Baylor's Upton to Receive Curriculum Achievement Award
by Alan Hunt
WACO, Texas - Business school deans from all over the Southwest have selected Baylor University's Dr. Nancy Upton as the recipient of their award for Innovative Achievement in Curriculum Design and Program Development.
She will receive the prestigious award during the annual conference of the Southwestern Business Deans' Association in San Antonio on Feb. 15, which is expected to be attended by deans from business schools all over the region, including Case Western University, Duke University, the University of Kansas, Oklahoma State University and most of the Big 12 schools.
The group will honor the curriculum of the John F. Baugh Center for Entrepreneurship, which Upton directs, and the programs of the Institute for Family Business, which she founded in 1987 and also directs.
The Family Business Institute is a major component of the Baugh Center for Entrepreneurship, which was recently ranked fourth in the nation in a survey of top business schools by U.S. News and World Report. The Baugh Center also was ranked by Success magazine in its list of the nation's top 25 business schools for entrepreneurs.
Upton, who was recently named Entrepreneurship Educator of the Year by the U.S. Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship, has been a member of the Baylor faculty since 1983. She holds the Ben H. Williams Professorship in Entrepreneurship. She is also serving as a scholar-in-residence at the Kansas City-based Kauffman Foundation's Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership Inc. for the 1995-96 academic year.
Recognized as a leading authority in the field of entrepreneurship and family business, Upton has received numerous accolades for her innovative projects and research. Under her direction, Baylor's Institute for Family Business annually recognizes Texas' top family businesses through its Texas Family Business Award. The program honors family firms which demonstrate strong business and family values.
She also directs the institute's Family Business Forum in metropolitan areas of Texas, including Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio, and Midland-Odessa. The forum programs include seminars on dealing with personal and financial challenges facing the family firm. A new Waco Family Business Seminar series for the Waco and Central Texas area will be launched on Tuesday, Feb. 20.
Upton said, "It is innovation in both curriculum and program design that makes the John F. Baugh Center for Entrepreneurship one of the top programs in the nation. Faculty and staff must be as creative as the entrepreneurs and family businesses that we serve. It is very rewarding to be recognized by some of the top business schools in the nation for our curriculum and family business program. We hope to serve as an example for other schools"
For more information, call Upton at 755-2265.