News
Aqualutions, LLC, a company started by undergraduates at WFU was awarded
a Grand Prize in the Growth Acceleration Program competition sponsored
by the Piedmont Triad Entreprenuerial Network. Based on competition with a number of other companies, Aqualutions made the five semi-finalists to compete for one of three grand prizes of $30,000. Sarah Yocum, who graduated with a degree in Biology last year is now a fifth year Kauffman Entrepreneur intern. She is CEO of the company and was the principle presented for each level of competition. Click to read the announcement in
The Business Journal
Wake Forest named a top school for entrepreneurship
TechKnowledge Point Corp. has ranked Wake Forest University among the nation's top 13 universities for entrepreneurship in its fourth annual ranking.
TechKnowledge, an entrepreneurship and business-development research company, ranks the nation's top 100 entrepreneurial universities by the comprehensiveness of its program, the emphasis placed on the program and the curriculum.
Wake was ranked in the group's second tier in 2005, which placed it among the top 26 universities.
- Winston-Salem Journal, April 11, 2006
New!! Entrepreneurship and Social Enterprise Minor (ESE)
The Office of Entrepreneurship and Liberal Arts now offers an interdisciplinary Minor in Entrepreneurship and Social Enterprise. Through this minor we hope to encourage students to take advantage of their knowledge, imaginative skills, and resources to identify and pursue opportunities, initiate change, and create value in their lives and the lives of others.
Click here for the ESE Minor course information.
NEW COURSES OFFERED - SPRING 2006
Theatre 290 (but not just for theatre people!)
Creativity and Innovation -
What is creativity anyway? Who is writing about it? What do they have to report about this vital human behavior? Can everyone access their creative potential?...This interactive class will leap into the mystery, critically investigating these questions and posing innovative responses. Join the collaboration as we engage in hands on activities with the express objective of fostering creativity in all aspects of learning, work and life.(3hrs) TR 12 - 1:15 SFAC 121
Business 113 (but not just for business students...this course is designed for liberal arts majors!)
Foundations of Entrepreneurship -
Explore the challenges of creating and sustaining new ventures in today’s world. Discover the personal characteristics of successful entrepreneurs. Learn about the importance of entrepreneurship to the economy and society and examine how individuals use entrepreneurial skills to craft innovative responses to societal needs. (3hrs) TR 4 - 5:15 pm Kirby 117)
Anthropology 386 (but not just for anthropologists!)
Free Trade, Fair Trade: Independent Entrepreneurs in the Global Market -
This field-based seminar compares the barriers to market participation experienced by independent entrepreneurs cross-culturally. Free trade policies will be contrasted with fair trade practices, to determine why so many independent producers have trouble succeeding in a globalizing world. (3hrs) MWF 10-10:50 am Tribble-A305
Social Entrepreneurship: Doing Good While Doing Well (First Year Seminar)
Are you concerned about social problems like pollution, poverty, global warming, environmental and species destruction, education or civil rights and want to make a difference in the world? This course explores the emerging idea that it is possible for dedicated individuals to champion effectively social change by tapping into free market principles. In this course you will learn and put into practice entrepreneurial skills including how to evaluate ideas to solve social problems, write a business plan, and obtain funding.
ACC780 Accounting and Financial Managment for Entrepreneurs
At an early stage, entrepreneurs discover that they need to tell the financial aspect of their story and be able to communicate this story using standard accounting language. The model for telling the story is a business plan. This course focuses on critical accounting and financial management issues within the business plan such as cash flow planning, measuring market potential, financial statement projections, and identifying capital needs.
Round Two New Venture Plan Competition Winners
- Sarah Yocum - Aqualutions, LLC
- Ben Whiting, Matt Gutschick - Breath to Form (Theatre - Magic)
- Stephen Boyd - The Darryl Hunt Project
- Jeanne Simonelli - Investing in Children: a partnership for maternal-child health in Chiapas
- Gary Miller - Virtual Nutrition Education
- Ken Berenhaut - University Center for Quantitative Bounds
- Ray Kuhn - Development of Oral Immunoprophylaxis for Aquatic Organisms
Round One New Venture Plan Competition Winners
The Center for Entrepreneurship sponsored the first New Venture Competition with entries due April 29. The competition was open to all students, faculty and staff.
