Today, the University of West Florida and Quint and Rishy Studer announced a partnership to develop the Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of West Florida College of Business. Quint and Rishy Studer have committed $1 million to fund the center.
“This is the most excited I have been about any project that Rishy and I have been involved in,” said Quint Studer. “In the long term history of Pensacola when they look back at monumental days, I think that this will be one of them.”
The Center for Entrepreneurship is dedicated to seeding economic growth. The Center encourages and supports educational initiatives related to entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial thinking and serves as a comprehensive resource for economic innovation for students, industry and community partners. The Center for Entrepreneurship seeks to serve as a source of support for the complete life cycle of an entrepreneur.
“This is just another example of Quint’s spirit, innovative thinking and seemingly endless enthusiasm for building a community that fosters opportunity,” said Dr. Judith Bense, President of UWF. “In broadening UWF’s presence in downtown Pensacola, we will encourage the community to invest in and become a part of the many educational opportunities that we have to offer.”
The Center will be housed in the College of Business and host numerous activities and initiatives related to creating a culture of entrepreneurial thinking. Additionally, affiliate units and organizations will create a synergistic support for entrepreneurial efforts and innovation. Studer will serve as the Entrepreneur-in-Residence to mobilize a professional network of entrepreneurs that will positively impact the Center through contributions to advisement, seminars, classes, workshops and a host of other initiatives.
The UWF College of Business is actively developing degree and certificate programs in entrepreneurship. The College of Business will be launching a MBA program with an emphasis on entrepreneurship in Fall 2015. Currently, UWF provides an undergraduate certificate in small business management/entrepreneurship and graduate certificate in entrepreneurship.
While numerous activities and initiatives related to the Center will be held on the UWF main campus in order to impact a substantive cross section of students in multiple disciplines, the primary physical location will be in downtown Pensacola. This location will facilitate accessibility to resources for industry and community partners. Additionally, the location will provide a more direct link to the epicenter of commerce activity for students seeking to break into the professional world. The majority of the work of the Center will be conducted in downtown Pensacola.