CNN Chief Business Correspondent Ali Velshi reflected on his recent CNN Express bus trip to the Wisconsin School of Business in the November 2009 issue of Delta’s Sky magazine.

Velshi’s article entitled, “The Return of the American Consumer,” featured business school students’ comments on American consumer spending habits. Thoughts expressed by Arts Administration MBA student Kelly Gauthier and Julian Moncada, an undergrad majoring in finance and international business, are featured on page 80.

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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.

The latest U.S. News and World Report ranking of U.S. undergraduate business programs places the Wisconsin School of Business 13th overall among business schools, the same as last year. Wisconsin ranks 7th among public institutions and second among Big Ten business schools.

Two programs within the Wisconsin School of Business retain their rankings within the magazine’s top-five list of specialties. The Real Estate program again ranks second in the nation and the Risk Management and Insurance program ranks third. In the same issue, the Marketing program ranks 7th, the Accounting program again ranks 16th, and the Finance program ranks 21st.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison as a whole ranks 39th in the U.S., ninth among public universities, and tied for third among Big Ten schools. The rankings are based solely on the judgments of deans and senior faculty who responded to an invitation to nominate peer institutions. A total of 42 percent of those surveyed responded. Specialty areas are ranked based on the number of nominations received from respondents.

“Based on internal measurements, the school continues to make strides on key fundamentals,” says Michael Knetter, Albert O. Nicholas Dean of the Wisconsin School of Business.  “Some exciting new changes to our program are currently underway. This academic year, we welcome our first sophomores into the program. This move will allow our students more time and better opportunities to study abroad and find internships. Enhancements to our curriculum will help students develop enhanced communication and critical thinking skills.”

Wisconsin’s undergraduate program has been ranked among top programs in the U.S. by U.S. News & World Report ever since the magazine began ranking undergraduate business programs in 1996.

Michael Knetter, dean of the Wisconsin School of Business, and Paul Peercy, dean of the College of Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, co-authored an opinion piece on the benefits of additional investment in undergraduate education that appeared in the student newspaper, The Daily Cardinal.

Read the article here