Center for L.I.F.E receives award from global entrepreneurship group
This is the second award the center has received in 2025
Center for L.I.F.E receives award from global entrepreneurship group
The Center for L.I.F.E (Leading the Integration of Faith and Entrepreneurship) in the John W. Altman Institute for Entrepreneurship in the Farmer School of Business at Miami University was named the winner of the 2025 Excellence in Specialty Entrepreneurship Education Award by the Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers (GCEC). The annual GCEC awards are designed "to celebrate the very best of university entrepreneurship."
Established in 2018, the Center for L.I.F.E. serves students, teachers, and researchers by creating academically rigorous and practically relevant knowledge and experiences at the intersection of faith and entrepreneurship.
“This wasn't an award from or for faith-based schools. This was an award from all global centers of entrepreneurship, saying, ‘Hey, faith and entrepreneurship is an important space. It is a growing ecosystem, and you are doing something that's pioneering and leading edge in that space,’” said Brett Smith, professor and executive director of the Center.
The criteria for the award includes program genesis, objectives, outcomes, replicability, and major achievements. Key highlights include:
- LIFE Research Conference: Attracted 1,000-plus scholars from 30 countries in last 5 years;
- LIFE Teaching Conference: Attracted 185-plus teachers from 25 countries in 2024;
- Publishing top-tier research in Financial TimesTop 50 journals;
- LIFE course: Net Promoter Score of 100, survey from all alumni over past 10 semesters;
- LIFE PhD seminar: Students from 10 countries over last 4 years; among others.
“Our students have been telling us for years that coursework that takes seriously the whole-entrepreneur and examines different ways that entrepreneurs integrate their own faith with their entrepreneurship has had a huge impact in their lives,” director Cory Driver said. “We are humbled and honored that our colleagues in entrepreneurship departments and centers across higher education have also recognized the importance of studying and teaching how entrepreneurs integrate their faith and entrepreneurship.”
“I think the recognition of this award actually provides a couple of things. It provides visibility to the work that we're doing. I think that's important for the Entrepreneurship program, for the Farmer School, and for the university,” Smith said. “It's an opportunity for us to just say thanks. Over the last six years, we have had alumni, we have had donors, we have had administrators, we have had speakers, we have had partners who have joined us along this journey to help accelerate faith in entrepreneurship and higher education. None of that happens on our own. That only happens because of all these other people that come into this space.”
This is the second award the Center for L.I.F.E. has won in 2025. The center also won the 2025 Emerging Model Program Award from the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship in February.
