Facilitating collaboration for member university-based entrepreneurship centers.
Dr. Donald F. Kuratko, executive & academic director of the Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation, co-founded the Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers (GCEC) in 1996 along with Dr. Rudy Lamone (University of Maryland) and Tom O’Malia (University of Southern California). Administration for the GCEC was housed at the Kelley School of Business, Indiana University for the past 12 years. Today, the GCEC is housed at Rice University.
Originally called the National Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers (NCEC), the GCEC provides a coordinated vehicle for participating members to collaborate on and communicate about the specific issues and challenges confronting university-based entrepreneurship centers.
Current membership totals over 350 university-based entrepreneurship centers, from well-established and nationally ranked to new and emerging. Each year in October, a global conference is held on the campus of a GCEC member school. The conference continues to be the major focal point for the organization.
In past years, host universities have included: University of Maryland, University of Southern California, Ball State University, Wake Forest University, Babson College, Texas Christian University, University of Portland, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, the collaborative Midwest effort of Northern Kentucky University, University of Cincinnati, and University of Dayton, Syracuse University, University of Arizona, Rice University, Penn State University, Georgetown University, University of Missouri-Kansas City, University College London, and University of Florida.