A $1.65 million grant, as part of The Burton D. Morgan Foundation-Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation Northeast Ohio Collegiate Entrepreneurship Program, a Kauffman Campuses Initiative, will develop initiatives at Baldwin-Wallace College to extend the entrepreneurial mindset across the campus.
“For Baldwin-Wallace College, carrying entrepreneurship education campus-wide means teaching students in every discipline how to convert their passion into opportunity, and how to do so within an ethical framework governed by personal integrity,” said B-W President Richard Durst. “As they deepen their appreciation of their chosen field of study, students should also be thinking about ways they can use their knowledge to build value and stimulate wealth creation.”
For instance, a student of music still needs to think like an entrepreneur when it comes time to make a living and science majors will be much greater assets to their employers if they possess the mindset that will help them innovate and adjust in times of change.
“Our students will live in a rapidly changing, technology driven world,” said President Durst. “We want our graduates to be prepared to innovate and lead change in this environment.
“We are deeply grateful to The Burton D. Morgan and Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation for helping us provide these opportunities for our campus community.”
According to Deborah D. Hoover, president (effective Jan. 1, 2207) of the Morgan Foundation, “Baldwin-Wallace College is among a small group with the opportunity to transform the future of entrepreneurship on campuses across the country. By doing so, B-W is part of a movement that ultimately has the ability to create jobs, innovation and prosperity in America.”
This is the second major commitment to B-W in the past year from The Burton D. Morgan Foundation. A $1.5 million grant last winter established the Burton D. Morgan Chair in Entrepreneurial Studies.
The new initiatives will be coordinated through B-W’s Center for Innovation and Growth (CIG). Plans call for student and faculty “fellows” representing all of B-W’s academic divisions to be recruited, as well as leadership fellows from the business community.
According to Peter Rea, Burton D. Morgan Professor of Entrepreneurial Studies, “ The CIG fellows will take the lead in recruiting non-business students and faculty to study entrepreneurship and to participate in practical projects that benefit the region by attracting, retaining and developing innovative student, faculty and leadership talent.” Examples would be the recent CIG involvement in the Voices and Choices program to set priorities for regional development and a B-W student and faculty led initiative which could lead to shared safety services in seven southwest suburbs.
Next, Peter Kelly, chair of the B-W Business Division, will turn to a multi-disciplinary group of faculty fellows to help lead a re-write of the courses and requirements for the undergraduate minor in entrepreneurship. A similar review is scheduled for B-W’s MBA in Entrepreneurship. The expectation is to make exposure to entrepreneurial thinking more accessible to students with non-business majors or backgrounds.
But that still leaves many of B-W’s 3,000 students yet to be reached.
Enduring Questions for an Intercultural World is a course taken by all new B-W students. Students use the ideas of great thinkers to consider how culture shapes human nature, human relationships and one’s relationship to the natural world and then apply their understanding to current domestic and international issues. Within this course also are opportunities to develop core skills essential to entrepreneurial thinking in a global environment.
As part of the Morgan grant, faculty development opportunities will be made available for faculty from across the campus, who teach this course.
“We hope to be able to provide all undergraduate and MBA students with experience in using interdisciplinary perspectives to inform their understanding of entrepreneurship,” said Rea.
“This is a major undertaking for Baldwin-Wallace College,” added Rea. “If we are successful, students all-across our campus will be exposed to entrepreneurship concepts in the years to come. At the same time, hundreds of students, alumni and faculty will have taken a deeper dive into the theory and practice of entrepreneurship by participating in the Center for Innovation and Growth.”
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