Change starts with each and every one of us!
The joint collaboration and partnership between the Ted and Doris Lee Family Foundation and the Lee Business School is an effort to accelerate the innovation and problem solving necessary to chart the road ahead.
The Prize believes that UNLV and other universities and innovation communities can be both beacons and bridges for the Las Vegas community and other cities around the world whose economies depend meaningfully on tourism.
The knowledge base of institutions can provide a light to inform and ultimately provide hope to communities and the hospitality, travel, sports and entertainment industries which have been uniquely devastated by the closures caused by the virus. Universities and innovators can provide a bridge to find ways for people to carry on in a safer and more sustainable way, when the worst of the pandemic has passed. Together, the Lee Family Foundation, UNLV and the innovation that will come from this prize can perhaps allow us all to cross that bridge sooner.
Ted and Doris Lee, together with their sons, Greg and Ernest, have been active in the Las Vegas community since 1971. From real estate investment and development to operating casinos, hotels and restaurants, the Lee Family manages dozens of properties. The Ted and Doris Lee Family Foundation supports community projects in parks and recreation, intercollegiate athletics, education and the arts. In 2001, Ted and Doris Lee established the first endowed professorship in law at UNLV’s Boyd School of Law. In 2011, The Lee Family Foundation gave a $15M donation to bolster business education at UNLV and the business college was formally renamed the Lee Business School at UNLV in honor of their support.
Eureka Casinos was founded by the Lee family in Las Vegas, NV. It operates a wide-ranging number of businesses, including Eureka Casino Resort in Mesquite, NV. The Lee Family sold it to the employees in 2015 making it Nevada’s first 100% employee owned casino. For multiple years, Eureka has been named one of Fortune Magazine’s 100 Best Medium Workplaces and is a Great Place to Work-Certified™ company. Eureka Casinos also operates The Rising Star Sports Ranch Resort in Mesquite, NV, as well as Eureka Las Vegas and The Brook, America’s largest charity casino, located in Seabrook, NH.
Established in 1967 as the College of Business, the now Lee Business School is one of the largest schools at UNLV with approximately 3,500 undergraduate students, 500 graduate students, and 100 faculty and staff and offers the only accredited business program in Southern Nevada. The school offers ten undergraduate majors, 14 minors and five graduate degrees, including the MBA and Executive MBA programs. Lee Business School is among the top 5 percent of business colleges and schools worldwide to hold international dual accreditation in business and accounting by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, the premier accrediting body for business and management education. In addition to its scholastic endeavors, Lee Business School is home to three centers that bring together faculty and students with business and industry. These include the Troesh Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Center for Business and Economic Research (CBER), and Lied Institute for Real Estate Studies. With more than 20,000 graduates, the Lee Business School Alumni Chapter is one of the largest alumni chapters on campus.
The Troesh Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation operates as an administrative unit within the UNLV Lee Business School. As a center of excellence, the Troesh Center is focused on providing opportunities for students, faculty and the community to learn about entrepreneurship. The Troesh Center manages the entrepreneurship curriculum across the university, is a hub for entrepreneurship research, supports entrepreneurial activities in southern Nevada, and offers guidance to internal and external stakeholders on obtaining angel capital.
The center also arranges for a limited number of business ideas to be presented to Lee Business School students at the beginning of each fall semester. If accepted, LEE students build investor quality business plans for the projects over the course of an academic year.