McCombs Entrepreneur Society

Jim Nolan Wins National Teaching Award

For Immediate Release

Wednesday, January 31, 2008

Contact:  Holt Hackney

512-478-8858, ext. 115

HHackney@hackneycommunications.com

AUSTIN, Texas (January 31, 2008) – UT Professor James Nolen will be honored Friday night in Austin as a winner of the Acton Foundation’s national award for Excellence in Entrepreneurship Education. Nolen 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. James Nolen is one such great teacher,” said Acton Foundation President Rick O’Donnell.

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

Nolen 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, receives a $1,000 award and a 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 UT student joining Nolen in Austin is Carter Rabasa. Rabasa is a MBA candidate for 2009 focusing on entrepreneurship.

Nolen and Rabasa will attend the two-day teaching awards event in Austin on February 1-2. 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,” said O’Donnell. “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. To learn more please visit ActonMBA.org.

Visit www.actonfoundation.org for more information about the Foundation.