Fred Kiesner, professor of management and Conrad N. Hilton Chair in Entrepreneurship, will be honored Friday night in Austin, Texas, as a winner of the Acton Foundation’s national award for Excellence in Entrepreneurship Education.
“Fred Kiesner is an outstanding teacher who inspires students to go out and become successful entrepreneurs,” said Dennis Draper, dean of LMU’s College of Business Administration. “He has helped develop future business leaders and taught them the importance of values and ethics.”
Kiesner was nominated by his students for this prestigious award. During his academic career at LMU, Kiesner has taught more than 15,000 students what it takes to become a successful entrepreneur. “Professor Kiesner has inspired countless people to follow the dream of owning their own business. In the classroom, his passion for life inspires his students to achieve all of their dreams,” said LMU business student Christopher Michael.
Over the past 38 years that Kiesner has been at LMU, he has fostered the entrepreneurship program to become one of the best in the country. The program was recently named in the top ten in the nation by The Princeton Review and Entrepreneurship Magazine.
Kiesner will discuss how to teach entrepreneurship his new book “Creating Entrepreneurs, Making Miracles Happen,” expected to come out by the end of the school year.
“Great teachers change lives by inspiring students to recognize their gifts and to learn how to use them to pursue a worthy dream. Fred Kiesner is one such great teacher,” said Acton Foundation President Rick O’Donnell.
Kiesner was one of 27 teachers from across the country to win this year’s Excellence in Entrepreneurship Education Award. Winners are invited to attend a two-day seminar in Austin on entrepreneurship teaching, and they receive a $1,000 award and a trophy.
Kiesner was also honored by the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE) for being one of the best entrepreneurship educators in the nation.
