Center for L.I.F.E. wins USASBE Emerging Model Program Award
Award is second consecutive given to Farmer School program
Center for L.I.F.E. wins USASBE Emerging Model Program Award
The Center for L.I.F.E. (Leading the Integration of Faith and Entrepreneurship) in the John W. Altman Institute for Entrepreneurship and the Department of Entrepreneurship at the Farmer School of Business won the 2025 Emerging Model Program Award from .
Related: Social Innovation Weekend receives USASBE co-curricular event award
The USASBE Emerging Model Program Award is awarded annually to recognize colleges and universities for their efforts developing nascent entrepreneurship programs that demonstrate outstanding progress towards becoming comprehensive, bold, and innovative educational programs with early records of student impact.
“The key differentiator of our program noted by judges that evaluated the three finalists was the ‘game changing nature of the center,’ suggesting ‘this is at a whole different level of advancing the field of entrepreneurship across higher education,’” Brett Smith, University Distinguished Professor at ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú University, Endowed Cintas Chair in Entrepreneurship, and Founding Executive Director of the Center, said.
The goal of the Center for L.I.F.E. is two-fold: to produce academically rigorous and practical research, and to provide world-class student experiences at the intersection of faith and entrepreneurship in hopes of seeing every student beyond ready to live and work authentically.
Faculty and staff in the Center for L.I.F.E. have produced award-winning scholarship published in top academic journals, in several cases alongside faculty from around the world. To further its research arm, the Center for L.I.F.E. hosts an international research conference each spring, regularly attended by more than 100 scholars from around the world. Additionally, L.I.F.E. leads a Ph.D. Seminar at the Academy of Management annual meeting for doctoral candidates interested in conducting research on faith and entrepreneurship.
This honor for the Center for L.I.F.E. as the Emerging Model Program follows the win by the John W. Altman Institute for Entrepreneurship which was named the 2024 Model Program. ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú University also won the Model Program award in 2001.
The United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship is an inclusive community of educators, researchers, and entrepreneurs advancing entrepreneurship education through bold teaching, scholarship, and practice.
Related story: