Year in Review: Favorite Stories of 2025

Another year, another No. 2 ranking, another national championship, and countless other milestones and achievements.

Yes, 2025 was one memorable year.

For the second year in a row, Babson was named the No. 2 Best College in the United States by The Wall Street Journal. Babson also was named the No. 1 undergraduate school for entrepreneurship for the 29th consecutive time and the No. 1 MBA program in entrepreneurship for the 32nd consecutive year by U.S. News & World Report. In its inaugural college rankings, LinkedIn ranked Babson No. 1 in four categories, including for the strongest alumni network in the country, and No. 7 overall in the United States.

Also, for the second year in a row, Olivia Soffer ’25 and Matia Cristiani ’26 won the NCAA Division III national championship in women’s doubles tennis. Among the major accomplishments during the year, Babson College also:

• Launched an expanded Professional and Executive Education portfolio.
• Formally broke ground on its new Executive Lodge and Conference Center (ELCC), in conjunction with the next phase of the Herring Family Entrepreneurial Leadership Village (HELV).
• Brought the inaugural cohort of the College’s new Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) program to campus.
• Unveiled groundbreaking research to advance the field of entrepreneurial leadership.
• Launched the new TARCO Institute for Real Estate and Entrepreneurship within the Arthur M. Blank School for Entrepreneurial Leadership.

At Babson Thought & Action, we covered all of it, and so much more. Here are 10 of our favorite stories of 2025:

>> Faith, Fashion, and a Dream: Rhesa Teesdale’s Road to Paris Runways

>> AI Joins the Team: How FME Students Are Learning to Use Generative AI

>> Listener, Learner, Traveler, Teacher: A Profile of the Provost

>> A Head Coach, a Backup Goalie, and the Inspiring Story of a Gift

>> From Text Prompt to Furniture: The Story Behind Babson’s AI Dam Chair

>> Her Pitch? Teaching Entrepreneurship to Middle Schoolers in East Harlem 

>> Babson Boulders: A Living Legacy Etched in Stone

>> Ups and Downs: Life on the Rolling Campus of Babson

>> Shaq, a Snowstorm Ride, and Other Entrepreneurial Tales from Ring Founder Jamie Siminoff ’99, H’21

>> The Babson Effect: Alumni Bonds That Launch Careers—and Bring Them Full Circle