UB students will have the chance to explore entrepreneurship and sustainability through two new Undergraduate Academies— living and learning communities that enable students with common interests to live together and share meaningful experiences throughout their college years.

The two Undergraduate Academies bring the total number at UB to five. The other three, all launched since 2007, focus on civic engagement, global perspectives and research exploration.

Members of each academy will enjoy such opportunities as exclusive seminars and networking events, all relating to their academy’s central theme. Participants in the Entrepreneurship Academy, for instance, will meet and work with entrepreneurs in Western New York, develop plans for entrepreneurial endeavors and analyze different styles of entrepreneurship, including social entrepreneurship. The Sustainability Academy will focus not only on traditional environmental concerns, but on social equity and economic progress as well.

The Entrepreneurship Academy launched this fall with about 40 freshmen, and the Sustainability Academy will enroll its first class in fall 2013. Each of the two new academies builds on themes that UB and its students have increasingly emphasized in recent years.

Together, the academies will serve about 560 students this year, with the number rising in 2013 after the Sustainability Academy launches.

Read more about the academies at http://www.buffalo.edu/ubreporter/2012_09_06/new_academies.