What Is the Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship?
The Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship (BDMCE) is Purdue University’s hub for entrepreneurship education and support, located in a two-story, 31,000-square-foot building in Purdue’s Discovery Park. It fosters entrepreneurship among faculty, students, and staff across Purdue’s campus, while also connecting with stakeholders throughout Indiana and beyond.
Who Funded the Center
The center is named after Burton D. Morgan, a 1938 Purdue mechanical engineering graduate who went on to start roughly 50 companies, including Morgan Adhesives, one of the world’s largest makers of pressure-sensitive adhesives. Morgan provided the endowment behind the center and also supports Purdue’s Annual Burton D. Morgan Business Plan Competition.
Center Leadership and Staff
Matthew Lynall serves as the Avrum and Joyce Gray Director of the Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship, a role he assumed in December 2020. He is also a clinical professor in Purdue’s Krannert School of Management, and previously served as the faculty principal investigator for Purdue’s site of the National Science Foundation’s Innovation Corps (I-Corps) program. Lynall holds an MBA and Ph.D. in business administration from the University of Western Ontario and a BA in engineering science and economics from Oxford University.
What the Center Offers
BDMCE administers Purdue’s Certificate in Entrepreneurship and Innovation Program, a cross-campus, multidisciplinary curriculum open to students from any major, which is noted on graduates’ academic transcripts. The center has also historically run an Entrepreneurship Assistance Clinic, staffed by Krannert MBA students, offering free consultations to aspiring entrepreneurs among students, faculty, and staff.
Connection to Purdue Innovates
BDMCE now operates as part of the broader Purdue Innovates network, a unified initiative from Purdue University and Purdue Research Foundation designed to give Boilermakers a single access point for both technology commercialization and startup creation support, streamlining resources that were previously spread across multiple offices.
Final Thoughts
The Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship remains one of the most established university entrepreneurship hubs in the country, combining a dedicated physical space, a named academic certificate program, and experienced leadership to support founders across the Purdue community.