Michael Song Resigns at UMKC in Wake of Bloch School Ranking Loss

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Prof. Michael Song of the Henry W. Bloch School of Management at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, has resigned, the university said in a news release issued this afternoon.

It comes less than a week after the Princeton Review took the unprecedented step of vacating UMKC’s high ranking for entrepreneurial studies in 2014, citing concerns about the accuracy of metrics used to determine the rankings. Based on that, and the factors behind that decision, UMKC asked that rankings for 2011, 2012 and 2013 be vacated, as well.

“We have outstanding students and excellent programs that I helped create in the Bloch School but my presence has become an unnecessary distraction,” said Song, former director of the Regnier Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at UMKC. “For the best interests of the students and programs, I have reluctantly decided to resign from UMKC so that everyone can focus on doing the important thing — training the next generation of entrepreneurs and innovators.”

Chancellor Leo Morton accepted Song’s resignation and thanked him for his service.

“Michael Song is a talented researcher and teacher who strived relentlessly to lead the development of outstanding entrepreneurship programs at UMKC,” Morton said in the university’s release. “Students get a first-rate education in entrepreneurship through the programs developed during his time here.”

Song, who at one point was rated the world’s foremost authority on entrepreneurial research and instruction, founded the Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at UMKC in 2005.