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Tuesday, June 23, 2026
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A Dose of Experiential Learning at NACE Conference, Lehman Style
June 23, 2026
At the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) 2026 Annual Conference, audience members got a double dose of entrepreneurship education from School of Business faculty Andy Gold and Alexander Núñez-Torres, chair of the Department of Finance, Information Systems, and Economics.
Their session, “Launch a Business in 45 Minutes While Cultivating NACE Competencies,” challenged attendees to experience entrepreneurship as a pathway for building career readiness. Participants worked in teams to develop a concept addressing the challenge of educating students for the future of work. Teams pitched their business concepts, mapped to NACE Career Readiness Competencies, by writing and performing original jingles.
“In 45 minutes, attendees went from a blank page to a pitched business concept,” said Núñez-Torres. “That is the same arc our students travel in our courses, and it was rewarding to share that model with colleagues from institutions across the country.”
“Experiential learning is central to how we prepare students at Lehman,” said Dene Hurley, Dean of the School of Business. “Dr. Gold and Dr. Núñez-Torres showed a national audience what we see in our Bronx classrooms every day: when students build something real, they build career readiness at the same time.”
Career readiness education should highlight entrepreneurship, said Gold. “Whether or not a student ever starts a company, the act of identifying a problem, empathizing with the people who face it, and building a solution develops exactly the competencies NACE has defined.”