Greetings from DePaul’s Driehaus College of Business!
As I reflect on 2025, one phrase stands out to me: innovation with purpose.
The first half of this phrase reflects Driehaus’ entrepreneurial spirit. Our college consistently ranks among national leaders in entrepreneurship education. In its rankings for 2026, the Princeton Review listed our undergraduate and graduate entrepreneurship programs at #16 and #15, respectively. These rankings also place us among the top 10 colleges for entrepreneurship in the Midwest, where we are the only school from Illinois represented.
best college for business in the U.S. (Niche rankings)
MBA alma mater for Fortune 1000 C-suite executives
Entrepreneurial spirit guides curriculum updates
The entrepreneurial spirit infuses our approach to education. Recent curricular innovations put industry-aligned innovation at the center.
In fall 2025, we launched the reimagined DePaul MBA curriculum. Every core MBA class now includes a hands-on partnership with a Chicago-based company and subject-specific training in AI.
The MBA capstone experience, meanwhile, puts innovation into practice. Cohorts pair up with a corporate partner. Their task: develop a novel solution to a problem the partner identifies. Our MBA students graduate with on-the-ground experience thinking like an entrepreneur — from within established companies just as much as from without.
Last year also saw the launch of two new master’s programs designed specifically to align with industry needs. The MS in Digital Marketing equips graduates to meet the moment in a fast-changing industry. And the MS in Sustainability in Business prepares future leaders to address pressing environmental and social challenges — no matter their industry or role.
undergraduate entrepreneurship program (Princeton Review 2026)
graduate entrepreneurship program (Princeton Review 2026)
New initiatives advance student success
Then, there is the second half of the phrase I started with: innovation with purpose.
A commitment to student success has long been a pillar of a DePaul education. Recent initiatives blend this commitment to student success with our distinctive entrepreneurial spirit.
Last summer, we piloted a new program that addresses summer melt among rising sophomore students. Research tells us that this is a time when many students — first-generation and low-income students in particular — are uniquely vulnerable to dropping out.
Our Rising Sophomore Success Program tackled this challenge by blending high-touch mentorship with high-tech, AI-enabled “nudges.”
In October, the program earned a competitive Illinois Innovation Voucher. This grant will allow us to scale this program, equipping even more students with the tools they need to succeed.
US college for producing local founders (Switch on Business, updated 2026)
among AACSB-accredited business programs (US News and World Report 2026)
The power and potential of the urban business school
As I recently argued in an editorial for Poets&Quants, urban business schools like ours are uniquely positioned to tackle some of today’s greatest challenges — from housing affordability to poverty to climate change.
As technological changes proceed apace, our location becomes more important, not less. Our students don’t just have unparalleled geographic access to Chicago’s businesses. They also have access to a vast network of connections.
There’s no shortcut to forging these relationships. And it’s these relationships that allow our students to learn from experience and generate real value for companies in the process.
I hope you enjoy this look into just a few of the initiatives, collaborations, and successes from 2025 at DePaul’s Driehaus College of Business.
Sincerely,
Sulin Ba, PhD
Dean, Driehaus College of Business and Kellstadt Graduate School of Business
How do you prepare students for a constantly shifting technological landscape ?
The age of AI has brought this perennial question into sharper focus.
For Driehaus, the answer lies in integrating AI from the ground up throughout the curriculum.
For MBAs, AI fosters resilience
AI is woven into every core class in the DePaul MBA program. Integrating AI throughout the MBA curriculum has allowed DePaul to move quickly, adapting the MBA experience to ongoing change in the workplace.
Thomas Walker, who teaches business analytics in the MBA program, sees AI as part of a larger, timeless framework.
“The more I think about AI, the more I think of it as a framework for discovery — for trying to answer big questions. Step number one of business analytics isn’t learning some program or software. It’s asking the right questions. It’s knowing where to start.”
For undergrads, AI powers exploration
On the undergraduate side, Associate Professor Joel Reynolds integrates AI bots into his hospitality classes to bring case studies to life.
