Florida State University just received its largest gift ever. FSU recently received 100 million dollars from Jan Moran and the Jim Moran Foundation to create the nation’s largest independent School of Entrepreneurship.
The gift to FSU is one of the largest donations to be given to a Florida public university. According to a FSU press release, the school will expand on current courses being taught in the School of Business, which will be available to all students.
President of FSU, John Thrasher, was very pleased with the generous donation of the Jim Moran foundation.
“The continuation of Jim Moran’s generosity is an investment in our students, our business, and our state” Thrasher said.
Although the Jim Moran School of Entrepreneurship will be a separate school, the Jim Moran institute will still be a part of the College of Business. It will continue its outreach across Florida to help get real world entrepreneurship practice with the education in classrooms.
Michael D. Hartline, interim dean of the College of Business at FSU, believes that all professions requires some form of entrepreneurial thinking.
“Florida State students will have the unique ability to study and practice entrepreneurship from a valuable perspective in the arts, sciences, humanities, education, communication, law, medicine and, of course, business” Hartline said.
The Jim Moran Institute and the Jim Moran School of Entrepreneurship will be located near the downtown area near local businesses, state capitol, and statewide associations. The school’s director and the Jim Moran Institute’s director will be working out of the new location.
Students enrolled in the program will have the option to receive either a Bachelor of Arts in Entrepreneurship or a Bachelor of Science in Entrepreneurship. In the first year, FSU is expected to have 100 students enrolled in the program versus the 40 students currently enrolled in the College of Business.
Students have heard the news and have strong opinions about the donation. Melvin Bryant, third-year FSU criminal justice student from Miami explained why this important for the university.
“I think we’ve always needed this. Students here have really good ideas sometimes and just need help developing them. This is huge,” Bryant said.
The set launch date is the Aug. 8, 2018. A soft-launch of the interdisciplinary degree has been set for Fall 2017. With that, it will possibly create a graduating class for 2018-2019.