The University of Utah’s David Eccles School of Business continues to be recognized as a top 10 school entrepreneurship.
In new rankings for 2020, U.S. News & World Report ranked the Eccles School No. 10 (No. 6 among state schools) for undergraduate and No. 17 for graduate entrepreneurship. While Bloomberg Businessweek ranked it No. 6 for full-time MBA entrepreneurship.
Entrepreneurship opportunities at the Eccles school are provided by the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute and Department of Entrepreneurship & Strategy. Both have grown significantly in recent years and now engage thousands of students and hundreds of startup teams annually.
“We have worked hard to build one of the best entrepreneur programs anywhere, and we are proud of the recognition for our efforts,” said Taylor Randall, dean of the David Eccles School of Business. “Entrepreneurship is alive in everything we do at the Eccles School. It is one of our core values, and every student is expected to take entrepreneurship classes and develop entrepreneurial grit.”
Among other developments, the Eccles School and the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute have received worldwide attention since opening Lassonde Studios in 2016.
A five-story, one-of-a-kind innovation center, Lassonde Studios is open to all students on campus to live, create and launch together. It has been featured by publications including The New York Times and Architectural Digest and continues to attract worldwide attention. The first floor is an innovation space for all students, while upstairs are dorm rooms for 400 student residents.
The Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute was also recently featured by Stanford University for disrupting the future of higher-ed. In a report titled Uncharted Territory: A Guide to Reimaging Higher Education, Stanford highlighted Lassonde and efforts at 11 other schools that are reshaping universities in a student-centered way.
“We have grown exponentially in the last few years and are now working with thousands of student entrepreneurs and hundreds of student startup teams every year,” said Troy D’Ambrosio, executive director of the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute and an assistant dean at the Eccles School. “I don’t think students will find a more entrepreneurial community than we have here. We define ‘entrepreneur’ as a verb, and we invite students everywhere to entrepreneur with us.”
New for the 2020-21 year, the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute is offering the Lassonde Founders program. It is a residential entrepreneur community for incoming students who are active entrepreneurs. All students can apply now to join this program.
Two more new opportunities are academic programs including Lassonde+X, a three-course program for all undergraduate students to learn the entrepreneurial mindset, and the Master of Business Creation, an intense nine-month program that is entirely focused on helping a founder grow and scale their company.
“We have assembled one of the most innovative and accomplished entrepreneurship departments anywhere,” said Todd Zenger, a presidential professor and chair of the Department of Entrepreneurship & Strategy. “Together we have designed novel curriculum that allows students to engage with us in a variety of different ways, ranging from an exciting new freshman-level introductory entrepreneur course to the newly unveiled Master of Business Creation.”
The U.S. News undergraduate business school rankings are based solely on the judgments of deans and senior faculty members at peer institutions. This year, they surveyed deans and senior faculty members at each of the 504 undergraduate business programs accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business.
For the U.S. News graduate business school rankings, they surveyed all 475 MBA programs accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business International.
Find the complete U.S. News rankings here.
The Bloomberg Businessweek rankings are based on survey responses from 26,804 MBA students, alumni and recruiters. The rankings are based on the premise that “the best judges of MBA programs are graduating students, recent alumni and companies that recruit MBAs. And we want the best answers.”
Find the complete Bloomberg rankings here.
Click here to learn more about entrepreneuring at the Eccles School, where entrepreneur is a verb.