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame

Kenneth Smith, Interim Dean, Eller College of Management
Founding Dean Award for outstanding contributions to entrepreneurship education

Donald Martin, Founder and President, Competitive Engineering
Supporter of Entrepreneurship Award for outstanding contributions to entrepreneurship education

The continuous advancement model driving excellence in the Karl Eller Center and McGuire Enterpreneurship Program is also reflected in four new grants, three from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation of Kansas City totaling $100,000 and a fourth of $50,000 from the Illinois-based Coleman Foundation. Together they will fuel the fusion of technology transfer and entrepreneurship and raise the level of comprehensive approaches to entrepreneurship education. Funds from these grants will support a campus-wide initiative to broaden entrepreneurship education and increase knowledge transfer from the University to society, will increase student internships helping to bring UA–based research and technologies into the marketplace and will underwrite a January 2005 colloquium, bringing together researchers and educators nationwide to explore the ways entrepreneurship education can be better institutionalized by linking it to technology transfer.

image, Quote: The richness of the entrepreneurial learning environment at the Eller College is reflected in the events and announcements concluding the academic year.