For this year’s Smith Day on November 14, 2018, we asked the current students and alumni who help make our Center run what makes them #UMDSmithProud. Check out some of their responses!

Under the leadership of Dean Triantis, the Smith School has organized an extraordinary team of faculty, staff, alumni, students and friends who are passionately committed to maintaining the Smith School as one of the leading business schools in the world. For more than 32 years, The Dingman Center at the Smith School has been a major player on the campus, the region, and the world in developing entrepreneurial ecosystems that foster the development and growth of innovative new startups. – Rudolph “Rudy” Lamone, former Dean of the Smith School and founding director of the Dingman Center.

Every time I attend a Dingman Center event at the Smith School, I am impressed how our students presentations are stronger than many seasoned professionals. – Bill Boyle ’81, board chair of the Dingman Center Board of Advisors, an active Dingman Center Angels investor and Dingman Center venture mentor, with experience mentoring companies in the Fearless Founders Accelerator and as a coach in Pitch Dingman Competition.

I am proud of the diverse community of students, mentors, faculty and staff we have built at the Dingman Center. Creating programs that help Terps spark a venture idea is so exciting. Once that idea is sparked, it’s fulfilling to provide the structure, resources and connections students need in order to bring those ventures to life. – Holly DeArmond, MBA ’17, Interim Managing Director of the Dingman Center and a recent graduate of the Smith School’s prestigious part-time MBA program.

I’m UMD Smith proud because I get to work with students who are determined to change the world.  From female founders wanting to make their mark in entrepreneurship to aspiring social entrepreneurs who want to tackle really difficult social problems, the students we work with are going amazing places. – Sara Herald, MBA ’11, Associate Director for Social Entrepreneurship at the Dingman Center, head of our Ladies First Initiative and Smith School Adjunct Professor for Maryland Social Entrepreneur Corps and Ladies First Founders.

School is all about what students put into it. Here at Smith our professors not only appreciate enthusiasm but champion those of us who want to take on more responsibilities and learn more than what is required. For this I am #UMDSmithProud. – Amit Puri, MBA ’19, a second-year MBA student and graduate assistant at the Dingman Center, with roles supporting the Dingman Center Angels from behind the scenes and as a venture associate. He is also head of the MBA E-Club and leading this year’s VCIC Competition.

The Dingman Center provides opportunities that make Smith MBA a unique experience. Through the Dingman Center, I have met with entrepreneurs and leaders not just from the area but also on the west coast, my dream job destination. The Dingman Center and its people are my go-to people on campus. I am truly #UMDSmithProud. – Mandar Kashikar, MBA ’19, second-year Marketing Analytics graduate assistant at the Dingman Center.

The thriving entrepreneurship scene and supporting community here makes me #UMDSmithProud. – Emily Gee ’20, a junior majoring in Operations Management & Business Analytics and Information Systems. Emily is our undergraduate Venture Programs intern at the Dingman Center and acting President of EnTERPreneur, the undergraduate entrepreneurship club.

I’m #UMDSmithProud of the great resources and programs offered to students that allow us to make a meaningful difference right out of college. – Eric Elliot ’18, a senior Marketing major at the Smith School and the Dingman Center’s Events and Marketing intern since Fall 2017.