Alan Kay, the pioneering computer scientist, once said that “the best way to predict the future is to create it.”
This advice is being embraced by a growing number of business school alumni worldwide. More than one in ten graduates from the classes of 1959 through 2013 are creating their own futures through entrepreneurship, according to a recent global survey of 21,000 business school alumni by the Graduate Management Admission Council. In addition, the longer they’ve been out of business school, the more likely they are to pursue this path. More than 23 percent of business school graduates who earned diplomas before 1990 are now business owners.
This trend applies to the Driehaus College of Business, where our robust and well-ranked entrepreneurship program has a rich history of preparing students for entrepreneurial opportunities. In our most recent career outcomes report, 11 percent of the Class of 2013 chose entrepreneurship/self-employment as their career path, up from 8 percent for the previous class. What’s more, an increasing number of DePaul alumni who don’t choose to start their own businesses are being recruited by startups.
In our Business Exchange Fall/Winter 2014 feature story, we explore these phenomena through the stories of DePaul business alumni who have used their entrepreneurship education to forge different paths to success. The coverage continues in our Connections section, where you’ll read about new initiatives at DePaul’s Coleman Entrepreneurship Center designed to help strengthen the links between students, alumni and the entrepreneur community in Chicago and beyond.
Our plans for new academic programs at the college embody the entrepreneurial spirit as well. This fall, we launched an Evening Cohort MBA program that develops individuals for senior positions in business, consulting and nonprofits through a curriculum that focuses on strategy, leadership and change management. This innovative program combines the best features of full-time and part-time MBA programs by allowing working professionals to experience the camaraderie and network-building benefits of taking all of their MBA classes together as a group, but in a convenient, accelerated after-work schedule.
As part of the Evening Cohort MBA program, we plan to launch a new biannual Charles H. Kellstadt Forum. This series of one-day events will bring together students, alumni and distinguished executives to discuss trends in leadership and management. At the forums, we will showcase current faculty research in conjunction with practical views on leadership and management from executives in Chicago and abroad. We look forward to sharing more about these plans as they unfold and hope you’ll gather ideas for your own future entrepreneurial endeavors at one of the forums.
Ray Whittington
Dean, Driehaus College of Business
