FAYETTEVILLE — The University of Arkansas, Fayetteville has been recognized by The Princeton Review as having one of the top graduate entrepreneurship programs in the country, its first appearance in these rankings.
“We have a really strong ecosystem of entrepreneurship here,” and this recognition “feels like the rankings catching up” to that, said Sarah Goforth, executive director of the Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, a unit of the Sam M. Walton College of Business and Division of Economic Development.
The university’s Sam M. Walton College of Business ranked 35th among the 50 schools listed in the rankings, co-published in November by The Princeton Review and Entrepreneur magazine, and number five in the South region, according to the university. The rankings were based on academic offerings, experiential learning opportunities, career outcomes and other factors.
“The first step is a really rigorous application process that took us many months — they really want a lot of data.” The rankers look at a wide variety of factors, from faculty track records to integration of various academic disciplines, Goforth said.
“They really want to know about your ancillary supports for students, which is great for us, because that’s a cornerstone for us,” Goforth said. “We offer pitch competitions, seed funding and wonderful mentors in a very real-world setting.”
The Princeton Review compiled the rankings from a survey conducted this summer of nearly 300 schools with entrepreneurship offerings, according to the university. Rankings reflect entrepreneurship studies for 2022-23.
“It’s always exciting when the University of Arkansas is recognized as among the best universities in the nation, and we are particularly proud of this recognition of our graduate entrepreneurship program,” Matt Waller, dean of the Walton College of Business and Sam Walton Leadership Chair, said in a news release from the university.
“The Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation has driven growth in this space over the last three years, in partnership with the Department of Strategy, Entrepreneurship and Venture Innovation, and has built upon the strong entrepreneurial foundation of the Walton College,” said the release.
The program’s recent enrollment growth, surrounding resources for student-founded companies, and a track record of alumni ventures all led to entering The Princeton Review rankings, according to Brandon Howard, a public information specialist for the university.
Integration of courses across graduate degree programs in biomedical engineering, electrical engineering, and graphic design, as well as a partnership with the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences that allows four to six postdoctoral researchers to participate in New Venture Development courses each year through a training program funded by the National Institutes of Health, have also been key to the program’s growth and success.
The Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation “creates and curates innovation and entrepreneurship experiences for students across all disciplines,” as well as providing on-demand support for students who will be innovators within existing organizations or entrepreneurs starting something new, according to the university. Through the Brewer Family Entrepreneurship Hub, McMillon Innovation Studio, Startup Village, and Greenhouse at the Bentonville Collaborative, the Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation provides free workshops and programs, including social and corporate innovation design teams, venture internships, competitions, and startup coaching.
Graduate school “is not a passive experience where you’re sitting in a classroom being fed information; it’s experiential learning and hands-on research,” said Goforth, who oversees the interdisciplinary Graduate Certificate in Entrepreneurship and serves as the lead instructor for the New Venture Development courses at the heart of the certificate program alongside co-instructor David Hinton. “You can use what you learn in our program to form a real company in a nurturing environment with lots of support where — even if you fail — it’s a learning experience.”
Students learn what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur, and — crucially — “if that’s the life they want to have,” she said. Whether that answer is “yes or no, it’s a success, because they’ve learned that and can make an informed decision” about their future.
This year, the graduate entrepreneurship program was capped at 30 students to maintain personal relationships between students and faculty advisers, but more staff members are being hired, so the cap will increase to 60 students next year, Goforth said. “We have a plan to manage our growth.”
Thus far, most graduate entrepreneurship program students have come from the “pipeline” that’s been developed at the university with undergraduate business students, she said. “Even five years ago, very few students” on campus thought of entrepreneurship as anything but “a way to make money,” but they now see it “as solving problems” in variegated industries.
“It’s a tool, and that’s relevant if you start a business” or not, she said. “We’ve built a foundation” of entrepreneurship on campus.
The Walton College of Business is up 600 students this year — a far larger increase than any other school on campus — to 2,417 students, according to Suzanne McCray, vice provost for enrollment and dean of admissions.
Business degrees are especially alluring for students who want to remain in Northwest Arkansas, a “hub” of business in the state, following college, according to John Thomas, director of media relations and core communications for the university.
With national recognition like The Princeton Review rankings, Goforth hopes the graduate entrepreneurship program will soon attract more students from other universities in Arkansas and even other states.
“We hope this puts us on the map for them,” she said. “Graduates students are the engineers for tech-based startups at a university — faculty play an essential role, but they don’t usually start companies — and they make great founders because they can invest their whole selves in the” endeavor.