UB School of Management receives award for curricular innovation in entrepreneurship

By Jacqueline Molik Ghosen

BUFFALO, N.Y. — The University at Buffalo School of Management has received the Excellence in Curriculum Innovation in Entrepreneurship Award at VentureWell’s 2024 Deshpande Symposium honoring UB’s exemplary commitment to developing innovative educational courses and programs that foster entrepreneurship education.

In selecting UB from an international pool of applicants, organizers specifically cited the School of Management’s development of personal growth frameworks, real-world experiential projects and its focus on customer discovery as means to develop entrepreneurs focused on market opportunities. Moreover, they commended UB’s approach as enabling students to tackle the complexities of entrepreneurship while developing key attributes of resilience and adaptability. Entrepreneurship students gain a deep sense of purpose and an action-oriented mindset essential for launching successful ventures.

“At UB, we recognize that curriculum innovation is critical to ensuring that our university remains a national leader in entrepreneurship education and a catalyst for transformative change in the Western New York region,” says Bob Neubert, director of entrepreneurship academic programs in the UB School of Management. “We strive to create an environment where entrepreneurial thinking is encouraged and students are inspired to build impactful ventures.”

Entrepreneurial skills are crucial in business today, whether an innovator is commercializing innovations at an established company, opening a small business or using entrepreneurial thinking to solve difficult societal problems. The UB School of Management’s entrepreneurship program is a national leader in developing the capabilities founders need to launch new ventures. 

“Our students get hands on experience working with real-world entrepreneurs. They build businesses not just because they have ideas, but also because they’ve learned to provide meaningful solutions for real problems,” says Tom Murdock, clinical assistant professor of entrepreneurship in the School of Management. “Now the world is taking notice of the tremendous entrepreneurial growth in Buffalo, and specifically at UB.”

Since launching major and minor concentrations in 2021, the School of Management Entrepreneurship program has achieved significant growth. The program, now enrolling more than 125 students each year, first appeared in national rankings in 2022, and is now ranked No. 7 in the Northeast. The 2023 Deshpande Symposium cited the School of Management for its unique approach to engaging students, and in 2024, the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship named UB one of three Emerging Entrepreneurship Programs in the United States.  

About the Deshpande Symposium

Cofounded by the Deshpande Foundation and the University of Massachusetts Lowell in 2012, the Deshpande Symposium on Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Higher Education brings together academics, policy planners and practitioners to discuss best practices in integrating entrepreneurship throughout their college and university communities. This year marks the second year VentureWell has led the programmatic vision and operational management of the symposium. Read more about the symposium and the awards here.