The warmth felt outside on an 80-degree October day was matched by the good feelings inside as Nebraska Wesleyan University opened its NWU Accelerator Studio to the public for the first time.
The space at 48th Street and St. Paul Avenue is a part of NWU’s Philip S. Mullin Innovation & Entrepreneurship Program, and like the academic program, the Accelerator Studio will bear Mullin’s name. It will serve as a home base for students in NWU’s I&E program to help take their business ideas from concept to reality.
“The years ahead will bring so many students who have big visions and first versions,” said Art Wilson, director of NWU’s I&E program. “I want this place to remain where those big visions are born, and those rough versions are built; where students and neighbors, campus and community come together with the support of investors, mentors and coaches who will act as guides along the way.”
Mullin and his wife Linda Robinson-Rutz donated $500,000 to fund the renovation of the studio space near the NWU campus, on top of the $2 million Mullin gave in 2024 to launch the I&E program.
Friday, it was announced Mullin and Robinson-Rutz will give an additional $500,000 to the program as a matching gift if local donors are able to raise $500,000 of their own to the program.
“What a wonderful gift,” said Scott McClain (’82), chairman of the board and former president and CEO of Garner Industries. “Because come hell or high water, we’re going to get it.”
Friday’s grand opening marked the next step in an innovative NWU program that only continues to grow.
“Every great climb needs a base camp; the place in the middle where the climbers gather, they become equipped, they meet their guides, and they move ahead,” Wilson said. “And that’s what this is. The people who pass through these doors are going to learn a lot about innovation. They’re going to learn how to test ideas, how to fail, how to dust themselves off and get up and try again.
“They’re also going to learn a lot about themselves.”
NWU’s I&E program supports future innovators and creators with an academic program unlike any other in the state. While other universities’ programs stay inside traditional business departments or business schools, Nebraska Wesleyan’s innovation and entrepreneurship degree is more dynamic—with the ability to move in and out of those expected boxes.
The studio will serve as a home for students in NWU’s I&E program to help take their business ideas from concept to reality. Nebraska Wesleyan already does something similar with its annual NWU Pitch Contest; the NWU Accelerator Studio provides a space to incubate those ideas even further.
“As a college or university, you often are starting programs. Some take off, some struggle, some never take off. This one has taken off like a rocket in a really great way because of the vision from those who created it,” NWU president Darrin Good said. “This (space) will continue to impact this transformational program at this transformational university.”