Commitment to Innovation Puts Neeley Among the Top Entrepreneurship Programs in the U.S.
For the fifth year in a row, the Neeley School of Business at Texas Christian University has been recognized as among the top 25 programs for entrepreneurship in the United States. Out of thousands of programs surveyed by The Princeton Review, TCU Neeley was selected once more for its support of entrepreneurial thinking and success of students, alumni and faculty.
Evidence of Neeley’s support of entrepreneurial thinking can be seen across the curriculum, as well as in programming, opportunities for staff and faculty, and especially in the 2001 opening of the Neeley Entrepreneurship Center.
Fourteen years since the center’s opening, Neeley today offers 44 courses related to entrepreneurship, as well as a cross-disciplinary fellowship program for faculty, with faculty members from a wide variety of fields such as engineering, dance, nursing and chemistry. In ten years, majors in entrepreneurial management at TCU have collectively begun 90 companies and raised $1,917,075 in funds.
Other evidence of Neeley’s commitment to entrepreneurship can be found in the Entrepreneurship Club, which is currently the largest student organization on campus. Moreover, there is no shortage of skill and leadership within the entrepreneurial faculty. Garry Bruton, a faculty member at the TCU Neeley Department of Management, Entrepreneurship and Leadership, is the 30th most cited business professor in the world. Another faculty member, Ray Smilor, has been named a Top 25 Entrepreneurship Professor in the United States.
In addition, student entrepreneurs are given constant encouragement and opportunity for their dieas through competitions such as the Bill Shaddock Venture Capital Fund or the TCU Elevator Pitch Competition. Furthermore, a school sponsored mentor program has connected more than 143 students with individual mentors.