Communiqué
Voinovich School Is At the Hub of Innovation for the University and the Region
By: Tom Hodson
Posted on:
The Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs has a mission to enhance the innovation environment at Ohio University and throughout the region, according to Dean Dr. Mark Weinberg.
As founding-dean, Dr. Weinberg provides strategic oversight of the economic development including business technical assistance programs and “equity funding for high-growth businesses in the Appalachian Region.”
Currently, the Voinovich School is ranked in the top 50 Innovative Public Affairs Schools in the national by Best Value Schools.
The Center for Entrepreneurship, a partnership between Voinovich and the College of Business, has been named the best emerging program in the United States by the U.S. Association of Small Business and Entrepreneurship.
Weinberg is a professor of Leadership and Public Affairs specializing in organizational strategy and public sector value creation.
The Voinovich School works to “build regional prosperity and quality of life,” according to Dean Weinberg.
One of the major ways the school has accomplished economic growth is by bringing venture capital and seed funds to the region.
The school also has been instrumental in developing an innovation ecosystem through TechGrowth Ohio. Since 2007, it has brought in $232 million in investment funds and over the past seven years, it has generated about $1 billion in economic activity, according to Dean Weinberg.
In addition, the academic mission of the School has been integrated with its outreach purposes. Weinberg told WOUB’s Tom Hodson that students not only learn in the classrooms but they are engaged in active learning with outside entities.