|
Ryffel
Center is among nation’s top 50
By Emily Baker
Staff Reporter
Trent Walton said his father taught him to plan a career
in something he loves. He began studying computer information
science and business, but when he took classes offered
by the Ryffel Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, Walton
said he fell in love with the entrepreneur discipline
in the program.
Someone
else is also impressed with the Ryffel Center. The program,
in just its third year, was ranked among the Top 50
in the country by Entrepreneur magazine in late March.
More
than 700 schools were surveyed for the ranking, said
David Minor, director of the Ryffel Center for Entrepreneurial
Studies. TCU’s program was rated in the third tier,
which includes rankings 25 through 37, Minor said.
“TCU
did get a good ranking, but it deserves a lot better,”
said Walton, a senior computer information science and
entrepreneurship major.
Walton
cites the instructors as the reason why TCU deserves
a higher ranking. He said the professors want to pass
along their knowledge to other people rather than to
simply get a paycheck.
“It
isn’t about Ph.D.s who have come back to teach,”
Walton said. “It is about people who have done
well in business and have come back because they want
to help people.”
What
makes this ranking so special is the fact that the average
age of the ranked programs is 19 years, which is more
than six times older than TCU’s program, Minor
said.
“What
we are most proud of is we are one of the few programs
that started just since the new millennium,” Minor
said.
The
rankings are rated by an e-mail survey of faculty, directors
and alumni of a program to determine criteria like the
number of courses available, the research done by the
faculty, the number of Ph.D.s in the program and the
number of business owners who teach courses, Minor said.
The
acknowledgment validates the research and productivity
done by the staff, said Becky Luce, assistant professor
of management.
“It
means we have pulled together a meaningful group of
classes, and it is nice to get some recognition for
that,” Luce said.
Minor
credits the ranking to faculty and resources. He cited
the new Steve and Sarah Smith Entrepreneurs Hall, which
was dedicated last week.
e.k.baker@tcu.edu
|