The following students and faculty received awards for their submissions:
- Scott Hurff: A central online community for political communications
- Alden Speake: An online shopping service
- Robert Brooks, Josh Holden, Rubie Daniel, Kreg Rotthoff: Chameleon LLC
- Jason Mosberg: An online shopping site for original and rare products
- Dr. Ananda Mitra: Piedmont Triad area study
Best Ideas in Liberal Arts Contest
The University Office of Entrepreneurship and Liberal Arts sponsored a competition to encourage novel thinking and new innovative ideas for using the internet to create value in liberal arts fields of study. The deadline for submissions was February 25. The contest was open to all students.
The following students received awards for their ideas:
- Natalie Bonomo (on behalf of 3 to 4 Ounces Literary Magazine): An On-line gallery where students, faculty and staff can exhibit and sell their works of art.
- Julius Cave: A Democracy Website project (an on-line collection of resources specifically targeted to underserved student populations)
- Hunter Schimpff: Language Learning via the Internet (a comprehensive language website that would also link language instructors with individuals wishing to learn a language)
- William Brown and Jessie Vogel: Design and sell original and unique stuffed robots via the Internet http://www.stuffedrobot.com/
Congratulations to these students!
Design Competition Winner Announced
The University Office of Entrepreneurship and Liberal Arts sponsored a competition to create a design image that reflects an encompassing definition of entrepreneurship and reflects the spirit of the Kauffman initiatives on this campus. The image will be used in a variety of ways: on the web, in posters, flyers to promote opportunities available to students and faculty as a result of the grant.
The deadline for submissions was October 1, 2004. Designs were submitted by eight designers. The designs were evaluated on October 19th and a design by Craig Fansler, staff member in the Library, was chosen. Our design "World on a String" is displayed throughout our website.
WFU Media Articles
Wake Forest University Brings Entrepreneurial Spirit to Undergraduate Education
http://www.aacu.org/aacu_news/AACUNews04/August04/feature.cfm
WFU selected to compete for $5 million entrepreneurship grant
http://www.wfu.edu/wfunews/2003/071103k.html
WFU receives $2 million entrepreneurship grant
http://www.wfu.edu/wfunews/2003/121503k.html
WFU receives grant to further undergraduate entrepreneurship
http://www.wfu.edu/wfunews/2003/030503.html
Campus awarded $2M grant
http://ogb.wfu.edu/?id=1116_0_9_0_C
WFU names director to lead entrepreneurship office
http://www.wfu.edu/wfunews/2004/050704g.html
Calloway School uses Kauffman grant to establish entrepreneurship fellows.
http://www.wfu.edu/wfunews/2003/111703e.html
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Wake Forest named a top school for entrepreneurship
TechKnowledge Point Corp. has ranked Wake Forest University among the nation's top 13 universities for entrepreneurship in its fourth annual ranking.
TechKnowledge, an entrepreneurship and business-development research company, ranks the nation's top 100 entrepreneurial universities by the comprehensiveness of its program, the emphasis placed on the program and the curriculum.
Wake was ranked in the group's second tier in 2005, which placed it among the top 26 universities.
- Winston-Salem Journal, April 11, 2006
Spring 2006, New Venture Competition Winners
The University Center for Entrepreneurship sponsored a Spring 2006 New Venture Competition with entries due in April 2006. The competition was open to all students, faculty, and staff.
The following students received awards for their submissions:
- Drew Crofton and Will Rawley - College Garage
- Rebecca Cannon – Fayetteville Impact Productions (FIP)
- Timothy Chilleri and Brad Hughes – LeftyLandOnline
- Alex Ronald – Locke Designs
- Ben Brady – SalesMain.net
- Will Nathan and Jon Updike – Collaborate Venture Creation
Congratulations to these students!
