April 23, 2008
More than 300 local students, faculty, staff and members of the community gathered in ACU's Teague Special Events Center on Saturday evening to find out who won the 14 awards at the first SpringBoard Ideas Challenge. The crowd was also treated to a special guest speaker, Kenneth W. Starr, dean and professor of law at Pepperdine University School of Law, who talked about entrepreneurship in today's world.
"The inaugural SpringBoard Ideas Challenge was a huge success and far surpassed our expectations," said Dr. Rick Lytle, dean of the College of Business Administration at ACU. "The quality of ideas presented was exceptional and really spoke to the entrepreneurial spirit not only on ACU’s campus, but across Abilene."
The SpringBoard Ideas Challenge was a mini-business plan competition that began in March for all Abilene undergraduate and graduate students, as well as faculty from universities within the city limits. Universities that competed in the challenge included Abilene Christian University, Cisco Junior College, Hardin-Simmons University, McMurry University, Texas State Technical College and Texas Tech University at Abilene.
"We here in the College of Business Administration are particularly excited because this program lends itself so well to all four major points of the 21st Century Vision," said Lytle. "At its core, SpringBoard is a program that empowers students and faculty to not only be entrepreneurial and create wealth, but more importantly to become good stewards of that wealth in a world where mission-minded business people are desperately needed."
According to Lytle, each business plan was submitted to a panel of business leaders and professors from across the state for judging. Forty-five entries were narrowed down to the 14 finalists. After the judges made their decisions, each finalist was invited to present their mini business plan. The judges critiqued the projects and gave each participant input and advice on how to better his or her idea.
The challenge was divided into two categories; the student division and the faculty division. First place in each division won $7,500, while second place earned $2,500 each. Each of the honorable mention selections was awarded $1,000.
First place in the faculty category was awarded to Ian Shepherd, assistant professor of economics at ACU, and Dr. Brent Reeves, assistant professor of management sciences at ACU, who won for their proposal for Gradeslayer Grading, a program that will help teachers grade faster and allow more time to focus on teaching.
Ryan Stephen, junior financial management major at ACU from Spring, won first place in the student division with Koinesis, a program that will allow churches to connect with each other.
Second place in the faculty category was awarded to Ian Shepherd and Scott Stovall, assistant professor of accounting at ACU, for Harold's BBQ, a plan that takes an Abilene favorite and keeps it alive by bringing a new flavor to the business side of things. Chad Hutchins, ACU senior computer science major from Tyler, and Jon Hinson, ACU senior computer science major from Spring earned second place in the student division for TeacherHubs.com, a proposal that features a mix of social networking and idea sharing for a brand new online resource for teachers of all levels.
Honorable mention awards were presented to:
- Austin Basye, ACU senior engineering physics major from Canyon,
- Evan Black, ACU senior integrated marketing communications major from Denison,
- Jonathan Davis, ACU sophomore journalism major from Carrollton,
- Phillip Ellis, ACU senior management major from Van,
- Sharde Henley, ACU senior management major from Houston,
- Meagan Hines, ACU senior management major from Round Rock,
- Dr. Darryl Jinkerson, associate professor of management and chair of the management science department at ACU,
- Dr. Brent Reeves, assistant professor of management sciences and Dr. Ian Shepherd, assistant professor of economics, both from ACU,
- Dr. Phil Vardiman, assistant professor of management sciences at ACU and
- Mike Winegeart, assistant professor of marketing at ACU.
"The initial support that we've been able to raise in the community has been very encouraging, and the huge response from the student body in particular not only rivals most cases, exceeds that of larger universities with similar programs," said Lytle.
Before the awards were presented to the winners, Starr, best known as the independent counselor for the Whitewater investigation in the 1990s, spoke to the audience about how entrepreneurs today need to be grounded in both awareness in public policy and the law.
To view Starrs's speech in its entirety, visit ACU on iTunes U.
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