AMES, Iowa -- Iowa State University was honored with the National Model Undergraduate Entrepreneurship Program Award at the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE) Annual Conference in Anaheim, Calif. on Saturday, Jan. 10.
Howard Van Auken, the Bob and Kay Smith Fellow in Entrepreneurship and a professor of management at Iowa State, was also named a USASBE Fellow at the conference. The award is the highest recognition that the organization gives to individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to the development, furtherance and benefit of small and medium businesses.
Iowa State, Wichita State University and the University of Houston were chosen from among 37 entries in the National Model Undergraduate Entrepreneurship Program Award competition to make final presentations at the conference. Judi Eyles, assistant director at ISU's Pappajohn Center for Entrepreneurship; and Kay Palan, associate dean for undergraduate programs in the College of Business, delivered Iowa State's winning presentation.
"Very few entrepreneurship programs have been recognized as a 'national model' program. So, we're in an elite group," Palan said. "It also affirms that the approach we've taken to entrepreneurship education works -- it has significant impact on students and the university, it's sustainable, and it's a program that can be duplicated by other universities. We have very purposely set up an interdisciplinary program with strong academic and non-academic components that allows us to reach a large number of students -- we think of it as a program with multiple gateways through which students can gain awareness about entrepreneurship. The key to our program is that we have administrators and faculty working together across campus with the Pappajohn staff to keep making our program better."
Eyles says the winning presentation focused on how Iowa State offers comprehensive entrepreneurship opportunities for its undergraduate students through its academic offerings, including a campus-wide entrepreneurship initiative, experiential learning opportunities and mentoring for those who wish to start an entrepreneurial venture.
"We have worked very hard for a very long time to establish a true interdisciplinary entrepreneurship program at Iowa State," Eyles said. "It's a great feeling to be recognized by our peers as having developed a model entrepreneurship program that others can learn from and hopefully replicate on their own campuses."
Van Auken's USASBE honor recognizes his achievements in small business and entrepreneurship through his teaching, writing, research, training and public service. Since 1986, 51 distinguished educators, researchers, government officials, small business advocates and trade association leaders have been selected as USASBE Fellows.
"We're also proud of Howard's induction into the USASBE Fellows group," Eyles said. "Howard has been extremely active in USASBE for a long time, most recently serving as the organization's president."
John Pappajohn (right) accepts award from John Hughes.
In addition to the two Iowa State awards, successful Des Moines entrepreneur John Pappajohn -- the founder of the network of Pappajohn entrepreneurial centers at Iowa State, the University of Iowa, the University of Northern Iowa, Drake University and North Iowa Area Community College respectively -- was the recipient of USASBE's John E. Hughes Award for Entrepreneurial Advocacy. The award is presented to an individual or organization that has consistently contributed encouragement, support, time, talent, development, and/or financial contribution to further the cause of entrepreneurship.
"It was awesome to be able to introduce so many other schools to John and Mary Pappajohn at this event and to have the opportunity to recognize the Pappajohns for their wonderful gifts and support for entrepreneurship in Iowa in front of a national audience," Eyles said.
The ISU Pappajohn Center for Entrepreneurship (http://www.isupjcenter.org/) -- which provides support for the university's interdisciplinary entrepreneurship minor -- connects faculty, researchers, and students to the entrepreneurial world, while also providing Iowa's business and entrepreneurial community access to resources and information within the university. It provides assistance to entrepreneurs -- both students and those from off-campus -- in their efforts to launch new ventures.
