Helping Small Businesses, Learning About (English) Football, and Faculty News

To the Sawyer Business School Community,

Greetings from a very busy campus during a very rewarding spring semester.

In this SawyerConnect, I want to introduce BASE (Business Advancement for Small Enterprises), which launched this spring. Like its companion program SEED (Suffolk Entrepreneurship and Educational Development Initiative), which launched last year, BASE also combines business skills and immersive learning to create greater learning outcomes and larger societal impact.

BASE is a 10-month entrepreneurship program that offers training, mentorship, and resources to help aspiring entrepreneurs in economically challenged areas launch and grow successful businesses. Essential early support came from the University of Notre Dame’s Urban Poverty and Business Initiative, which works with US colleges and universities and community partners to support locally driven entrepreneurship programs that respond to community needs. This spring 40 entrepreneurs completed the classroom portion of our first BASE cohort.

You can learn more about BASE in this newsletter, as well as other news and upcoming events.

Amy Zeng, PhD

Dean, Sawyer Business School

News from the Sawyer Business School

Introducing BASE. Providing a dynamic support network of faculty, mentors, and students, BASE empowers aspiring new entrepreneurs to turn their business dreams into reality. Learn more about BASE.

When Wembley Is Your Classroom. Sawyer Business School students learn about the business of football (i.e. soccer) during an academic seminar trip to England.

Follow along as Abby Scudder, Class of 2026, takes you through their busy week across the pond. Read more about the London trip.

Maine Celtics: Eleven Suffolk students discover that the road to a professional sports career often begins with laying carpet, washing uniforms, and learning the unglamorous realities that drive the NBA G League affiliate of the Boston Celtics. Read about their experience.

Faculty Award: Congratulations to Associate Dean of Faculty Affairs and Accounting & Business Law Professor Tracey Riley, PhD, CPA, who was named 2026 Outstanding Educator of the Year by MassCPAs, the state’s premiere organization for CPAs and accounting professionals.

Business School in Brief

Mass Fintech Hub: We are now a member of Mass Fintech Hub, a unique collaborative focused on cultivating a robust tech ecosystem in Massachusetts. This network of technologists, financial experts, academics, and capital providers helps fintech entrepreneurs build their businesses and offers guidance to help them scale.

Plug and Play: The Sawyer Business School is leading the effort to work with the Plug and Play Tech Center, Sunnyvale, CA, to host a new AI Center of Excellence in Boston. The goal is to create a strategic hub that combines the resources of the Silicon Valley tech ecosystem with local incubators and accelerators to drive AI adoption, innovation, and talent development across the Northeast.

Upcoming Events

Join Us at 10 Under 10

Help us honor ten remarkable young alumni—three of whom are from SBS—who are making an impact in their industries, communities, and right here at Suffolk University. Thursday, April 30, 6-8:30 pm. Learn more and purchase tickets.

Celebrate Our 2026 Graduates

The 2026 Sawyer Business School Commencement will take place at 9 a.m. on Sunday, May 17, at Leader Bank Pavilion, 290 Northern Avenue, Boston, MA. Learn more about Commencement 2026.