Berthiaume Center Receives Top National Entrepreneurship Award

The United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship’s (USASBE) has recognized the Berthiaume Center for Entrepreneurship at Isenberg as the recipient of the 2016 Outstanding Emerging Entrepreneurship Program Award. This national award recognizes the impact of high quality, sustainable academic programs that excel in innovation and demonstrate viability, depth of support and scope. According to Managing Director Bill Wooldridge, the award recognizes the Berthiaume Center’s substantial progress and great potential. “This award confirms the Center’s place as a world-class academic center, and a vital incubator for the next generation of entrepreneurs.” USASBE is the largest independent professional academic organization in the world dedicated to advancing the discipline of entrepreneurship. The winner of the 2016 Outstanding Emerging Program Award was announced at the USASBE conference Jan. 8-12 in San Diego and was accepted by Associate Director Birton Cowden. Previous winners include Ohio University, the University of Tampa and the University of South Florida St. Petersburg.

“This award confirms the Center’s place as a world-class academic center, and a vital incubator for the next generation of entrepreneurs.”

The Berthiaume Center has experienced significant growth with an administrative team of 3 faculty members and a significant number of affiliated faculty from multiple disciplines, and has served over 1300 students and faculty so far through mentoring services, full access to the resources of the Commonwealth’s largest university, a speaker series and wide-ranging events including the campus-wide Innovation Challenge, Idea Jam sessions, Social Entrepreneurship Day and the Hult Prize @UMass.

In addition, the Center supports numerous student ventures including the BuzzBuilders marketing internships and the Berthiaume Student Innovators and Entrepreneurship Club. The Coleman Fellows Program, brought to campus last fall, reflects the Berthiaume Center’s commitment to serving the entire university across disciplines by supporting professors in non-business departments to integrate entrepreneurial thinking into their courses.

Professor Wooldridge believes that these diverse initiatives reflect the Berthiaume Center’s commitment to its mission, vision, people and programs. “We focus on best practices, creative thinking and helping students develop the skills needed to unravel the real-world challenges facing today’s businesses, from start-ups to industry icons. The Berthiaume Center is much more than a classroom. It’s a vital place where students and faculty come together to share ideas, solve problems, seize opportunities and build successful businesses,” said Woolridge.

About the Berthiaume Center for Entrepreneurship

Headquartered in the Isenberg School of Management at UMass Amherst, the Berthiaume Center for Entrepreneurship is a cross-campus network of scholars, innovators and entrepreneurs. The Center was established to support research, education and practice and facilitate the transformation of ideas into business realities.