Entrepreneurship programs at the Wisconsin School of Business rank among the best in the nation, according to a recently published survey conducted by the Princeton Review and Entrepreneur Magazine.

The Weinert Center for Entrepreneurship at Wisconsin ranks 11th on a list of “Top 25 Entrepreneurial Graduate Programs in the U.S.”, up from 13th last year. Wisconsin’s undergraduate entrepreneurship program ranks 16th in the magazine’s ranking of “Top 25 Entrepreneurial Undergraduate Programs in the U.S.” This is the first year that both graduate and undergraduate programs at the Wisconsin School of Business made the Top 25. To view a full version of the ranking, click here.   

“Wisconsin is committed to being a vital partner in the success of individuals and companies across the state and the world, and is dedicated to making our research discoveries relevant to the commercial world,” said Michael Knetter, Albert O. Nicholas Dean of the Wisconsin School of Business. “Our business school is focused on bringing undergraduate and graduate students from across campus in close contact with local companies and start-ups, and helping to create opportunities for new ideas and technology to drive the future.”

Now in its seventh year, the Princeton Review/Entrepreneur Magazine rankings are based on a survey of entrepreneurship programs at more than 2,300 undergraduate and graduate schools for the period from December 2008 through June 2009. 

As part of the survey, schools were asked to answer questions relating to three basic areas: Academics & Requirements, Students & Faculty and Outside the Classroom. The questions were refined and the results validated with the help of an advisory board comprised of professionals in the area of entrepreneurship education.

The Weinert Center for Entrepreneurship was established in 1986 and provides a variety of programs and services relating to entrepreneurial management and development. At the graduate level, if offers a career specialization in Entrepreneurial Management in the school’s full-time Wisconsin MBA  program. In January 2009, the Weinert Center was recognized as the “National Model MBA Entrepreneurship Program” by the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE).

“We combine classroom learning with a hands-on applied component,” Dan Olszewski, director of the Weinert Center for Entrepreneurship, told Entrepreneur magazine. “We understand the importance of entrepreneurship in helping us to continue to grow as a country and region.”

The Weinert Center and the Initiative for Studies in Transformational Entrepreneurship (INSITE) together work to bring students and researchers from across UW-Madison together to explore potential commercialization of technological opportunities. Every year, students from all disciplines on campus are exposed to the field of entrepreneurship through varies programs in new venture creation, financing new ventures, strategic management of technology, legal and regulatory influences on innovation and venture creation and related policy issues. UW-Madison is a recipient of a prestigious $5 million Kauffman Foundation grant to further expand entrepreneurship on campus.

University of Wisconsin-Madison Executive Education was named the “Best School for Continuing Education” by  Corporate Report Wisconsin magazine in its “Best of Wisconsin Business” competition. More than 2,600 subscribers cast ballots online.

Associate Professor Charles A. Krueger, who directs Financial Management offerings and is chair of Wisconsin Executive Education, accepted the award on behalf of the Wisconsin School of Business at a luncheon held June 12 at the Kalahari Resort & Convention Center in Wisconsin Dells. The top three finishers in 30 categories were honored.

Wisconsin Executive Education offers more than 200 open-enrollment courses on more than 80 business topics and 10 certificate series. It also offers custom programs designed for businesses and other organizations.

Corporate Report Wisconsin is a statewide magazine with readership largely composed of owners, presidents, CEOs, and board members.

Three alumni of  the Wisconsin MBA’s Weinert Center for Entrepreneurship have placed in the prestigious Wisconsin Governor’s Business Plan Competition. Directed by the Wisconsin Technology Council for the past six years, the competition encourages entrepreneurs in the creation, start-up and early-growth stages of high-tech businesses in Wisconsin.

This year, a record 326 entries from 287 individuals in 106 different locales around the state competed for a total of more than $200,000 in cash and in-kind prizes. On June 9, a Grand Prize of $50,000 in cash and services was awarded to Hartland, Wis.-based Eso- Technologies, a start-up company that has developed a monitoring device to reduce the risk of heart attacks for people undergoing surgery. In addition, several category winners were announced for plans contributing to Advanced Manufacturing, Business Services, Information Technology and Life Sciences.

