Loyola receives $1.5 million to create Simon Professorship in Entrepreneurship
Loyola University Maryland has been awarded a $1.5 million grant from the Maryland Department of Commerce to establish the Simon Professorship in Entrepreneurship. The award was made through the Maryland E-Nnovation Initiative Fund (MEIF), established to support endowed chairs at Maryland institutions of higher education.
“At Loyola University Maryland, we are excited to be cultivating a culture of innovation within our community,” said Terrence M. Sawyer, J.D., president. “This grant will make it possible for us to invest more deeply in inspiring our students as entrepreneurs and innovators, and I look forward to seeing the impact it has in the life of our University.”
Jon Weinstein, assistant teaching professor at Loyola’s Sellinger School of Business and Management and entrepreneur-in-residence at Loyola’s Simon Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, will hold the Simon Professorship in Entrepreneurship. Weinstein has a background in entrepreneurship, public office, management consulting, and executive coaching.
“We are incredibly gratified by the recognition afforded us by Secretary Coker and the funding granted through the Maryland E-Nnovation Initiative Fund for the Simon Professorship,” said Mary Ann Scully, MBA ’79, dean of Loyola’s Sellinger School. “Professor Weinstein’s transformational work leverages Loyola’s inherent strengths as a University focused on student success while operating as an anchor institution in and of Baltimore.”
The state award was made possible as a match to a $1.5 million gift from Nick Simon, MBA ’84, and Susie Simon, M.Ed. ’81. Namesakes of Loyola’s Simon Center and new Simon Professorship, Nick and Susie Simon helped establish the center and made significant investments in the center’s work promoting economic and entrepreneurial success in Baltimore.
As Loyola’s inaugural occupant of the Simon Professorship in Entrepreneurship, Weinstein will continue to advance the Simon Center’s work, teach undergraduate students, and support student and faculty innovators on campus as well as entrepreneurs in the community.
“Jon’s work has innovatively connected students interested in both entrepreneurship and innovation with members of the local community and thus fostered awareness, partnership, and skill building. He builds these connections directly through his groundbreaking curriculum offered through the Sellinger School of Business and Management as well as through co-curricular activities,” Scully said.
The Simon Center was also recently recognized by TEDCO, the Maryland Technology Development Corp. TEDCO’s Baltimore Innovation Initiative presented the Entrepreneurship Commercialization, Programming and Infrastructure Award to Wendy Bolger, founding director of the Simon Center, and $50,000 supporting the center’s Baltipreneurs Accelerator. Michael Tangrea, Ph.D., MEIF-endowed professor of biology and innovation at Loyola, received the Technology Advancement Award and $40,000 to support commercialization of a cancer diagnostic technology he co-invented.
Loyola University Maryland’s Sellinger School of Business and Management in Baltimore delivers an internationally recognized Jesuit business education. Recognized for its scholarship, ethical leadership, and tradition of excellence, the Sellinger School delivers a wide range of sought-after fields of study including nine undergraduate majors and 13 undergraduate minors as well as full-time, part-time, and fully online MBA and Master of Accounting programs.