A 12 months after leaping 10 spots within the Princeton Assessment’s annual record of high undergraduate entrepreneurship packages, the Schulze College of Entrepreneurship superior one other 5 to the No. 18 rating. In its fourth 12 months on the record, the Schulze College once more ranked No. 1 among the many nation’s Catholic universities and faculties for college kids learning entrepreneurship.
The 2023 rating locations the Schulze College as Minnesota’s high entrepreneurship college and third amongst establishments with lower than 10,000 college students. The college additionally moved up two spots to No. 5 within the Midwest.
The Princeton Assessment rating displays elements corresponding to lecturers; pupil engagement; profitable alumni entrepreneurship ventures; pupil involvement exterior the classroom; competitions hosted by the varsity; and scholarships. Final 12 months, the Schulze College awarded $1.78 million in scholarships and grants particularly to undergraduates learning entrepreneurship. The college additionally awarded $357,000 in whole money prizes and greater than $150,000 in in-kind prizes in its competitions final 12 months.
However the college impacts extra than simply St. Thomas’ entrepreneurship majors; practically 1 / 4 of all St. Thomas college students – no matter main – took an entrepreneurship course within the final 12 months. On the college’s Freshman Innovation Immersion in late August, attendees represented 41 totally different majors.
“The keenness for entrepreneurship runs throughout St. Thomas, and we’re honored to be acknowledged by the Princeton Assessment for the excellent pupil expertise,” Schulze College of Entrepreneurship Affiliate Dean Sheneeta White stated. “Advancing the frequent good is extra than simply part of our Catholic college’s mission assertion. It’s one thing that our college students take to coronary heart, and when mixed with their entrepreneurial mindset, can creatively resolve the challenges in our world at this time.”
Scholar competitions
The college’s signature competitions embrace e-Fest-Schulze Entrepreneurship Problem, the Fowler Enterprise Idea Problem, the St. Thomas Enterprise Plan Competitors, and the Fowler International Social Innovation Problem. On Nov. 18, for example, the Fowler Enterprise Idea Problem will announce winners of greater than $85,000 in scholarship prizes. Centered on energizing the entrepreneurial spirit of St. Thomas college students from throughout campus, the Fowler Enterprise Idea Problem encourages college students of all majors to discover their potential, get hold of new alternatives and use the abilities and information they’ve acquired to make a distinction on the earth by creating an idea for a brand new enterprise or social enterprise.
Examples of modern enterprise concepts which have progressed to the semifinals of this 12 months’s Fowler Enterprise Idea Problem embrace: Chumisa, an idea addressing poverty alleviation, environmental sustainability and meals safety in sub-Saharan Africa; Dialog Candles, created to facilitate moments of readability for individuals dwelling with dementia and their family members; and BeScene, which brings the STEAM curriculum into imaginative play that not solely incorporates the predominant studying kinds and stimulates the 5 senses, but additionally encourages stewardship of the atmosphere.
“The entrepreneurial values that I’ve been in a position to develop at St. Thomas will assist me to do significant work, whether or not or not it’s at a Fortune 500 firm, a consulting agency or a nonprofit,” stated Fowler Enterprise Idea Problem semifinalist Grace Northamer ’22, who additionally was a semifinalist in 2020 and just lately positioned first within the Stofer/Stensby Actual Property Scholar Competitors. “I’ve gone from believing that an entrepreneur is somebody who begins a enterprise, grows it and both sells it or takes it public to understanding that entrepreneurial values present up in all work conditions and sometimes even in your private life.”
The Schulze College of Entrepreneurship gives an undergraduate program, graduate programs, group sources and seed capital for pupil and alumni ventures. Situated in Schulze Corridor on the St. Thomas Minneapolis campus, the Schulze College is the one of its form inside a enterprise college, housing world-class facilities and institutes together with the Household Enterprise Heart and the Small Enterprise Improvement Heart. Along with serving enterprise college students, the Schulze College engages cross-campus, cross-disciplinary college students and professionals to take part in entrepreneurial schooling and actions, and entry useful resource facilities.
Many noteworthy companies have been born at St. Thomas for the reason that Schulze College was launched in 2005. Examples of companies began by Opus School of Enterprise alumni targeted on social entrepreneurship embrace: Seraph 7 Studios, an organization that develops console video video games that create change for BIPOC communities; NETZRO, a pacesetter in meals upcycling; and Love Your Melon, an attire model supporting the combat towards pediatric most cancers.
