The Martin J. Whitman School of Management recently was ranked #18 on bestcolleges.com’s list of the Best Colleges for Start-Ups. According to the site, “Nearly all of these entrepreneurial powerhouses are large research universities, as big schools often have the vast and dynamic business, engineering and liberal arts programs needed to stimulate the flow of ideas.”
The Whitman School
The site adds that the Whitman School is “one of the few schools in the nation with a formal academic department devoted to entrepreneurship. The Falcone Center for Entrepreneurship in the Entrepreneurship and Emerging Enterprises department offers $160,000 in cash for startup competitions, such as The Panasci Competition, the Whitman Alumni Club Student CNY Business Start-up Award and the Whitman Entrepreneurial Idea Award.”
“We’re tremendously pleased that bestcolleges.com has recognized the important work that the EEE program and its Falcone Center is doing with student entrepreneurs,” says Alex McKelvie, professor and chair of the entrepreneurship department at the Whitman School. “We believe that Syracuse University is a special place for entrepreneurship and we look forward to working with our partners from across the campus to continue to raise the bar for entrepreneurship programs across the country.”
The EEE program heavily emphasizes experiential learning, and is committed to providing a myriad of opportunities for students to gain and apply real-world perspective and skills. The Falcone Center at Whitman makes connections with the community and supports the EEE program’s outreach efforts. The center’s Couri Hatchery houses more than 130 student businesses; collectively, those businesses have raised more than $3.4 million in external capital. The entire EEE program engages approximately 4,500 individuals per year, through its educational and community outreach efforts, such as the WISE (Women Igniting the Spirit of Entrepreneurship) Business Center, the South Side Innovation Center and Veteran’s Entrepreneurship Training.
