The Department of Entrepreneurship and Emerging Enterprises (EEE) in Syracuse University's Martin J. Whitman School of Management has received the prestigious 2005 National Model Undergraduate Entrepreneurship Program Award from the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE). USASBE is the premier organization for small business and entrepreneurship educators, with more than 800 members. The USASBE awards are the most distinguished of their kind in the field of entrepreneurship education.
The National Model Undergraduate Program award is judged based on the quality and effectiveness, comprehensiveness, sustainability and transferability of the school's program. "This is truly one of the crowning achievements of creating a university-based entrepreneurship program-to be recognized by a premier panel of experienced entrepreneurship educators and scholars as the best undergraduate program in the country, especially given the relatively short period of time that our program has been in place," says Michael Morris, Witting Chair in Entrepreneurship, who also leads the EEE department at the Whitman School. "We are extremely pleased and honored to receive this award." Morris attributes the success of the program not only to the support of Syracuse University and the entire Syracuse community, but also to a committed team of faculty, staff and students.
Past model program winners have included Harvard University, Babson College, the University of Southern California, the University of Arizona and the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
More than 500 schools are eligible to compete for the awards, and Syracuse University was selected based on a three-stage, competitive process that culminated in a team presentation at USASBE's annual conference, held Jan.
13-16 in Indian Wells, Calif. Team members from the Whitman School who made the final presentation were Nola Miyasaki, director of the Falcone Center for Entrepreneurship; Minet Schindehutte, associate professor of entrepreneurship; Eric Alderman, Whitman Professor of Entrepreneurial Practice and director of SU's Creativity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Learning Community; Craig Watters, clinical professor of entrepreneurship; and Morris.
For more information on the EEE department, visit www.whitman.syr.edu/eee .