The partnership between the Craig School of Business at Missouri Western State University, entrepreneur Steve Craig and Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory is the current Spotlight program on the website of the Innovation Resource Center of AACSB International – the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. To see the article, go to www.aacsb.edu. In the Resource Center drop down menu, click on Innovation and Business Schools.
“AACSB International is the premier accreditation body for business schools around the world, accrediting the top 5 percent of business schools worldwide, and we’re gratified that they have recognized how our partnership with Steve Craig and Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory has unleashed the entrepreneurial potential of our students and alumni,” said Carol Roever, interim dean of the Craig School of Business. “I hope our success can serve as a model for other schools as they consider their own partnerships with the business community.”
The Spotlight describes how Steve Craig, CEO of Craig Realty Group of California and benefactor of the Craig School of Business, encouraged the school to expand its entrepreneurial focus, helping students get into business as soon as they graduate. The school offered its first Applied Entrepreneurship class in the spring of 2009. Students in the course had the opportunity to compete for the ownership of a Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory store in Silverthorne, Colo. Since then, the program has expanded greatly: the class is now offered twice a year, Craig School of Business alumni are eligible to enroll, and multiple stores are awarded each semester. To date, 15 students and alumni have been awarded stores across the nation, and all have been successful. Last December, two of the student stores were ranked in the top 20 percent of all RMCF stores nationally. All of the student stores were in the top two-thirds of RMCF stores for the year 2012.
The Craig School of Business will be featured on the Innovation Resource Center through July.
Missouri Western State University is a comprehensive regional university providing a blend of traditional liberal arts and professional degree programs. The university offers student-centered, high quality instruction that focuses on experience-based learning, community service, and state-of-the-art technology. Missouri Western is located in St. Joseph, Mo., and is committed to the educational, economic, cultural and social development of the region it serves. Visit www.missouriwestern.edu.