Message from Dr. Michael Weber | Dean, Barney Barnett School of Business & Free Enterprise
The Barney Barnett School of Business and Free Enterprise continues to create unique engaged learning experiences for our talented students through partnerships with alumni and community organizations. Our new majors in Finance and Horticulture-Land-Resource Management, as well as minors in Real Estate and Business Law, are growing fast and contributing to our outstanding student employment rate of 98% within six months of graduation. Student organizations like Delta Sigma Pi and Enactus continue to win regional and national competitions and represent Florida Southern College proudly. In the last three years, our Center for Free Enterprise and Entrepreneurship (CFEE) has engaged more than 350 students in the seed-to-scale program and produced over 100 student-based business start-ups. These start-ups have raised $275,000 in capital, won approximately $150,000 in funding at various competitions or VC-based events, and generated more than $4 million in revenue. The CFEE continues to launch experiential learning labs (student-operated business ventures), such as The Morning Grind – coffee cart.
We hope you will consider making a contribution toward the continued growth and accomplishments of the students and faculty in the Barney Barnett School of Business and Free Enterprise. A gift to the Center for Free Enterprise and Entrepreneurship will allow for the creation of more learning labs and Center sponsored community events. Contributions to the Dean’s Excellence Fund help support student travel and participation at national conferences, and they also help support faculty-student research projects. Please consider supporting the CFEE’s Plant the Seed Fund, which provides micro-grants for student-based start-up projects in the discovery/seed phase. Funding scholarships is always a critical need so that we can attract, retain, and support the best and brightest students. We are always happy to discuss the many ways that your generosity can help our students and faculty continue to achieve great outcomes and accolades.
About the Barney Barnett School of Business and Free Enterprise:
The Barney Barnett School of Business and Free Enterprise has doubled in size since our initial AACSB accreditation in 2013, and we now have approximately 900 students and 31 full-time faculty. With your support, we continue to achieve great outcomes and recognitions, as our 2024 rankings reflect. Poets & Quants rank our undergraduate program #42, just ahead of schools such as Rutgers, the University of Georgia, and the University of South Carolina. The MBA program is receiving its fair share of accolades as well, being ranked #20 by Fortune Magazine, #29 by The Princeton Review and #51 by U.S. News & World Report. These types of rankings are a reflection of our faculty’s commitment to excellence, and their focus on providing an engaged and experiential learning environment.
Areas to Support
