The Robert H. and Beverly A. Deming Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Colorado at Boulder has received a $500,000 grant from the Price Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies, which will help expand entrepreneurial programs and learning opportunities for business and engineering students.
The institute, which also awarded grants to the Deming Center in 1995 and 1998, supports entrepreneurship programs throughout the nation, helping them to become self-funding, advancing the understanding of the entrepreneurial process and encouraging students' entrepreneurial aspirations.
"We saw dynamic leadership at the Deming Center, as well as a strong buy-in by the faculty and administration," said Tim Jones, executive vice-president of the Price Institute. "We also were impressed with the high level of philanthropic support that exists at CU-Boulder."
The Deming Center was founded in 1995, with assistance from the Price Institute, as a joint program of the colleges of business and engineering. The center has attracted significant additional funding from private donors, including the Demings, who endowed the center with a $3 million gift in 1998. The Price Institute funding is in the form of a challenge grant, which requires the Deming Center to match the $500,000 through private donations over three years.
"The Price Institute is at the forefront of the nation's entrepreneurship education," said Kathy Simon, director of the Deming Center. "With this grant, the institute commends us for the leadership we've demonstrated and enables us to expand our program's mission: to provide students with real world entrepreneurial experiences."
The grant will provide funding for the MBA entrepreneurship summer intern program, student fellowships, entrepreneurship programs and curricula, and help support the Babson-Kauffman Entrepreneurship Research Conference that CU-Boulder will host in 2002.
The Deming Center supports studies at the graduate and undergraduate levels as part of its "living laboratory of entrepreneurship" in the dynamic business environment of Colorado's Front Range. The MBA entrepreneurship program is ranked 16th in the nation, according to U.S. News & World Report.
For more information, call Kathy Simon at (303) 492-5576.