Nine Kauffman Campuses Grant recipients in 2006 reflect diversity of entrepreneurial initiatives
In awarding $22.5 million to eight universities in 2006, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation hopes to change the culture of entrepreneurship education on American university and college campuses.
Among the criteria judges used in deciding upon the grants were:
- Whether a school could make entrepreneurship a common and accessible activity for all students;
- The level of involvement of the president or chancellor;
- The ability to generate matching funds;
- Whether the activity could serve as a model for other colleges;
- The relative strength of the innovative approaches; and
- The likelihood that an activity would change campus culture and produce a sustainable entrepreneurial spirit on campus.
The recipients will embark upon an astonishing variety of programs aimed at instilling the spirit and skills of entrepreneurial studies into college life. Some universities will create minor degree programs, develop and offer new courses in entrepreneurship, conduct research on the field entrepreneurship, use cutting-edge technology to help students build their social networks and find mentors, and build or expand community-based businesses that benefit students and surrounding communities. Other will broaden existing entrepreneurial activities on liberal arts campuses as well as on technology-oriented campuses. All involve faculty and students from a variety of academic disciplines outside of the conventional business curriculum.
Given the freedom to innovate, each school presented unique plans for embedding the culture of entrepreneurship on its campus. Highlights of each university's plans include:
- Arizona State University: "University as Entrepreneur"— $5 million
Arizona State University will use its grant dollars to bring together its 4 campuses and the community for innovation and entrepreneurship. The centerpiece of their program is SkySong, a unique complex being built on roughly 40 acres that will be the hub for all enterprise and innovation for students, faculty, staff, and community entrepreneurs, including a student entrepreneurship Hall of Fame. Additionally, there will be student entrepreneurship advisors on each of 4 campuses, and an online database of the community's entrepreneurial landscape. There are also plans to create a documentary about their experiences and produce a publication titled Real World Entrepreneurship: Best Practices for Working with Student Entrepreneurs.
- Brown: "Enhancing Entrepreneurship Education, Research and Access"— $2 million
With its grant, Brown University has plans to offer its concentration—Commerce, Organizations, and Entrepreneurship (COE)—to more students engaging more disciplines. It will also expand its student-run Entrepreneurship Program, create undergraduate Teaching Research Assistantships, produce a publication on embedding entrepreneurship into the Liberal Arts, introduce a capstone course in social entrepreneurship and create a unique "Idea Market" game that students will play for evaluating idea progress based on online community.
- Georgetown University: "Entrepreneurship In Service"— $3 million
In keeping with its heritage of service, often by leading, Georgetown will use its grant to create courses in social entrepreneurship while engaging the participation of socially conscious programs and centers, such as their Center for Social Justice. They also have plans to connect their expertise in diplomacy and international business to entrepreneurialism.
- NYU: Interdisciplinary Innovative Entrepreneurship Teaching and Learning—$1 million
At NYU, grant dollars will be used to survey and research of effective teaching models for innovative entrepreneurship; create a database of modules to be embedded in a variety of disciplines; add creativity and problem solving to the MBA; fund Faculty Fellows; and expand their existing interdisciplinary Entrepreneurship Center and build off the success of its Catherine T. Reynolds Social Entrepreneurship program.
- Purdue: "Catalyzing Entrepreneurship" — $1.5 million
Funds from the grant made to Purdue will be used to further enhance their entrepreneurship programs at Discovery Park, a multi-disciplinary innovation space that encourages collaboration and unexpected academic collisions. On the curriculum front, Purdue will introduce several innovative programs including a certificate program in entrepreneurship; a "From Bench to Business and Back" program that connects research to commercialization by evaluating market needs during the research process; a Best Practices Workshop for all Kauffman Campuses; and provide Global experiential learning opportunities.
- Syracuse: "Transforming Campus and Community Culture" — $3 million
In an entrepreneurial move of its own, Syracuse University is collaborating with 5 colleges and universities to transform the campus and the community that surrounds it. Grant dollars will be used to design a new Experiential Classroom tailored to non-business faculty; establish certificate, minor, and major programs in entrepreneurship while introducing an entrepreneurship "module" embedded in existing courses; support the Inner City Incubator, law clinic, an artist relocation program, and an annual national research conference on entrepreneurship. They will also research a new tenure model to reward faculty engaging in entrepreneurial activity.
- UMBC: "Entrepreneurship Across the Campus" — $2 million
The grant awarded to University of Maryland, Baltimore County, will be used to expand its existing entrepreneurship center to further its reach across the campus. They will also work toward greater commercialization of their renowned research; host a faculty summer seminar lead by faculty fellows; expand their ACTiVATE program; and identify student-centric methods for building awareness.
- UW-Madison: "KCI-Wisconsin" — $5 million
With its vast network of campuses and strong support of the state of Wisconsin, UW-Madison will use its grant to create a state-wide entrepreneurship council; develop a Learning Resources Portal, an online inventory of all courses relating to entrepreneurship that will be available to outside institutions; award student entrepreneurial incentive grants; develop a general education course on entrepreneurship in society; and establish an affiliation between the Center for Research and Poverty and UEP, Milwaukee. It also has plans to encourage more Masters in Biotech and develop Business Idea Centers at each campus.
