Rohrer College of Business recognized for innovation and entrepreneurship in education

Rowan University’s Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship has been recognized by AACSB International—the world’s largest business education network—for serving as a “champion of change” in the landscape of business education.

Rowan was among 21 business school collaborations recognized this week in AACSB’s “Innovations that Inspire” challenge.

An annual initiative, the challenge recognizes institutions from around the world that serve as “champions of change” when it comes to business education. This year’s challenge emphasized co-creation of knowledge, highlighting institutions that are engaging in a vast range of collaborative partnerships to support new curricula, establish new products or services, and impact industry and government policy.

Housed in the William G. Rohrer College of Business, Rowan’s Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship was recognized for its innovative entrepreneurship education that brings students from disciplines across campus together to form interdisciplinary teams, providing them with resources to turn their ideas into reality.

The students work together in Studio 231, an on-campus learning laboratory and makerspace in Business Hall. The space is led by students, supports students from all of Rowan’s colleges, and was created through “Building Bridges Between Disciplines,” a partnership between RCB, the Henry M. Rowan College of Engineering and the College of Science & Mathematics.

“Business schools that engage across disciplines and with industry inside and outside the traditional bounds of business and management exemplify AACSB’s vision for the future of business education,” says Thomas R. Robinson, president and CEO of AACSB.

“We are honored to recognize Rowan University as they lead by example—emphasizing their own areas of expertise and embracing collaborative approaches—all while addressing crucial issues to drive social change.”

Now in its fourth year, the Innovations That Inspire challenge has highlighted more than 100 business school efforts that exemplify forward-looking approaches to education, research, community engagement or outreach and leadership.

“Since its inception in 2017, student teams, faculty and student/faculty partnerships have worked in Studio 231 on a wide array of research and commercialization projects,” says Eric Liguori, RCB chair of entrepreneurship and executive director of the Rowan Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

“Projects have ranged from redesigning the next generation of explosives screening wands for use in airports to the development of pet prosthetics to the creation of drone software for autonomous flight to aid first responders in crisis situations,” Liguori adds.

According to Liguori, last semester the studio trained more than 240 students on three distinct learning modules, hosted an additional seven workshops with a total of 132 attendees, printed more than 120 objects using 3D technology and aided in the production of more than 30 prototypes.

“The students involved in these projects came from all across Rowan’s campus, spanning five colleges and more than 15 different majors,” Liguori says.