Published: March 30, 2005

The entrepreneurship program at the University of Colorado at Boulder's Leeds School of Business has been ranked 14th in the nation by U.S. News and World Report in its 2006 Best Graduate Schools edition, up from 15th in the 2005 edition.

This year's ranking marks the sixth consecutive year the program has been ranked among the top 20 programs nationally.

"We are proud and enormously pleased to have received this recognition and acknowledgement of the strength of our graduate entrepreneurship program," said Paul Jerde, executive director of the Robert H. and Beverly A. Deming Center for Entrepreneurship at the Leeds School of Business. "It is a tribute to the quality of our students, the excellence of our faculty and doctorate program, and to the unparalleled support and engagement of our entrepreneurial business community."

Jerde said the center is "privileged to be able to provide access for our Leeds School MBA students to real-world entrepreneurial learning experiences in a way that few communities in the country can achieve."

Founded in 1996, the Deming Center is connected with the Silicon Flatirons Telecommunications Program at the CU School of Law, the Music Entrepreneurship Center and CU's Technology Transfer office. The center supports undergraduate and graduate students and faculty at the Leeds School.

Note to Editors: Contents embargoed until 12:01 a.m. EST on Friday, April 1, or 10:01 p.m. MST on Thursday, March 31.