Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship and Rice University receive top award at 2011 Global Entrepreneurship Conference

BY MARY LYNN FERNAU
Special to Rice News

Rice University’s Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship was presented the 2011 NASDAQ OMX Center of Entrepreneurial Excellence Award — the highest award an entrepreneurship center can receive — at the 2011 Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers (GCEC) annual conference last week in Los Angeles.

This special award was created by NASDAQ OMX in association with the Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers to recognize the unique achievements and outstanding efforts of entrepreneurship centers across the world. The NASDAQ OMX Center of Entrepreneurial Excellence award honors centers that make enormous contributions in advancing entrepreneurship as the force in economic growth throughout the world.

Rice University’s entrepreneurship program was recognized for making remarkable advancements in the entrepreneurial field in the areas of entrepreneurship curriculum, outreach to emerging ventures, community impact and collaborations, entrepreneurship research, contributions to other university centers, and overall prestige and recognition in the entrepreneurship field. Brad Burke, managing director of the Rice Alliance, accepted the award.

The GCEC is the premier international organization of university entrepreneurship centers devoted to advancing excellence in entrepreneurship in the academic and business communities. More than 200 leading university entrepreneurship centers participate in the GCEC.

“It is a great honor for the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship and Rice University to receive this prestigious award,” said Bill Glick, dean of Rice’s Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business, where the Rice Alliance is based. “The award recognizes the quality of the depth and breadth of Rice’s entrepreneurship programs, both curricular and noncurricular. We are committed to helping educate the next generation of successful entrepreneurs, to commercializing innovative research and to creating jobs and economic development through the launch of successful entrepreneurial companies. To be acknowledged by this esteemed organization is a confirmation of our work to advance entrepreneurial education, research and new business ventures.”

The Rice Alliance is supported by a number of leading firms and organizations, including Insperity, DFJ Mercury, Fortune, Greater Houston Partnership and Opportunity Houston, GOOSE Society of Texas, Kauffman Foundation, Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers, NASA Johnson Space Center, NASDAQ OMX, SURGE Accelerator, the U.S. Department of Energy and Waste Management.

Al Napier, a nationally recognized educator, and Ed Williams, a co-founder of Rice’s entrepreneurship programs, lead the Jones School’s entrepreneurship curricular programs. Williams was recognized as one of the top entrepreneurship faculty in the U.S. by Business Week.

The award also recognizes the efforts of the Rice Alliance team: Mary Lynn Fernau, Tom Kraft, Lea Aden Lueck, Quynhmai Nguyen, Kerri Smith and Erin Wyatt.

The Center of Entrepreneurial Excellence Award winner is selected by a panel of top peer universities, along with members of the NASDAQ OMX executive team, based on the following criteria:

1. National prestige of the entrepreneurship program/center.

2. National/state recognition.

3. Entrepreneurship program quality and longevity of the program.

4. Entrepreneurship curriculum development.

5. Contributions to entrepreneurship research.

6. Outreach activities.

7. Community collaborations.

8. Special projects or accomplishments.

9. University/community commitment to the entrepreneurship center.

10. Commitment and contributions to the GCEC organization.

Past winners of this award include MIT, Stanford University, University of California-Berkeley, Carnegie Mellon University, Indiana University, University of Virginia and Babson College.