CONTACT AMY CLINGENSMITH, DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS
℡724.458.3302
September 21, 2004
724.458.2167
alclingensmith@gcc.edu
www.gcc.edu
Grove City College Entrepreneurship program saluted by Business Reform magazine
GROVE CITY, Pa. – The Grove City College Entrepreneurship program was recently recognized by Business Reform magazine, which highlighted the best Christian business schools in the country. Business Reform, a bimonthly magazine that began in January 2001, focuses on business news from a Christian worldview. In the September/October 2004 issue of Business Reform, the magazine dedicated a four-page spread to the top Christian business colleges. Spurred by the influx of scandal, corruption and controversy in the business world, Business Reform aimed to find the schools that were working to turn out moral business leaders who were grounded in biblical principles. “The volatility and uncertainty of today’s marketplace make the ability to think innovatively and entrepreneurial vital to both individual and national economic success,” said Professor of Business and Director of the Entrepreneurship Program Dr. James Dupree. “The ethical tensions and stresses and pressures of real world competition make the nurturing of students’ individual Christian values and fostering of a Christian business ethic central to our educational process.” Business Reform editors highlighted 10 undergraduate schools, in no particular order, and then made a top pick in five categories. Along with Grove City College, undergraduate schools listed were Abilene Christian University in Texas, Baylor University in Texas, Belhaven College in Mississippi, Biola University in California, Calvin College in Michigan, Cedarville University in Ohio, Dordt College in Iowa, Eastern University in Pennsylvania and Union University in Tennessee. The magazine also listed three standout schools for MBA programs: Baylor, Biola and Regent University in Virginia. Categories were: Most Biblical/Curriculum Focus (Belhaven); Most Focused on Entrepreneurship (Eastern); Dean’s Choice (Anderson University in Indiana); Best Graduate Business Program (Regent); and Most Degree and Course Options (Grove City College). Grove City was also listed as No. 5 under Most Focused on Entrepreneurship and No. 5 under Dean’s Choice. Full-time studies in entrepreneurship began at Grove City College in the fall of 2003 under the guidance of Dupree and Dr. John Sparks. After more than five years of planning, freshmen last fall made up the first class of students who could study under the major for all four years of their college career. Courses of study include: Entrepreneurship & Enterprise; Business Ethics; Entrepreneurial Finance; Business Planning; E-Commerce; Organizational Communication/Consulting; Retail Marketing; Market Research; Sales and Sales Management; Human Resources Management; Organizational Behavior and Studies in Business, among other core business courses. –MORE–
ADD 1 – GROVE CITY COLLEGE ENTREPRENEURSHIP The Entrepreneurship program has already come a long way since its inception, with just five students starting in the major in the spring of 2002 when students were given the option to transfer in. This fall, there are 30 full-time majors in the program – 16 freshman and 14 upperclassmen. Likewise, several leadership groups have been formed, and events and programs are up and running, including: the Entrepreneurship Advisory Council, made up of Grove City College alumni entrepreneurs; the addition of staff in the hiring of Assistant Director of the Entrepreneurship Program Sherry Collins; added faculty with the welcoming of part-time entrepreneurship instructor Thomas Dillenberg; a summer entrepreneurship camp for inner city minority students from Pittsburgh; an entire issue of the Grove City College Alumni Magazine dedicated to entrepreneurship and successful alumni in the field; the annual student Business Plan Competition, now in its third year; and a new scholarship for an entrepreneurship student sponsored by Bill McDougall and Jim MacLaren, owners of REM Solutions, an international import/export company in Aliquippa, Pa. This release is available online at www.gcc.edu/news/releases/main. For full versions of the above mentioned publications, visit http://www.gcc.edu/news/campus/stories/entrepreneurship.htm. Dupree can be reached at jvdupree@gcc.edu or (724) 458-3354. Contact Clingensmith for further details. Grove City College is listed as one of the Most Competitive colleges in the nation by Barron’s. In its category, Grove City College is also ranked by U.S. News & World Report as No. 1 Best Value and No. 5 overall in the 2005 guide to America’s Best Colleges. Grove City College has also been called a “best value” and a “hidden treasure” by guidance counselors in the Kaplan National High School Guidance Counselor Survey, and is also the No. 16 Best Bargain school according to the Princeton Review. Founded in 1876, it is located 60 miles north of Pittsburgh, Pa. With an enrollment of 2,300 students, it is a private Christian college teaching the liberal arts, sciences and engineering. It is an advocate of the free market economic system and accepts no federal funding. Tuition is about half of the national average for private colleges. -30-