Shontarius Aikens, AACSB accreditation manager in the NDSU College of Business, was honored with the "Dreamer and Doer" award at The Experiential Classroom held at the University of Florida, Gainesville, Sept. 17-20. AACSB stands for the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, an accrediting association that operates in 50 countries and territories.

Entering its 17th year, the Experiential Classroom is a three-day seminar designed to provide scholars with innovative ways to teach entrepreneurship, develop entrepreneurship courses and build entrepreneurship programs. Attendees are exposed to elite entrepreneurship programs and engage with world-class faculty. In addition to learning experiential methods from today’s top entrepreneurial scholar-educators, participants apply what they have learned during live teaching sessions. Each year, the program is limited to 75 participants.

The Dreamer and Doer Award is a recognition for a participant who stands out based on the energy they bring to the program and their development of approaches or a plan to use the content to advance the entrepreneurship program at their home university.

"As an educator, I’m always looking for ways to improve my teaching skills to better serve the students I teach," Aikens said. "Having the opportunity to learn from the world’s best entrepreneurship scholar-educators and to be recognized by them with this award is truly an honor.”

In addition to his role as AACSB accreditation manager, Aikens teaches entrepreneurship courses in the Certificate in Entrepreneurship offered through the University of North Dakota's College of Business and Public Administration.

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