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Betsy Gatewood Wins International Award
Betsy Gatewood, director of Wake Forest University’s Office of Entrepreneurship and Liberal Arts, and four research partners are winners of the 2007 FSF-NUTEK Award, a prestigious international award given annually in recognition of outstanding entrepreneurship and small business research.
Betsy Gatewood, director of Wake Forest University’s Office of Entrepreneurship and Liberal Arts, and four research partners are winners of the 2007 FSF-NUTEK Award, a prestigious international award given annually in recognition of outstanding entrepreneurship and small business research.
The other members of the research team are Candida Brush, entrepreneurship division chair and Paul T. Babson Chair in Entrepreneurship at Babson College; Nancy Carter, Richard M. Schulze Chair of Entrepreneurship at the University of
St. Thomas and vice president of research at Catalyst, Inc.; Patricia Greene, Babson College provost; and Myra Hart, professor of management practice at Harvard Business School and visiting scholar for the Center for Women’s Leadership at Babson.
Award sponsors, NUTEK, the Swedish Business Development Agency, and FSF, the Swedish Foundation for Small Business Research, made the announcement Jan. 25. Gatewood and her colleagues will receive and share the $50,000 award May 21 during a ceremony in Stockholm, Sweden.
In 1999, Gatewood and her research colleagues founded the Diana Project, a research group dedicated to the study of women entrepreneurs and their businesses.
NUTEK and FSF cite Brush, Carter, Gatewood, Greene and Hart for making significant contributions to entrepreneurship and small business research as individuals and as partners of the Diana Project. According to a joint statement issued by members of the Diana Project, policy makers, practitioners, investors and educators have used Diana Project findings to develop programs and initiatives that have enhanced women entrepreneurs’ access to and attainment of growth capital. The project is funded by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, the U.S. Small Business Administration and the U.S. National Women’s Business Counsel.
In order to enhance the impact of its research, the Diana Project team partnered with the Entrepreneurship and Small Business Research Institute, Sweden (ESBRI), to organize international gatherings of scholars to develop a global plan for the advancement of women’s entrepreneurship. During the last three years, more than 35 researchers from 20 countries have met to present research to help establish and implement policy, training and resources that help improve the practice of women entrepreneurs.
In addition to the cash award, members of the Diana Project will receive a miniature copy of “The Hand of God,” a sculpture by the late Swedish sculptor Carl Milles.
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Hobbs Announces $1 Million Endowment
Russ Hobbs (Philosophy - '88) Announces $1 Million Endowment and creates Russell D. and Elfriede Hobbs Fund for Entrepreneurship and Liberal Arts
Russ Hobbs, Wake Forest graduate 1988, announced Friday, April 13, a $1 million endowment gift to create the Russell D. and Elfriede Hobbs Fund for Entrepreneurship and the Liberal Arts. The gift will provide seed grants, internships and similar funds for undergraduate students who want to launch socially beneficial organizations, including charitable, educational, scientific, and artistic enterprises. It will also fund a major prize for the most entrepreneurial venture at Wake Forest each year.
Hobbs, a Tampa, FL resident and the founder of Blue Ocean Software, chose to surprise his parents at the April 13 dedication by establishing the fund in their name. Other members of the Hobbs family and Wake Forest president Nathan Hatch joined them for the ceremony.
This contribution is the first major endowment gift for the Office of Entrepreneurship and Liberal Arts. For the total amount to be received, the challenge grant must be matched by other new endowment gifts for the office's programs.
Excellence in Entrepreneurship Award 2007
Students and Faculty recognized for the their entrepreneurial achievements at the Seocond Annual Excellence in Entrepreneurship Awards Banquet
The second annual Excellence in Entrepreneurship Awards Banquet was held on Thursday, April 12, 2007, in the Magnolia Room of Reynolda Hall. The Excellence in Entrepreneurship Awards were presented to six undergraduate student ventures and six faculty members representing a variety of departments throughout the University.
The Excellence in Entrepreneurship Award acknowledges individuals who have demonstrated entrepreneurial spirit, creativity, achievement, and social responsibility and who will serve as inspirations to students, faculty, and staff.
