Faculty member wins national teaching award

02/01/2008

Management associate professor Paul Marsnik wins Acton Foundation Excellence in Entrepreneurship Education Award; Saint John’s student to accompany Marsnik to receive award in Austin

College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University associate professor of management Paul Marsnik was honored Friday, Feb. 1, in Austin, Texas, as a winner of the Acton Foundation’s national award for Excellence in Entrepreneurship Education. Marsnik was nominated by one of his students for the award.

“Great teachers change lives by inspiring students to recognize their gifts and to learn how to use them to pursue a worthy dream. Paul Marsnik is one such great teacher,” Acton Foundation President Rick O’Donnell said.

“We want to recognize outstanding teachers who inspire students to become principled entrepreneurs,” O’Donnell added. “Principled entrepreneurs are the ones who build great and lasting companies and non-profits that create jobs, increase wealth and improve our society.”

Marsnik was one of 27 teachers from across the country to win this year’s Excellence in Entrepreneurship Education Awards. Each winner is invited to attend a two-day seminar in Austin on entrepreneurship teaching, and receives a $1,000 award and trophy.

In addition, winners are invited to bring with them to Austin one of their top entrepreneurship students. Students each receive $1,000 toward their education costs and participate in case discussions lead by Master Teachers from the Acton School of Business that put them in the shoes of a real entrepreneur.

The Saint John’s student joining Marsnik in Austin was Jon Goodman. Goodman is a junior majoring in economics.

All winners were initially nominated by students and then judged by a panel of master entrepreneurship teachers at Acton. In nominating Marsnik, one student said:

“Professor Marsnik has been nothing short of amazing in helping me grow as both a student and an entrepreneur. He has not only helped me understand new concepts, but has also personally formulated a schedule to help maximize my potential for generating new ideas. He is always looking out for my best interests and goes above and beyond what is expected of him as a professor.”

Marsnik and Goodman will attend the two-day teaching awards event Feb. 1-2 in Austin. Other awards will also be bestowed during the event, including three Master Teacher Awards (a $5,000 prize each) and Entrepreneurship Teacher of the Year (a $10,000 prize).

“This event will be a celebration of teachers that are making a difference in their students’ lives,” O’Donnell said. “We are bringing students and teachers together to jointly discuss how to make business education in America even better for future entrepreneurs.”

The Acton Foundation for Entrepreneurial Excellence is a nonprofit organization established in 1997 to serve both teachers and aspiring entrepreneurs. The foundation trains and inspires master teachers, equipping them with the courses and learning tools they need to help aspiring entrepreneurs. The foundation’s Advising and Mentoring Guides offer teachers ways to be more intentional and effective in assisting those looking for career advice and searching for their calling. Its Stars & Steppingstones and Job Search Guides offer aspiring entrepreneurs a path to discover their calling and to live a life of meaning.

The foundation’s case-based entrepreneurship curriculum allows both teachers and aspiring entrepreneurs to step into the shoes of real entrepreneurs and learn how to make the tough calls required for success. The curriculum is taught in its entirety at the Acton School of Business, an intensive one-year MBA program in Austin, Texas, taught exclusively by practicing entrepreneurs. The Princeton Review ranks Acton as one of the “Best MBA Classroom Experiences” in the country and, for the fourth year in a row, ranks Acton’s teachers among the top five business faculties in the nation.  Learn more at Acton's MBA Web site. 

For more information on the Acton Foundation.