Center for Principled Business sees growth in first year
The Center for Principled Business was established within the College of Business in 2019. The Center will build on key strengths within the college in the areas of entrepreneurship and innovation, business ethics, and economic education. The Center offers cross-disciplinary research and academic and co-curricular programs for K-State students, high school students, and working professionals.
While the current situation is certainly impacting our day-to-day activities, the Center is continuing to progress on a variety of activities and is developing new initiatives as well. Below are some highlights for the Center.
Center for Principled Business Innovation & Strategy Case Competition - Nearly 300 students participated in the first round of this new undergraduate competition before spring break. Despite activities going “virtual,” the case competition concluded by conducting the final round online and awarded scholarships totaling more than $5,000 to this year’s top placing teams.
Menard Family Scholars Program – This new program, developed for high achieving incoming freshmen, will launch this fall. Thirty students have been selected for the inaugural cohort for this new signature program, focusing on leadership development, innovation, and ethics. We are excited to offer new programming opportunities for these outstanding future business leaders.
Menard Family Innovation Scholarships - The Center for Principled Business awarded 20 students $1,000 scholarships for the Fall 2020 semester, to pursue the newly created “innovation track” within our Entrepreneurship minor. Many of the students who received scholarships have expressed that they would not have been able to pursue the Entrepreneurship minor without this scholarship support.
Research – Two faculty members received summer research grants to support research related to the Center’s areas of focus. The Center is continuing to develop and build its research initiatives.
Hires - The Center is providing funding to support three new faculty members who will begin their work during the 2020-2021 academic year. All three individuals will have direct service responsibilities for the Center.
Outreach - The Center is beginning to offer practitioner-focused outreach activities to benefit business professionals in our region and beyond. To date, affiliated faculty members have interviewed several local business owners to capture their stories about how they have persevered through the pandemic situation. The Center has also produced the first of several planned economic update videos, and is working on producing additional videos and articles for distribution in the near future.
Open House - The Center is planning to hold open house during the weekend of October 2-4. More information will be available in the near future. We look forward to sharing more about the Center and its initiatives and impact with our alumni and friends very soon!