Student Awards
The first Excellence in Entrepreneurship Award for E-commerce was presented to Will Rawley (business) and
Drew Crofton (political science) for their Internet-based venture, College Garage. Armed with only $500 and a lot of help from a fellow sympathizing student entrepreneur, these two undergrads worked through the summer to develop their business model and launch their service. They have since conducted a major marketing campaign and have launched a beta site which offers Wake Forest students a convenient social and commercial marketplace – CollegeGarage.com.
The second E-commerce Award was given to biology major John Michael Baratta for his development and work with MEDMarketplace.com. Three years ago, Baratta and his cousin began to develop the concept for a website that would allow people to recycle or sell used medical equipment including items such as crutches, walkers, and motorized scooters. People with items to sell can list them on the website, and those in need of medical equipment can visit the site to purchase used items. The need was clear and after only two years, the site has more than 6,000 regular participants and is still growing rapidly.
This year’s award for the category of Artistic Venture was presented to economics major Andy Albert for his musical venture, Holiday Parade. Over the past year, Albert and two other artists combined their skills and love for music to form a band. In less than a year and a half, Holiday Parade has produced two albums and attracted a fan base that will soon launch them into an LA board room and hopefully an offer from a trendy record label. Albert, the band’s lead vocalist, has written tunes and lyrics that have generated a loyal fan following and over 30,000 MySpace members.
For the category of Commercial and Retail Venture, Martha Napier (studio art) was recognized for turning her artistic talent and passion into a successful business operation. Interested in design and the apparel industry, this senior studio art major took inspiration from a class project while attending a summer program at the Parsons School of Design in NY. While at Parsons, she was named the “top designer” of her program. Based on her original designs, she launched a line of knit tops which give her consumers the opportunity to customize their apparel from a number of different options including color, design, and trim. Justees: for Justice, Napier’s venture, promotes “corporate social responsibility” by donating a portion of its profits to non-profit organizations and initiatives that support women’s causes.
Two awards were presented this year for the category of Social Enterprise. The first recipient of this year’s award, biology major Jonathan Barry, was inspired and first recognized the need for his venture through a service-learning course, English 111: Writing Well that he enrolled in during his freshman year at Wake Forest. Teaching writing and mentoring children who had been labeled “at risk of failing” at Northwest Middle School, Barry was shocked by the lack of motivation from these children. None the less, he was able to open up one young adolescent boy who no one else could reach. The experience from that semester launched the H.O.P.E. Project, one of Wake Forest’s most successful and largest service organizations. Today, more than 170 students volunteer with the organization, and the reach of its program has expanded to other schools in the Winston-Salem area.
The second honoree for the category of Social Enterprise was a student who has made a significant impact on the global community. Inspired from a family trip to Kenya at the age of 12, French major Hillary Francis was troubled by the difficult schooling conditions that she saw in a Maasai tribal village where students wrote with their fingers in the sand because there was no chalk or chalkboard. She was told by her tour guide, “They’re not going anywhere, they’re not doing anything with their lives, so just forget about them.” But like all great entrepreneurs, she persevered and believed that she could do more than just forget about them: she could create value, she could make a difference. At the age of 16, Francis founded Backpacks Abroad to help provide school supplies and financial support for impoverished children around the world. Within the past several months, her organization has sent shipments of supplies and financial support to Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, and Belize, and is planning shipments within the next month to Zambia and Brazil.
Faculty Awards
Mathematics professor Dr. Ken Berenhaut was recognized with the Faculty Venture of the Year award. Applying the teacher-scholar model into an entrepreneurial venture, Dr. Berenhaut received a small seed grant from the Office of Entrepreneurship and Liberal Arts to kick start the development of Involve, a self-sustaining scientific journal devoted to showcasing and encouraging the highest quality mathematical research involving students. Berenhaut was recognized for his significant accomplishments with Involve, for his application of entrepreneurial principles to support research and publication, and for his significant contribution to the ongoing education of students both in mathematics and entrepreneurship.