The following Weinert Center graduates were among those selected as category winners for 2009:

NxtMile Custom Running Shoes, a plan presented by Michael Miller (MBA 2008), took top prize in the Advanced Manufacturing category. Miller’s shoes utilize proprietary pressure-mapping technology and are engineered and custom assembled to address the specific biomechanical and orthopedic needs of over-40 and experienced runners, helping them to prevent injury.

Placing second in the category of Business Services was software-intensive firm Sandbox International LLC, founded by Scott Daigger (BBA 2002, MBA 2007) and Todd Wendrick (MBA 2007). Sandbox has developed a proprietary web application to help market researchers identify creative individuals to participate in consumer co-creation initiatives.

Kyle Montgomery, a 2006 graduate of the Weinert Center, came in third in the Life Sciences category for his AquaMost plan. AquaMost wants to commercialize a novel, advanced water treatment technology called photoelectrocatalytic oxidation, which efficiently and economically destroys water-borne pathogens and pollutants.

Click here for more information on the 2009 Wisconsin Governor’s Business Plan Competition and conference.

Daniel Gross is the Moneybox columnist for Slate and the business columnist for Newsweek. In April he spent a week as UW-Madison’s Business Writer in Residence, speaking to students at the Wisconsin School of Business and to journalism students.

A column about Gross’ impressions of his visit to Madison appeared on both Slate and Newsweek’s websites. In the column, Gross favorably compared the city and the business school to their East Coast counterparts. According to Gross, “Madison, with its three-legged economic stool of education, state government, and health care, is faring somewhat better. More significantly, the business school isn’t having a dark night of the soul, as so many of its Eastern counterparts are.”

Read the column

The full-time MBA program of the Wisconsin School of Business is ranked 28th among all business schools in the United States in the latest U.S. News and World Report ranking, the program’s highest-ever ranking in the publication. Last year, the program ranked 29th. Both this year and last year, the Wisconsin MBA ranked 11th among public universities. 

The magazine also releases rankings of program specialties, based solely on ratings by peer business schools. The marketing department of the Wisconsin School of Business, which offers three marketing related specializations, brand and product management, marketing research and supply chain management – was ranked 22nd. Additionally, U.S. News has a ranking specifically for supply chain management programs. Wisconsin’s supply chain management program, which is run by the Grainger Center for Supply Chain Management, is ranked   15th this year, up from 18th last year. 

The latest U.S. News ranking programs surveyed the class of students entering in 2006 and graduating in 2008. The graduating class of 2008 was the third class of students to graduate from new career-specialization model Wisconsin MBA. 

U.S. News bases its rankings on data furnished by schools, recruiters, deans and MBA program directors across a broad range of indicators. 

·      Placement success for the class graduating in spring 2008, a composite of starting salary, employment rates at graduation and three months later. 

·      Student selectivity for the class entering in fall 2008, a composite of mean score on the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT), mean GPA and proportion of applicants accepted by the school. 

·      Survey of corporate recruiters.

 ·      Survey of business school deans and MBA program directors.

 The Wisconsin School of Business continues to see progress in many indicators of fundamental quality based on internal measurements: 

·      Average GMAT score is 666 for the fall 2008 entering class, compared to 656 for students who enrolled in 2007. 

·      Average work experience rose from 46 months among the 2007 entering class, to 52 months among the 2008 entering class. 

·      In an internal survey, overall satisfaction with the quality of program  among May 2008 graduates of the Wisconsin MBA was 96 percent, compared to 85 percent satisfaction among May 2007 graduates.

 ·      Career placement for May 2008 graduates was 94 percent within three months of graduation, with a median salary of $90,000 plus a $15,000 sign-on bonus. 

·      The class of 2007 had 96 percent placement, with a median salary of $85,000, plus a $15,000 sign-on bonus.

To view the entire U.S. News report, visit 

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