Center for Women in Business

Dear TWU Colleagues,

I am pleased to give you a bit of a heads-up on some additional good news for TWU that you soon will learn more about in the news and also on our home page.

Governor Abbott has signed a legislative bill authorizing TWU to receive $2.2 million in state funding over the next two years to establish a Center for Women in Business on our Denton campus. This new center will be the first of its kind in the region and will provide leadership opportunities to encourage and support women’s business ownership and success.

I believe that women-owned businesses are an economic resource yet to be fully developed, and that our university is well positioned to be at the forefront in making a difference in the lives of so many women in Texas, as well as having a huge economic impact on our state.

We have big plans for this new center!

It will provide students and entrepreneurs access to education in business creation and ownership, engagement and mentorship with role models who already own their own businesses, and opportunities to engage in a learning lab that explores the intersection of gender and entrepreneurial leadership. Through mentoring, establishing networks, dissemination of information and hands-on learning opportunities for students and others, TWU will further the goal of spurring economic growth and small business development by women in Texas. Future plans for the center include expansion into Dallas and Houston, encompassing all three TWU campuses.

We believe many research opportunities also will emerge from this initiative, including work that explores what operational, financial and other factors are necessary to accelerate the overall success of women-owned businesses and female entrepreneurs.

According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, women-owned businesses account for 30 percent of all enterprises in the U.S., but only employ about 6 percent of the country’s workforce and contribute to less than 4 percent of business revenues in the country – roughly the same share they contributed in 1997. This national experience is mirrored in Texas.

Receiving this funding, along with approval for a new Student Union and new Science and Technology Building, demonstrates overwhelming state support for TWU. We are especially appreciative that Governor Abbott and many of our legislators (especially Sen. Jane Nelson and Representative Myra Crownover) recognize our importance and value to the state, which underscores our longstanding history and reputation of educating women leaders in Texas.

I’d like to extend special thanks to Pat Driscoll, professor of health systems management on our Dallas campus, for the leadership role she played in creating the successful proposal for this center.

Sincerely,

Carine M. Feyten, Ph.D.
Chancellor/President
Texas Woman’s University
@TWUpres

"If you talk to a man in a language that he understands, that goes to his head. But if you talk to him in his own language, that goes to his heart." (Nelson Mandela)