The South Dakota Launch Conference, which occurs every year in February during National Entrepreneurship Week, is one of four finalists for an Excellence in Entrepreneurship Education Innovation Award.
For the past six years, South Dakota colleges and universities have gathered together for the annual South Dakota Launch Conference to share in a common goal — advancing entrepreneurship education in South Dakota. Dakota Wesleyan University's Kelley Center has hosted the event in Mitchell since its 2006 inception.
That outreach has now brought the conference and its organizers national attention.
The South Dakota Launch Conference, which occurs every year in February during National Entrepreneurship Week, is one of four finalists for an Excellence in Entrepreneurship Education Innovation Award through the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE) — an award that not only calls attention to Launch, but the nomination celebrates the partnership that created it.
Rhonda Pole, executive director of the Kelley Center for Entrepreneurship at DWU, coordinates Launch in partnership with the Enterprise Institute; South Dakota EPSCoR; South Dakota Governor's Office on Economic Development; South Dakota Small Business Development Centers; and fellow educator and coordinator Barb Heller with the South Dakota State University Entrepreneurial Studies Program.
Heller and Pole will present at the USASBE conference Jan. 12-15 in New Orleans, along with the other three finalists for the award. Each finalist will give a presentation in front of their peers, and the audience will choose the winner.
The other three finalists are the Brock School of Business-Samford University, Birmingham, Ala.; the University of Utah, Salt Lake City; and the University of Texas-Dallas.
"Being nominated really is an honor, and that's not an empty 'Oscar'-type cliché," Pole said. "Making it to the finals for a prestigious award such as a USASBE award is huge in our field."
The Launch Website
Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour
SD Governor's Office of Economic Development
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