The award was recently presented to Ball State's Midwest Entrepreneurial Education Center at the National Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers Conference.

"This latest national award is another validation of our Entrepreneurship Program's tremendous impact over the years," said Donald F. Kurakto, the Stoops Distinguished Professor of Business and the program's founding director. "This is another milestone for our program."

The Midwest Entrepreneurial Education Center is the training and development facility of the nationally-ranked entrepreneurship program. Its mission is to develop the entrepreneurial perspective in individuals at the youth, collegiate, and adult levels, and develop an entrepreneurial environment throughout the Midwest.

The award was created by NASDAQ in association with the National Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers for the purpose of recognizing the unique achievements and outstanding efforts of entrepreneurship centers across the country.

The selection was made by a national panel of NASDAQ representatives and distinguished professors of entrepreneurship at some of the leading universities in the country. The honor is presented to centers that have made advancement in the entrepreneurial field in research, outreach to emerging ventures, curriculum, community collaborations, special projects, and overall prestige and recognition in the entrepreneurship field. The award honors those centers that have made and will continue to make enormous contributions in advancing entrepreneurship as the force in economic growth throughout the world.

Ball State's program has been a national leader in the entrepreneurship field and ranked in the top 10 business schools for entrepreneurship research over the last decade. U.S. News & World Report placed the program fourth in its annual ranking of business schools.

"Once again our entrepreneurship program is being recognized for its national accomplishments and leadership in the entrepreneurship field," said Neil A. Palomba, dean of the College of Business. "This is one of our great programs that brings tremendous prestige to our College of Business and Ball State University."

By Marc Ransford, Communications Manager

(NOTE TO EDITORS: For more information, contact Kuratko at dkuratko@bsu.eduor by phone at (765) 285-5327. )