VentureWell, Deshpande Foundation honor University at Buffalo with national entrepreneurship award

By Jacqueline Molik Ghosen

BUFFALO, N.Y. — The University at Buffalo has received the Deshpande Symposium Award for Excellence in Student Engagement in Entrepreneurship, expanding its position as a national leader in innovative education and igniting the entrepreneurial spirit.

Each year, the award recognizes one institution that encourages student leadership and engagement in developing innovative extra and co-curricular activities that support the development of entrepreneurial awareness, skills and practice.

In particular, UB was lauded for the strength of its programming, the breadth of student engagement and the diversity of students involved, according to Raj Melville, chair of the Deshpande Symposium Awards Committee.

Tom Murdock, clinical assistant professor of entrepreneurship in the UB School of Management, accepted the award in Phoenix on June 6 at the Deshpande Symposium on Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Higher Education.

The symposium, managed by VentureWell, brings together academics, policy planners and practitioners to discuss best practices in integrating entrepreneurship throughout their college and university communities. 

Entrepreneurship leaders at UB attribute the university’s recognition by these notable entities to the burgeoning entrepreneurial ecosystem on campus, with collaboration across several UB entities, including the School of Management, Blackstone LaunchPad, Business and Entrepreneur Partnerships, and the Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership. 

“UB is turning heads on an international level,” says Murdock. “We are gaining a reputation as a top destination where big thinkers and innovators can hone their entrepreneurial skills.”

This prestigious award follows recognition from last fall, when Entrepreneur magazine and the Princeton Review named the University at Buffalo one of the country’s top undergraduate schools for entrepreneurship studies.

Co-founded by the Deshpande Foundation and the University of Massachusetts Lowell in 2012, the Deshpande Symposium on Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Higher Education brings together academics, policy planners, and practitioners to discuss best practices in integrating entrepreneurship throughout their college and university communities. This year, VentureWell took over the operational management of the symposium.