WKU News

Two Gordon Ford College of Business professors won a third place award at the 2019 United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE) Conference held January 23-27. 

Drs. Pedro de Oliveira and Whitney Peake's submission entitled "Entrepreneurial Finance Over Coffee: Pricing Research and Strategy" earned the award in the Experiential Entrepreneurial Exercises Competition, sponsored by the George Washington University Center for Entrepreneurial Excellence. 

“In an applied college of business, experiential learning is critical for student success. This exercise helps students learn how to use market research to make decisions, and gives students experience in practicing consulting work, which is important as they work to think critically about pricing problems,” said de Oliveira, Visiting Assistant Professor.

USASBE is an organization of entrepreneurial educators and scholars committed to advancing the study of entrepreneurship. Each January a conference is held to provide workshops, exercises, and present research to enhance the experience in the classroom, as well as professional development. The competition is an opportunity for entrepreneurial professors to showcase innovative classroom exercises.

 “USASBE is considered a premier conference focused on entrepreneurship education, so to come away from that with an award of experiential learning is an honor, said Peake, Director of the Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation. “Pedro’s idea for this exercise was received well by the audience and judges as soon as they heard “entrepreneurial finance.” It’s not an easy topic to teach, and his work on this resource provides so much value to instructors.”