Celebrating the stories and achievements of the Opus College of Business
Opus College has much to celebrate -2024 was a year of incredible accomplishments by our faculty, students, alumni, and staff. Together we pushed boundaries, embraced innovation, expanded our collective knowledge, and made meaningful contributions that drove growth, created value, and inspired positive change.
Opus College's Executive Education program continues to support lifelong learning with practical, non-degree courses. New this year, AI for Professionals joined popular programs in project management and digital marketing, helping Minnesota's workforce stay ahead of tomorrow's challenges.
Opus College was recognized by Fortune Magazine as one of the top 30 schools nationwide where Fortune 1000 C-suite executives earned their MBAs, reflecting the impact of our programs and people in shaping exceptional leaders in business.
The Schulze School continues to lead in innovation locally and nationally, ranking 19th in the country by The Princeton Review -up three spots from last year. It remains Minnesota's top entrepreneurship school and is now 8th in the Midwest.
The Schulze School of Entrepreneurship was honored by the Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers (GCEC) with a commendation for entrepreneurial excellence. Entrepreneurship is now the seventh most popular major at St. Thomas, also a fast-growing minor.
The 2024 Synergy Summit brought together students, alumni, and industry leaders to explore AI's impact on supply chain management. The event featured a national supply chain competition, with the University of St. Thomas team taking first place. Opus College MBA alumnus Nate Shutes delivered the keynote, and attendees had the chance to learn about emerging industry trends.
This year's competition saw 118 students from 34 majors, including participants from all three of our MBA programs and the MS in Business Analytics. With $92,500 in scholarships awarded, the challenge also introduced new prizes for best use of technology and advancing health equity. Centra, the winner in both the Social Track and Best Use of Technology, combines gunpowder detection technology with a dual-system lockdown system to help prevent school shootings and protect students.
In October, the Schulze School co-hosted events for Women Entrepreneurship Week, featuring a keynote by author and entrepreneur Maha Abouelenein and a student hackathon where teams developed innovative solutions to challenges facing women. These events supported women-centered initiatives, empowering the next generation of women entrepreneurs at St. Thomas.
Schulze Scholars grew this year through workshops on finance and resilience, design challenges, field trips, speed networking with alumni entrepreneurs, and lunches with experts in product development and corporate innovation in the CPG industry. They also participated in an innovation challenge with North Star Valor, a nonprofit supporting wounded veterans through art and nature.
Nearly 400 high school students from across Minnesota participated in innovation workshops led by entrepreneurship professors at St. Thomas. Using simple materials like pipe cleaners, foil, glue sticks, and construction paper, students applied human-centered design principles to create new and better products for potential customers, bringing their ideas to life with prototypes.
From learning about the world's first true electric supercar to a private tour of the groundbreaking advertising of an iconic Italian brand, students in the Part-time Flex MBA program gained firsthand insight into how global business operates outside the United States while studying in Italy, Croatia, and Slovenia.
I think the most valuable element of a course like this is stepping outside your comfort zone and seeing that the world doesn’t always operate the way you do. It builds cultural humility and opens us up to new ways of thinking.
Celebrating the fifth year of our international residency in Prague, Health Care MBA Cohort 31 explored local health care practices, visiting institutions like Charles University, Motol Hospital, and SOTIO Biotech, and engaging with leaders on topics from hospital innovation to palliative care.
Meanwhile, students from the UnitedHealth Group cohort had the opportunity to meet Sir Andrew Witty, CEO of UnitedHealth Group, and Optum Ireland CEO during their study abroad trip to Ireland.
Exploring Morocco and Portugal gave Cohort 74 from the Executive MBA program an opportunity to learn and be inspired. From non-profits, innovation hubs, and mushroom farms promoting sustainability, each day was an opportunity to become better global citizens.
The Small Business Development Center launched its 6th Community Entrepreneurship Program cohort this year, supporting 130+ entrepreneurs since 2022. Among them, Brittney Mikell, is set to open the Twin Cities' first Black woman-owned brewery, Bubble Line Brewing. As part of her entrepreneurial journey in the program, she's been working side by side with St. Thomas business students who are helping with some of the challenges of building a business.