With the new year comes new goals, new routines and new college rankings. This year, Rowan has made it onto The Princeton Review, ranking No. 44 nationally for Undergraduate Entrepreneurship Programs in 2023. In addition, they were also ranked No. 7 in the Northeast. 

Here at Rowan, young entrepreneurs have a variety of academic and extracurricular resources that they are able to utilize. Rowan offers a bachelor’s degree in entrepreneurship, as well as a minor and a Certificate of Undergraduate Study (CUGS) in entrepreneurship. Rowan is also one of the first schools nationwide to offer a CUGS in cannabis entrepreneurship. 

Even though classes are a part of the business college, students from all over campus can get involved. Susana Santos, the associate professor of entrepreneurship and associate director of the Rowan Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship, believes that entrepreneurship is something that any student can achieve.

“So entrepreneurship at Rowan is really unique, just because we make a very big effort to touch students from across campus, meaning that entrepreneurship is a skill set, is a mindset. And that’s relevant for any major for engineering, music industry, art, journalism, psychology,” Santos said. 

There are a couple of areas in the Business Hall where students who are starting businesses can go to collaborate with students who major in art, music, or engineering to further develop their ideas. Studio 231 is a resource available for students where they can prototype, 3D print and research their ideas with other students. 

They also have Creatives 230, a new venture that the department just opened. Here, students that have a passion for creativity can collaborate with their peers who are interested in entrepreneurship to help one another foster their ideas and turn them into a reality. 

At Rowan, finding a community of other students and professors that are just as passionate about business can be very helpful for students. 

“With entrepreneurship, in general, some students think, ‘oh, I can’t do it, like I haven’t had the time or the experience’ or, you know, fear of failure — it’s relevant and people are scared. So by seeing another student, the same age colleague, you know, that role model is super effective,” Santos said.

With the different collaboration rooms, Rowan’s CEO Club and networking events like Coffee with an Entrepreneur, students have a lot of chances to be involved on campus. 

Kaitlyn Tran is the CEO club senator and is a junior business management major with a minor in marketing. She currently runs her own business, Kaitlyn’s Threads, where she sells and re-sells clothing items that she has at home or thrifts. 

“I’m really glad I got involved in CEO club because they help a lot with motivation… being in a room with other people that are so passionate about entrepreneurship gives you the motivation to keep going with your business,” Tran said.

The club’s president, Nick Nastasi, is a senior who is majoring in business management, with two minors in entrepreneurship and management information systems. He runs his own business that sells stickers for medical devices, 4U Medical Designs.

“I learned so much from just the entrepreneurship classes, but all of your professors are willing to take the time to meet with you one on one after class and consult with you or really get to know you and your ideas. I mean, that they are so passionate to help students who have drive and have a mission,” Nastasi said. 

In his time at Rowan, he has found that the professors, and his peers, have enhanced his experience as a student entrepreneur.

“Rowan has a community,” Nastasi said. “That’s the one thing I would say is the best part about Rowan is that not only do you have professors and staff caring about you, you also have a community of peers that also care and want to get you to where you want to be.”

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