Kohler Center for Entrepreneurship

Cross Campus Entrepreneurship Task Force

Cross-campus entrepreneurship seeks to make access to entrepreneurial education and experiences available to all students at all levels.

In 2006-07, the Provost of Marquette University appointed a group of faculty and administrators to study best practices across US Universities in the emerging field of cross-campus entrepreneurship. This group, consisting of produced its report and recommendations for the University in May 2007.

Members

David Baker, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Biomedical Sciences

Margaret Bernhard, Ph.D., Director of External Relations, College of Business Administration

Todd Campbell, Ph.D., Chair, Counseling and Educational Psychology

George Corliss, Ph.D., Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering

Andrew Dentino, DDS, Associate Professor, Dental Surgical Sciences/Periodontics

Mark Eppli, Ph.D., Professor, Finance

Jay Goldberg, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Biomedical Engineering

Robert Griffin, Ph.D., Professor, Communication/Journalism

Tim Keane, chair, Director, Kohler Center for Entrepreneurship, College of Business Administration

Julian Kossow, JD, Visiting Professor of Law, Law School

Charles Ries, Senior Director, University Advancement

Daniel Sem, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Chemistry

Leona VandeVusse, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Nursing

Executive Summary

Proposal for Cross Campus Entrepreneurship at Marquette University - May 2007

This is a proposal to create a new Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Marquette University. Its purpose will be to give students and faculty opportunities to learn and practice the process of entrepreneurship and innovation.

Introduction.
About three in four students of Jesuit institutions will work in a business for some or all of their working lives. This idea – to teach the process of innovation – simply said, is good for our students. By assisting our students in learning and understanding the process of innovation, we give them the tools to succeed more fully in the transformational process. In doing so, they will have the means to infuse the world with the values that they learn and refine here. This success is at the center of the values based education we provide for all of our students.

Our definition of entrepreneurship.
We define entrepreneurship as the process of innovation that individuals and groups use to build creative solutions to social problems and to the formation of new enterprises. It encompasses elements of creativity, risk management and resource allocation.

Goals.
The goals of this initiative are to:
Instill entrepreneurial thinking across campus in many disciplines.
Foster the emergence of social entrepreneurship for the greater good.
Provide learning opportunities for students in developing their own entrepreneurial ideas and ventures and working on cross functional teams.
Reach out to the community to provide entrepreneurial learning opportunities.
Develop experiential student learning programs.
Assist faculty in research and curriculum development in entrepreneurship, as well as in their own entrepreneurial endeavors.

Our method.
During this past semester we have interviewed and visited university faculty across the United States engaged in teaching entrepreneurship and building campus wide programs.

Description of the proposed Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.
The center we envision will be decentralized and supportive of colleges and faculty. Programs will be supported by the center and largely based in schools and colleges. It will be a sustainable enterprise, responsible in partnership with the University for its own fund raising. Its progress will be built upon Marquette’s rich tradition of entrepreneurship among alumni.

Major components of the Center’s programs would include cross disciplinary curricular and extra-curricular activities; support for research and teaching; community outreach programs; social entrepreneurship initiatives; and support for faculty entrepreneurs.

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