Letter from the Director

Letter from Director

On the walls in the Jim Moran Building downtown, the administrative building

for the Jim Moran School of Entrepreneurship (JMS), are quotes from Mr.

Moran that inspire us every day to work hard, be persistent, innovate and

create.

The JMS is now nearing the end of its second year as the first School of

Entrepreneurship at a Public University in the nation. The JMS faculty and

staff are so very proud of our FIRST class of JMS students. It has been a joy

working with you who have challenged us all to be the very best. Reflecting

back two years when we had 80 students, 7 faculty and 1 staff, it has been

quite an entrepreneurial journey. Over those two years, we have moved into

two buildings occupying nearly 30,000 square feet and have grown to over

800 majors, 19 full-time faculty, and 9 staff. We are starting a graduate

program in Textiles and Apparel Entrepreneurship in fall 2019 and are working

to add our fourth undergraduate major in 2020.

Dear students, please keep in touch with us through our JMS LinkedIn and

Facebook sites, over email, or better yet, come back to visit us! We want you

to let us know about what you are doing, and help us to mentor new groups of

students. You will always be in our hearts as we continue to strive to prepare

the next generation of entrepreneurial-minded students. We would like to

leave you with the Entrepreneurs Creed found on the back wall of our campus

building. This is your manifesto.

"I believe anything is possible. I see opportunity when others see impossibility. I take Risks. I’m focused. I hustle. I know that nothing is unrealistic. I feel overwhelming love. I embrace my childlike wonder and curiosity. I take flying leaps into the unknown. I contribute to something bigger than myself. I create. I learn. I grow. I do. I believe it’s never too late to start living a dream. I AM AN ENTREPRENEUR!"

Dr. Susan S. Fiorito is the Director of

the Jim Moran School of

Entrepreneurship, Jim Moran

Professor of Entrepreneurship and

Entrepreneur in Residence. Dr.

Fiorito has been a faculty member at FSU since 1990, served as the FSU

Faculty Senate President and on the FSU Board of Trustees from 2015 to

2017. She was an owner of four

apparel, leather goods and turquoise jewelry stores in Atlanta, GA and

owner of a wholesale leather goods company until 1980.

In addition to teaching at FSU she

has also taught and conducted

research at the University of Iowa,

Florida International University and the University of Stirling in Scotland

where she taught graduate level

courses and developed a portion of their Executive MBA program. She

has received three University

teaching awards, and was selected to

be one of three inaugural Jim Moran Institute Faculty Fellows in 2010. She

was the first female president from 1992-94 of the American Collegiate Retailing Association and was

appointed to the for the Florida Retail Federation board in 2003 and has

served faithfully since that time.