The Nathan
and Frances Monus
Entrepreneurship Center
The
past year has been very eventful for the center. We have begun to
achieve some of the goals set out for the center.
However, we still have
a long way to go.
Our year started out on a particularly high note.
We received $25,000
Coleman Entrepreneurship Awareness and Education Grant for our proposal
“Certificate Program in Entrepreneurship”.
The nonrenewable grant was to
help us develop the curriculum for our Certificate in Entrepreneurship.
This program, planned to include 3-5 courses, is being developed for
business and non-business majors. We
plan to introduce the courses
on a rolling schedule as we gradually build demand for entrepreneurship
offerings.
A
second milestone for the center was the offering of Kids Invent Toys, the
week-long, non-residential summer camp for 4-6 graders.
Ed Sobey, Ph.D.,
the creator of the program, led a group of 24 inquisitive minds through
a
week of fun and learning. In
putting together their companies, the students
got a view of the excitement that is entrepreneurship.
The program was well received by the children, their parents, and
the local media. Coverage of
the camp, on each of the local news broadcasts in addition to an article
in the Youngstown Vindicator, provided a broad exposure of the center to
the region.
Lastly,
in November we presented an overview of our center’s efforts and
the challenges we face to the 17th Annual Entrepreneurship
Education Forum
in San Diego. The
presentation was well received, including suggestion for
improved success in the future. In
addition, as a result of this presentation,
we have been invited to present at the MarkEd conference in Boston
in
June, 2000.
In
addition to these successes, we continue to be concerned about the
lack
of entrepreneurial spirit in the valley, particularly among the students
at YSU.
Nancy Upton, Ph.D. and leading researcher on entrepreneurial
education,
examined the top entrepreneurial programs in the United States and
published
her findings in Successful
Experiences of Entrepreneurship Center
Directors. She states
very directly that “In all successful programs students
drive the process.” While
we can hope that in the long run this attitude will
change, in the present this implies the need to heavily market the courses
we
offer. We hope that by
actively recruiting students across our campus, we will
be able to successfully launch our first new course in the spring quarter,
2000.
Goals for 2000 Calendar Year
For the
upcoming year, we have a number of activities planned.
¨
Establishment
of a Boy Scouts’ Explorers post for Business/Entrepreneurship.
Exploring is part of the Scouts’
Learning for Life career education program for young men and
women between 14 and 20 years old.
¨
Run
a Kids Invent Toys camp. After
the success of last year,
we are planning to expand to two camps.
The camps will be coordinated with the Beeghly College of
Education’s Graduate
Summer of Growth workshops. The
education students (teachers) will observe and assist the delivery of the
first camp and then deliver
the second camp. We see this
as a real plus for the center.
In addition to having twice as many children go through the
program, the involvement of the teachers provides the promise
of a further spreading of the entrepreneurship message into
the schools.
¨
Co-sponsorship
of Ohio Business Week. This
program is
designed to teach high school students and educators the inside
story on business operations and the principles of our free
enterprise system. Our
interaction with both students and teachers will allow us another
opportunity for us to share the excitement of entrepreneurship throughout
the community.
¨
Delivery
of the first new entrepreneurship course, “New Venture Creation”.
Since the notion of entrepreneurship is in no way limited to the
school of business, we intend to be marketed this course
throughout campus. This
campus-wide recruiting effort is the first
step toward generating a core of students for our certificate
in entrepreneurship.
¨
Finally,
we will continue our re-education in the area of entrepreneurship.
One part of this effort will be the attending
of the United States Association for Small Business and
Entrepreneurship Conference in San Antonio in February.
This organization provides many opportunities for novice
entrepreneurship educators to interact with the veterans of the field.
The contacts which we developed last year have acted
as on-going sources of information and feedback.
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