Nizel Pradhan
The University of San Diego (USD) is celebrating the grand opening of the Knauss Center for Business Education, one of the most innovative buildings in business higher education and home to the newly named Knauss School of Business. University of San Diego Board Chairman Don Knauss, the former CEO of Clorox, and his wife, Ellie, donated $50 million to fund construction of the new 120,000-square-foot facility and also to name the Knauss School of Business.
Each space within the Knauss Center for Business Education is designed to create an ecosystem for innovation and collaboration that empowers students and inspires groundbreaking ideas that not only will serve the greater San Diego region, but will also inspire innovative Changemakers to confront humanity’s most urgent challenges.
Inside the Knauss Center for Business Education (video here):
- The Free Enterprise Institute makes entrepreneurship accessible by providing practical education and resources to students, startups and investors.
- The Catalyzer helps students turn bold ideas into booming startups and value-driven enterprises.
- The Student Success Center unifies advising, career development, mentoring and other student services under one roof.
- The Busch Family Production Studio, a state-of-the-art production studio for creating presentations, videos, podcasts and other tools to help students develop their personal brand.
- The Rivetti and Zocco Finance Lab enables students to experience real world projects, expanding their industry connections and network.
The Knauss School of Business is also devoted to helping local, national and international businesses. More than $190 million has been invested in growing new businesses through the Knauss School of Business’ San Diego Angel Conference. The Brink Small Business Development Center has provided free consulting services to help more than 1,400 local small businesses. The Ahlers Center for International Business has partnered with the San Diego Chamber of Commerce to produce the CaliBaja Regional Economy report. It has also partnered with the World Trade Center’s MetroConnect program to create the global readiness and global market navigator programs to leverage students and faculty as consultants for small businesses pursuing export initiatives. The Supply Chain Management Institute has partnered with the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation and the Anchor Institution Collaborative to support regional anchor institutions and their goals to purchase from and contract with local small businesses.
San Diego’s Mayor also proclaimed October 1, 2022 as “Knauss School of Business Day.”
