College of Business named nation's first sun center of excellence business school

The University of St. Thomas College of Business is the first business school in the nation to be designated a Sun Center of Excellence. Sun Centers of Excellence is a worldwide program of Sun Microsystems Inc. that intensifies the use of technology to promote innovation and enterprise. Some 75 of these centers exist worldwide. The…

The University of St. Thomas College of Business is the first business school in the nation to be designated a Sun Center of Excellence.

Sun Centers of Excellence is a worldwide program of Sun Microsystems Inc. that intensifies the use of technology to promote innovation and enterprise. Some 75 of these centers exist worldwide. The center at St. Thomas, part of the new Schulze School of Entrepreneurship, is the first Sun Center of Excellence at a university business school. (See Page 20 to read more about how students will use this technology in the classroom.)

"This is a significant development for the region's entrepreneurship community, retail business community, technology community and the world of higher education in business," said Dr. Christopher Puto, dean of the College of Business. "This is an ambitious and pioneering business technology endeavor, and we're proud to be entrusted by Sun to host the nation's first Center of Excellence business school."

"St. Thomas is a smart choice as a Sun COE because they are unusually enterprising when compared to many other business schools," said Kim Jones, vice president, Global Education and Research at Sun Microsystems. "One proof point of the school's entrepreneurial fervor was its insistence - and foresight - in making St. Thomas' infrastructure an 'open source' platform as much as possible, which allows true innovation to flourish well into the future."

The Sun Center of Excellence for Integrating Information Technology and Business at the University of St. Thomas College of Business will provide extensive resources for data analysis, including on-site technical advising from Sun Microsystems, more than 80 Sun Ray ultra-thin clients and a new computer lab in the heart of Schulze Hall. An array of technology-based teaching tools will introduce some of the most advanced instructional technologies available in the classroom and networking opportunities for students.

Puto believes the activities at the University of St. Thomas spawned by the Sun COE designation will accelerate technology transfer and business venture activities in the Twin Cities and throughout the world. Entrepreneur Magazine designated the Twin Cities as the top-ranked metropolitan area for entrepreneurship in 2003.

Information sessions related to the Sun COE will be incorporated into the public opening activities of Schulze Hall in Oct. 2005. To see the full text of the joint news release and fact sheets issued by St. Thomas, Sun Microsystems and other partners in the project, go to the Schulze School of Entrepreneurship Web site: www.stthomas.edu/cob/schoolofentrepreneurship/suncoe/news.asp.

 ENTREPRENEURSHIP AWARD WINNERSThe 16th Annual Entrepreneurship Awards Dinner was held May 4 at The Depot in Minneapolis. In addition to Michael Dougherty, the Cade Award winner announced in the Spring 2005 issue of B., the College of Business recognized Keith Thorndyke '91, CEO of Thorndyke Consulting and winner of the Entrepreneurship Alumnus of the Year Award; the Helgeson family of Gold'n Plump Poultry, winner of the Family Business of the Year Award; and Ben Anderson '05, founder of Cinemotion and winner of the Pentair Prize (a scholarship from Pentair Inc.).

Next in B Magazine

More from B Magazine