Miles Community College has announced this year’s distinguished alumni is Kendall W. Artz. Kendall Artz is a Professor of Entrepreneurship at the Hankamer School of Business, Baylor University, where he holds the Curtis Hankamer Chair in Entrepreneurship. He currently serves as the Director of the John F. Baugh Center for Entrepreneurship and Free Enterprise, and previously served as the Chair of the Department of Entrepreneurship from 2001-2017. During his tenure, the Baylor Entrepreneurship Department was consistently ranked as one of the top five entrepreneurship programs in the country, and the Baugh Center for Entrepreneurship received the NASDAQ Center for Entrepreneurial Excellence Award as the top entrepreneurship center in the country. Before joining Baylor University, Artz spent ten years as a commercial banker for Wells Fargo and financial analyst for Hewlett Packard.
He has taught thousands of students at Baylor, primarily in the areas of entrepreneurial finance and new venture creation, and has previously taught at Purdue University. He has published dozens of articles in leading entrepreneurship and strategy journals, and has made over one hundred presentations on entrepreneurship and related topics to a wide range of academic and industry groups all over the world.
Artz has received a number of awards or honors including Outstanding Teaching Awards from both Baylor and Purdue, the Outstanding Researcher Award at Baylor, and as a fellow at the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship for his outstanding leadership in developing innovative programs that significantly enhance entrepreneurial education. He was recently honored as a finalist for the National Entrepreneurship Educator of the Year Award, and was selected to become a member of the Executive Committee for the Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers.
Artz currently serves on a number of boards, including the Dallas Entrepreneurship Center, Creative Waco, the Addison (TX) Treehouse, the Baylor Angel Network, and Startup Waco. He and his family are longtime members of Highland Baptist Church, where they are actively involved in a number of service activities. This includes, most recently developing and leading a business creation training program aimed at reducing poverty in the local community.
Born in Miles City and raised on a ranch south of Jordan, Montana, Artz is married to Colene Coldwell (also from Jordan) and has one daughter, Alona Stewart. He received his A.A. degree from Miles Community College, his B.S. in Finance from Montana State University, his MBA from Arizona State University, and his Ph.D. in Strategy and Entrepreneurship from Purdue University.
The award will be presented to Dr. Artz at MCC’s seventy-eighth annual commencement, which will be held Saturday, May 5 at 10:00am. Dr. Artz will also give the commencement address at this year’s ceremony.
The award is given annually to a Miles Community College alumnus who has exhibited high professional achievement, has an established legacy of community service, and overall gives evidence of lifetime achievement and service since beginning his or her educational career at Miles Community College.
