WKU News

The Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation in the Gordon Ford College of Business at WKU came away with several top awards this past weekend at the Small Business Institute® Annual Conference in San Diego, California.

Dr. Whitney Peake, Vitale Professor of Entrepreneurship and Assistant Professor of Management in the GFCB, was awarded the Homer L. Saunders Mentor Award. The Mentor Award identifies an SBI member who is deserving of recognition for outstanding contribution to the training and development of students.  Dr. Peake has been a professor at WKU since 2014.

“My personal goal has always been able to pay forward all the excellent mentoring I have received from others in any way possible, so to be presented with a mentoring award for my work with the SBI projects is an incredible honor,” Dr. Peake said.

The student group that Dr. Peake mentored through her Small Business Analysis and Strategy course took home second place honors during the Undergraduate Project of the Year contest. The group – Brad Chambers, Tyler Morris, Kimberly Jane Spears, and Austin Stauffer – consulted with Mary Jane’s Chocolates, a business located in Bowling Green and owned by Gary and Mary Jane Meszaros. Chambers, Spears, and Stauffer were able to travel with Dr. Peake to the conference to showcase their project and receive their award.

Additionally, Dr. Peake won the SBI Best Practices Award for her work on integrating a systems approach into the introductory Entrepreneurship course and having it recognized as a campus-wide Colonnade course. Best Practices were judged on the quality of content, innovativeness, positive outcomes, and the presentation quality.

“We are proud of the dedicated efforts and innovative ideas that Dr. Peake has brought to the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation,” said Dr. Jeffrey Katz, Dean of the Gordon Ford College of Business. “As an applied College of Business, we take pride in the programs that allow students to apply their classroom knowledge to hands-on business experiences.”  

Pictured: Kimberly Jane Spears, Brad Chambers, Dr. Whitney Peake, Austin Stauffer