Blogs

It is that time of year. Students have packed up and are heading home, faculty have gotten their grades in, and a whole new group of graduating seniors have earned the title of UD Alumnus. This past weekend we celebrated four in-person commencement ceremonies at UD Arena. As a Marshal, I had the opportunity to participate in all four undergraduate ceremonies including my daughter’s, who graduated Cum Laude with a BFA in Graphic Design. At the School of Business ceremony, I celebrated the achievement with more than 40 of our Entrepreneurship Majors and their families.

Nearly four years ago the University of Dayton in partnership with Dayton’s Entrepreneurs’ Center signed a letter of intent to become an anchor tenant in the Dayton Arcade. As with many new ventures there have been many ups and downs throughout the evolution of the project, there were many that thought The Hub would never become a reality. There were many more that believed we were creating something special and persevered through the effort including upper administration at UD, the leadership from the Entrepreneurs’ Center and leadership from PNC Bank. Working alongside the property developers, and City of Dayton leaders, all of these groups came together to make the vision of The Hub powered by PNC a reality.

As our society slowly recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic, business organizations are in critical condition. Specifically, the non-profit industry is suffering as the general revenue stream throughout the market is based on fundraising and contributions. Supporting non-profit entities is vital to the growth of our local communities, but these organizations cannot uplift these communities without closely monitoring their financial status. To mitigate financial pressure for nonprofit entities, Flyer Consulting is thrilled to introduce a technical-based diagnostic product for nonprofit organizations.

When we discuss the entrepreneurial process with students, we often discuss what separates successful entrepreneurs from those that don’t achieve what they set out to achieve. The initial step is recognizing opportunity then having the fortitude to take action. For many, the process stops at the initial step. Often the lack of inaction is due to concern about the risk, and the desire to avoid the entrepreneurial risk, but over time  an entrepreneur’s confidence is built by understanding the process and how to pull together the resources needed to create a successful endeavor. This is precisely what much of entrepreneurship education is about - helping people understand the things they can do to be more successful when approaching entrepreneurial opportunities.

The beginning of the Fall Semester is always an exciting time on campus, it as if everything starts to come to life. We see new students arrive every day. Some are just starting their college journey, and others are nearing the end of their time as a UD student. For a faculty member it is a tremendous time to reconnect with former students and colleagues, and to re-engage and re-ignite one’s passion for teaching and learning.

Flyer Consulting proud of the impact we're able to make through working with nonprofits in Dayton and beyond. We'd like to share with you a project we've been working on to measure our impact from last year: our first annual report.

The intersections that exist between COVID-19 and the resurgence of Black Lives Matter protests has made the following African-American proverb readily visible: “when America catches the cold, Black America gets pneumonia.” COVID-19 and the killings of Blacks at the hands of police have created unforgettable economic turmoil and civil uprisings, which have pushed conversations that are routinely swept under the rug to the forefront of the nation’s consciousness. The racial disparities of these current crises are a direct microcosm — and not in isolation of — larger historical and systematic issues across a wide array of public and private injustices.