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For the second consecutive year, WSU is one of the top 100 entrepreneurial colleges and universities in the United States, according to a study by Entrepreneur magazine. The list appears in the May 2004 issue of the magazine, which hit newsstands this week. The listing also appears online at www.entrepreneur.com/topcolleges.

More than 825 entrepreneurship programs were researched for the study, conducted from September to December 2003 by TechKnowledge Point Corp. WSU appears in the third tier of the top 50 regionally recognized academic programs in the country. The magazine lists 50 nationally and 50 regionally recognized programs, with four tiers in each of the two categories.

The final rankings are based on more than 70 separate criteria, including course offerings, teaching and research faculty, business-community outreaches, research centers and institutes, degrees and certificates offered, and faculty and alumni evaluations.

WSU created one of the first centers in the country devoted to entrepreneurship in spring 1977 and started offering entrepreneur workshops in 1978. The Center for Entrepreneurship is housed within WSU's W. Frank Barton School of Business. An undergraduate degree, along with a minor, in entrepreneurship is offered through the department of marketing and entrepreneurship. Currently there are 170 students majoring in entrepreneurship. An emphasis in entrepreneurship is also offered in the MBA program. Eleven undergraduate and five graduate courses are offered in entrepreneurship.

Since the center's inception, WSU has offered a number of community outreach programs in entrepreneurship, including summer workshops and a Kansas Family Business Forum to help family businesses survive from generation to generation. WSU's center also co-sponsors the Metro Awards, which recognizes the fastest-growing, privately held companies in the greater Wichita area. The Center for Entrepreneurship recently teamed up with the Solomon Valley Regional Learning Center in Phillipsburg, Kan., to stimulate new and to grow existing businesses through a series of courses and consultations.

WSU was also ranked in the top 50 business schools for entrepreneurs by Success magazine in 2001.

Entrepreneur's second annual evaluation of the best entrepreneurship programs at U.S. colleges and universities is considered the most credible and comprehensive analysis of its kind. TechKnowledge Point Corp., founded in 2001 by David Newton, a professor of entrepreneurial finance at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, Calif., is a 24/7 online research and referral exchange for entrepreneurship and enterprise development.

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