Ohio Northern University receives KEEN Most Improved Institution Award

Ohio Northern University received the 2009 Kern Entrepreneurship Education Network (KEEN) Most Improved Institution Award at the KEEN conference held in Orlando, Fla., from Jan. 6-8.

The award was given to ONU “in recognition of the institution as demonstrating the greatest change to align with KEEN goals.” One long-term goal for KEEN is to encourage newly graduated engineers to enter the workforce with the intent to foster economic and technical commerce within their communities.

KEEN also believes that a focus on entrepreneurial leaders is increasingly important as the U.S. competes to maintain its economic position in a global marketplace based on innovation. According to its mission statement, the organization seeks “to graduate engineers equipped with an action-oriented entrepreneurial mindset who will contribute to business success and transform the U.S. workforce.”

Since 2005, the Kern Family Foundation has provided ONU with $175,000 in funding through the KEEN program in support of ONU’s efforts to develop an entrepreneurship program that instills the entrepreneurial mindset in students in the College of Engineering and across campus.

Since its inception, the KEEN program at ONU has been a joint effort between the Smull College of Engineering and The James F. Dicke College of Business Administration. It is led by Dr. John-David Yoder, associate professor and chair of mechanical engineering, Dr. James Fenton, professor of management and dean of the College of Business Administration, and Dr. Robert Kleine, associate professor of marketing.

Published: Thu, 01/14/2010 - 12:33pm