Reynolds started with a case study on food costs. He created custom AI bots to act as a restaurant’s head chef, GM, and owner — each with its own set of information and perspectives.
“Instead of reading about the food cost problem, students now consult with the restaurant's leadership team,” Reynolds said. “They ask questions, probe for details, and uncover information organically—just like real consultants.”
In 2025, we debuted an overhauled master’s portfolio to better reflect the needs of the market. Two new master’s programs, the M.S. in Sustainability in Business and the M.S. in Digital Marketing, arose in direct response to shifting industry needs. Other programs, like the M.S. in Taxation and Analysis, equip graduates with in-demand skills they need to advance their careers.
M.S. in Sustainability in Business
There’s a saying in the sustainability field: “every job is a climate job.” DePaul’s new M.S. in Sustainability in Business program was built with this paradigm in mind. The interdisciplinary program equips students with a wide range of in-demand skills — from regulations and reporting to strategy and execution.
"Our curriculum brings Chicago sustainability leaders into the classroom to interact directly with students. Our unique curriculum and industry connections do more than enhance learning — they launch careers."
— Gabriella Bucci, M.S. in Sustainability Program Director and Associate Professor, Economics
M.S. in Taxation and Analytics
Today’s tax professionals don't just need deep subject-matter expertise. They also must be data and technology experts, able to connect their work to high-level strategy. DePaul’s newly revised M.S. in Taxation and Analytics program responds directly to this industry need by integrating analytical skills into the taxation curriculum.
M.S. in Digital Marketing
Digital marketing is among the fastest-growing fields in business. DePaul’s new M.S. in Digital Marketing equips students to lead at the cutting edge of this field. Students earn in-demand certifications and complete hands-on projects as part of this new master’s degree program.
Entreprenerial Internships Open Up Opportunities
At fledgling startups, growth requires a delicate balance. Move too slowly and opportunities slip away. Push too fast, and the founder’s original mission can get lost in expansion.
Early-stage employees play a critical role in helping businesses strike that balance, argues James Bort, an assistant professor of entrepreneurship at DePaul, in the Academy of Management Review.
The entrepreneurial internship program at DePaul’s Coleman Entrepreneurship Center demonstrates some of Bort’s ideas in action. Students are hand-paired with founders. Founders get a fresh perspective and an extra set of hands. Students, in turn, get a role that’s much more flexible — and impactful — than a typical internship.
In summer 2025, the Coleman Entrepreneurship Center placed 35 interns at emerging businesses. Collectively, they contributed 4,375 hours of work to these entrepreneurial ventures.
"My intern's support was invaluable because it allowed me to focus on growing my business instead of getting lost in administrative details."
— Tasha Shaw, CEC intern host and founder of a wellness-focused catering business
Research Center Powers Interdisciplinary Work
A new interdisciplinary study by DePaul’s Brian Phelan, Jim Mourey, and Lamont Black explores how risk perceptions and social pressures drive investing decisions around cryptocurrency.
The trio's paper, published in the Journal of Behavioral Finance, drew on a research pool of 550+ students created and administered by DePaul’s BETA Hub. The research center also contains cutting-edge technology such as eye-tracking software.
Other projects at the Beta Hub likewise leveraged technology to advance social good. In one collaboration, marketing analytics students delivered data-driven insights to help the U.S. arm of Engineers without Borders expand its reach. In another, the college collaborated with AI research firm Altheon AI to offer data-driven marketing advice to small local businesses.
$570,000+ raised by students volunteering as tax preparers for low-income Chicagoans
$6,000+ raised by project management students through nonprofit fundraisers
Studies Inform SEC Ruling
Research coauthored by KPMG/Neil F. Casson Endowed Professor Tawei (David) Wang underpins a new SEC ruling mandating that companies disclose certain cybersecurity incidents. Wang’s research reveals that such disclosures — even if they contain specific details — do not necessarily increase the risk of future cybersecurity threats.
Students conducted hands-on projects for numerous Chicago businesses and nonprofits, including:
- The Chicago Transit Authority
- Morningstar
- Bosch
- The Chicago Bears
- Howard Brown Health