KU event to connect hundreds of students with KC startups
March 16, 2017 | Meghan LeVota
To boost Kansas City’s growing startup community, the University of Kansas is hosting an event hoping to connect students with future employer prospects.
Set for 2:00 p.m. on April 11, the KU Startup Job and Internship Fair expects to host about 200 students and over 20 area startups to connect and learn from presentations. The learning opportunities are then followed by a job fair that hopes to reveal job opportunities and keep area students in the metro.
Julie Nagel, KU’s associate vice chancellor of innovation and entrepreneurship, said she wants to introduce students to the area’s emerging startup community, and will do her best to showcase small, medium and large companies.
“For the startup community to continue to flourish in Kansas City, it must have access to a workforce that is creative, smart and driven,” Nagel said. “The startup career fair is a way KU can support this regional growth.”
Company and student registration for the event is now open. Students and businesses can login to see who’s attending, and mark potential hires and employers to be more intentional about their networking.
Nagel noted that KU plays a large role in driving the economic prosperity of the region, as it aims to produce top talent. She said that there is a growing interest in entrepreneurship among students, with over 900 students enrolled in an entrepreneurship class every semester.
“KU is striving to better match students with opportunities to better support the growth of the region,” Nagel said. “We do this through translating technology into startup companies that live and grow in the region as well as through developing a talent pipeline that will create a talented workforce to support regional companies including startup companies.”
To attend the event, click here.

2017 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
SNAP cuts are ‘worse than they look on paper’: Food access advocates warn shelves could go bare overnight
Chef Shanita McAfee-Bryant doesn’t mince words about perceptions of the hungry Kansas Citians she serves daily through her award-winning culinary social venture. “These are the people who — if you listen to the rhetoric — are deemed ‘lazy,’” the founder of The Prospect KC’s NourishKC Community Kitchen told Startland News. “We know the narratives being…
LISTEN: Fermenting a clean future through products from meat alternatives to skin creams and baby formula
On this episode of Startland News’ Plug and Play Topeka founder podcast series, we chat with Francesca Gallucci of Natáur, a Baltimore-based biotech company that’s reimagining how essential nutrients are made. Combining synthetic biology, metabolic engineering, and eco-friendly fermentation, they’re producing bio-based taurine (and other naturally occurring sulfur compounds) without relying on petroleum. Gallucci takes…
KCMO slashes fees for outdoor dining permits, launches dining trail for grant winning projects
Kansas City has officially eliminated outdoor dining permit fees, reducing the cost from $850 to zero, thanks to the momentum created by a city-led initiative to encourage investment in outdoor dining experiences, city leaders announced this week, unveiling new plans to promote funded businesses and their projects. Launched in 2024, the Outdoor Dining Enhancement Program…
World Cup will produce KC small biz millionaires in just weeks, leaders say, but it’s only the start
Kansas City can’t look at the World Cup in 2026 as one big event where businesses are going to make good money for a while, and then everything goes back to normal, said Wes Rogers. “This has to be the beginning of the next chapter of our city,” the 2nd District Councilman for Kansas City,…
