Baylor's John F. Baugh Center for Entrepreneurship Receives NASDAQ Center of Entrepreneurial Excellence Award

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Baylor University's John F. Baugh Center for Entrepreneurship received the prestigious NASDAQ Center of Entrepreneurial Excellence Award at the 2010 Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers (GCEC) Conference held Oct. 24 on the campus of The Pennsylvania State University.

This special award was created by NASDAQ in association with the GCEC to recognize the unique achievements and outstanding efforts of entrepreneurship centers across the world. The selections are made by a panel of previous award winners and professors of entrepreneurship at some of the leading programs in the country.

The honor is bestowed upon entrepreneurship centers that have made remarkable advancements in the entrepreneurial field in the following areas:

• entrepreneurship research
• outreach to emerging ventures
• entrepreneurship curriculum
• community collaborations
• special projects, and
• overall prestige and recognition in the entrepreneurship field.

Furthermore, the NASDAQ Center of Entrepreneurial Excellence award honors those centers that have made and will continue to make enormous contributions in advancing entrepreneurship as the force in economic growth around the world.

The Baugh Center is part of Baylor University's Hankamer School of Business, where the pioneering entrepreneurship program - one of the first established in the nation - was founded in 1977 and named after entrepreneur, philanthropist and former Baylor Regent John Baugh in 1988.

"Over the decades, Baylor's entrepreneurship program has branched out across organizations, various disciplines and diverse cultures," said Dr. Terry S. Maness, dean of Baylor's Hankamer School of Business. "The Center now serves as the heart and soul of a very far-reaching program."

The primary goal of the John F. Baugh Center for Entrepreneurship is to facilitate new business and further the goals of established businesses in the local and national business community. This has been accomplished over the last 20 years through a number of outreach programs designed to assist Baylor student entrepreneurs, as well as advance local and national business interests.

"Considering all the programs that currently exist globally, winning this award was very special," said J. David Allen, director of the Baugh Center for Entrepreneurship. "It is a great honor."

The criteria used by the judging panel to evaluate the worthiness of an excellent center include national prestige, recognition and awards, quality and longevity of program, curriculum development, contributions to entrepreneurship research, outreach activities, community collaborations, unique projects, university commitment and commitment to the GCEC.
Media contact: Cynthia Jackson, Hankamer School of Business, (254) 710-7628