The national conference hosted by UAB brings entrepreneurship educators from across the country to Birmingham.
Author: Katherine Kirk
Media Contact: Adam Pope
The J. Frank Barefield Jr. Entrepreneurship Program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham recently hosted the 2024 American Small Business and Entrepreneurship Association Conference. The conference, which drew nearly 700 educators from across the United States and 15 other countries, with many more joining online, UAB served as the host sponsor and inspired a huge number of startups in Birmingham and around the world. It played an important role in holding the family together.
“We provide world-class entrepreneurship education to students and learners in our community, so we are proud to welcome people from across the country to Birmingham to learn more about entrepreneurship education. ,” said Dr. Patrick J. Murphy. , Goodrich Endowed Chair of the Collat School of Business and Director of the Barefield Entrepreneurship Program. “At UAB, we help students apply their new knowledge to join and launch entrepreneurial ventures that impact the ecosystem and society beyond. It was great to be able to share our efforts with so many other leading programs in the field.”
According to the Birmingham Tourism Board, the conference had an economic impact on the city of nearly $1 million.
“About 90 per cent of the participants had never been to Birmingham before,” Murphy said. “This event created many new connections within and outside the local economy.”
Established in 2020, the Barefield Entrepreneurship Program offers a Bachelor's degree in Entrepreneurship and a Master of Business Administration with a concentration in Entrepreneurship. The program has a strategic partnership with the Bill L. Herbert Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and the Innovation Depot, creating an extracurricular educational experience that expands the program's impact in the Birmingham area.
Founded in 1981, USASBE is the nation's leading entrepreneurship education organization, holding annual conferences in various cities across the country.
