People
Murphy Center Staff
Anthony M. Mendes
Director - Murphy Center for Entrepreneurship
Phone: 940.369.8859
Dr. Tony Mendes, Director of the Murphy Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of North Texas, is an acclaimed entrepreneurial educator who formerly served as Executive Director of the Academy for Entrepreneurial Leadership (AEL) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In his role with the Academy for Entrepreneurial Leadership, Dr. Mendes was responsible for the integration of entrepreneurship curriculum in all of the academic units of the university. During his tenure at Illinois, the university achieved national status for entrepreneurship education by the Princeton Review & Entrepreneur Magazine, Fortune Magazine and the National Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers.
Prior to the University of Illinois, Dr. Mendes was Director of College Initiatives at the Kauffman Foundation, Kansas City, Missouri. There he managed a program grant portfolio with over 200 colleges and universities. Many of the collegiate programs that Dr. Mendes initiated have received national prominence including; The Kauffman Campuses program, the National Consortium for Life Science Entrepreneurship, the National Consortium for Entrepreneurship in the Liberal Arts, the National Association of Community College Entrepreneurship and the Kauffman Faculty Scholars program. He also was the grant officer for numerous entrepreneurship organizations including; USASBE, the Collegiate Entrepreneurs Organization and The Academy of Management.
Dr. Mendes holds a Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Missouri, Kansas City, and an MBA from Rockhurst University. Prior to joining the Kauffman Foundation, Dr. Mendes was founder and president of Mendes and Associates, a private consulting company, located in Kansas City, Missouri. He also spent 13 years with AT&T as manager of training and development where he was successful in securing resources needed to build and implement nationally recognized initiatives. His teaching experience includes courses at; Rockhurst University, Kansas City, MO; Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ; Polytechnic University, Brooklyn, NY and the University of Illinois, Urbana- Champaign, Illinois.
Dr. Mendes serves on the Board of Directors of the United States Association of Small Business and Entrepreneurship and other organizations supporting entrepreneurship education. He is a frequent speaker at national and international conferences and has served on numerous international committees to expand global entrepreneurship.
Shannon Jauregui
Assistant Director - Murphy Center for Entrepreneurship
Phone: 940.565.4333
Shannon Jauregui joined the College of Business as the Assistant Director of the Murphy Center for Entrepreneurship in July 2008. She previously worked as a Development Officer for the College of Business and the College of Visual Arts and Design at UNT. Shannon was honored with a Soaring Eagle Award in April 2007.
Shannon's past professional roles include high-end retail manager, non-profit program manager, higher-education program coordinator, and pastry chef. Shannon graduated from Austin College with a degree in English Literature. Shannon enjoys cooking, traveling, reading, and spending time with her family and friends.
The Murphys
In 1999, two successful local entrepreneurs, Ken and Shirley Murphy, recognized the opportunity to help other entrepreneurs alleviate some of the problems they had to endure in owning and operating their own business. They saw their alma mater, the University of North Texas, as the perfect opportunity to provide students with the foundation for entrepreneurial education.
With their donation, The Murphy Enterprise Center opened its doors on November 15, 2000 as a division of the Department of Management within the College of Business. The center was renamed Murphy Center for Entrepreneurship in January 2009, reports to the Dean's Office, and now serves the entire UNT community. We seek to foster relationships with small, medium, and large corporate businesses with initiatives that include UNT faculty and students. We believe that most large corporate businesses began as a small business by a far-sighted entrepreneur.