Gordon Ford College of Business News

Vitale Professor of Entrepreneurship Dr. Whitney Peake and MBA Graduate Assistant Teran Sundy have won a Schulze Publication Award from Entrepreneur & Innovation Exchange (EIX,org), an online resource that shares the best thought leadership about the science and practice of entrepreneurship.

Dr. Peake and Mr. Sundy were honored for an article that focused on a WKU class that helps students learn about entrepreneurship through a fun and innovative exercise focusing on a fictitious family-run bourbon company. The exercise was an answer to a common teacher frustration: lack of student engagement.

"I taught my family business course at 2:20 in the afternoon and students were often tired and not participting to the level I had hoped," Dr. Peake remembers. "I talked about the challenges of this course with my husband, and he suggested I put together a continous case. With that, the Barrel family and their bourbon dynasty was born." 

The continuous case allows students to "choose their own adventure," where they all have the same back story of the Barrel family but students then are able to use course concepts to take the family down a variety of scenarios. Depending upon the choice made by the student, the storyline develops with different events, sequences, and outcomes.

"They get pretty interesting with family and business drama," said Dr. Peake. "I then use the best case extensions to set up prompts for further assignments and exam questions. Students are proud to see their work highlighted in the course."

EIX.org aims to dramatically raise the success rate of new business ventures. Targeting entrepreneurship students and professors at colleges around the world, as well as entrepreneurs and their investors, EIX aims to present the best research, ideas and practical advice about entrepreneurship in an engaging and accessible way.

EIX is affiliated with the Schulze School of Entrepreneurship, Opus College of Business at the University of St. Thomas' Minneapolis campus. 

Schulze Awards are a significant achievement, exhibiting quality of thought and workmanship as they pass through the EIX review community. Published submissions are given visibility through the EIX and Schulze Foundation sites, and are eligible via crowdsourcing feedback for a Schulze Award. Winners receive funding for a scholarship to be donated on their behalf to a college or university of their choice. In addition, Schulze Award authors may be distinguished guests presenting at the annual EIX conference held in Minneapolis in September.