Center for Entrepreneurship History

In the Beginning. . .

On a Saturday morning in the summer of 1977, Professor Fran Jabara was riding his exercise bicycle while watching the television tuned to the only available entertainment--cartoons. A big limousine and a high-powered, manipulating, uncaring businessman appeared on the screen. Jabara was struck by two things: the negative portrayal of the businessman and the stereotype of business people as exclusively CEO's of large, established companies.

At that moment, Jabara, who had been a member of the business faculty at Wichita State University for 28 years, decided it was time to change society's image of business people. "We spend all of our time talking to our students about becoming president of a major corporation and we devote almost no time to thinking about the entrepreneurial process."

With entrepreneurial spirit, Jabara set out to build the Center for Entrepreneurship. Jabara received approval from the University administration to sponsor a workshop. Assuming the initial cost of the workshop personally, Jabara used its profits to foster other Center activities. And generate a profit it did. The workshop, "Entrepreneurship: Your Future in Business," attracted more than 300 students the first year and generated over $30,000 in seed capital. With YFIB as a catalyst, the Center rapidly expanded. The academic program solidified with the establishment of the minor in 1987, an undergraduate major in 1990, and a Master of Science in Business degree with a specialization in entrepreneurship in 1995.

Jabara also promoted awareness and knowledge of entrepreneurship to the community through several outreach programs. He originated the Entrepreneur and Executive in Residence Lecture Series and initiated a number of seminars on entrepreneurship for a variety of other special audiences. The outreach effort also included the Business Heritage Book Series, created to record the biographies of notable entrepreneurs in the region.

As the founder and first director of WSU's Center for Entrepreneurship, Fran Jabara inspired the national movement toward entrepreneurship as a central part of business education. Entrepreneurial centers are now commonplaces on campuses throughout the world. Through Jabara's advocacy of the American enterprise system and his firm belief in the importance of entrepreneurship, the Center's program became recognized as one of the most comprehensive in the nation.

Pizza Hut

As a symbol of the entrepreneurial spirit, the original Pizza Hut building was moved to the WSU campus in September of 1986. It was reconstructed as a tribute to the co-founders of Pizza Hut, Frank and Dan Carney, who as students at WSU launched an American success story from this humble building.

The pizza craze was sweeping the nation in 1958 when two young WSU college students opened their first Pizza Hut restaurant. The Carneys were approached by the owner of a small building who wanted a nice neighborhood business to locate at the corner of Kellogg and Bluff in Wichita. The brothers borrowed $300 each from their parents; located John Bender, an airman at McConnell Air Force Base who had been a pizza cook; purchased some second-hand equipment; and opened for business. They gave pizza away their first night in business to attract potential customers.

People often ask how Pizza Hut got its name. The Carney's first restaurant building had a sign which would only accommodate nine characters. They wanted to use "Pizza" in the name, which left room for a word with only three letters. Beverly Carney, Dan's wife, suggested that the building looked like a hut, and "Pizza Hut" was born.

Frank and Dan Carney continue to be outstanding supporters of Wichita State University, the W. Frank Barton School of Business, and the Center for Entrepreneurship.