Two awards were presented in the category of Course Development. The first award for course development went to Dr. Jed Macosko in the Physics Department for his development of a First-Year Seminar called Harnessing Life’s Molecular Machines: From AIDS Tests to Hydrogen Cars. In this course, students explored the tiny machines that are found within living cells, learned how the machines perform, and drafted proposals that leveraged ideas from professors, scientists, local entrepreneurs and their own ideas to develop products and services that create value. Special attention was paid to developing appropriate technologies – for example inexpensive AIDS tests for developing nations. The class has received high marks from students, and thanks to Dr. Macosko’s support and advice, several students have already generated entrepreneurial interests, including a proposal for a series of products based on molecular machines.
The second award for Course Development went to Dr. Terry Baker of the Wayne Calloway School of Business & Accountancy, who developed a course for Fifth Year Accounting students called Accounting and Financial Management for Entrepreneurs. This course included experiential learning projects to assist entrepreneurs with financial analysis and to develop spreadsheet tools to make financial projections. By matching students with entrepreneurs, students were able to experience the thrills and the challenges of working with an entrepreneurial venture and learn through a hands-on, interactive project.
This year’s award for Local Community Involvement and Outreach was given to a faculty member in the Humanities Department for her multi-year work with the Guilford Native American Association, a non-profit in Greensboro, N.C. Award recipient Dr. Ulrike Wiethaus has designed and taught two courses, and will also teach a new course next year titled Interdisciplinary Seminar in Cultural Diversity and Social Entrepreneurship. She organized and implemented the American Indian Winter Festival and Market on the Wake Forest campus in December of 2005 and the Celebrating Women of Proud Nations Conference, which had a Native American women’s entrepreneurship panel, this past January.
This year’s award for International Community Involvement and Outreach was granted to Dr. Jean Simonelli of the Anthropology Department for her outstanding work and dedication to making an impact on a global level. Dr. Simonelli was recognized for her incredible accomplishments in developing an organization with the Chiapas Indians in southern Mexico to improve economic development and health related issues for the area. The objective of her most recent venture was to have a health professional exchange with a visiting expert team, training those who will provide direct care and those who will train the future health practitioners for the area – a “train the trainer” program focused on infant and maternal health, an initiative which will provide a recurring legacy for the project.
This year’s award for Mentoring goes to John Abraham, an adjunct instructor who has shown generous support to the Wake Forest entrepreneurship program. This semester, Abraham volunteered his time to teach a 1.5 credit hour course in Venture Capital. As a venture capitalist at Kodiak Venture Partners, he has also mentored numerous student entrepreneurs, giving them advice on financing, business planning, and operations. Abraham has also personally helped over a dozen students find summer internships in entrepreneurial organizations and start-ups.
The Entrepreneurship Society and the Office of Entrepreneurship and Liberal Arts would like to congratulate the award winners and thank all involved for their participation in continuing the tradition of recognizing Excellence in Entrepreneurship at Wake Forest.
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Retina Software Receives GAP Prize
Retina Software, a company started by Wake Forest students Anthony Pecorella and Chandler Carruth, was recently awarded a Grand Prize in the Growth Accelerator Program competition sponsored by the Piedmont Triad Entrepreneurial Network. Congratulations! Read the story in The Angel Journal.
Campus-Wide Conference on Entrepreneurship Education
Handbook of University-Wide Entrepreneurship Education
and
Invited Conference at Wake Forest University
Click here to Register for the Conference. Space is limited for attendees who are not authors or co-authors. Registration for attendees is being taken on a first-come, first-served basis.
Click here for a schedule of the presentations.
Entrepreneurship education is of interest to university students and faculty outside the walls of the business school. New courses in creativity and venturing in the arts, humanities, sciences, and social sciences are increasingly prevalent on campuses both in the U. S. and in other countries.
At some universities entrepreneurship education is taught through business schools but attracts students from other disciplines. At others, new centers and funded programs seek to embed entrepreneurial approaches in both thinking and action in schools and disciplines outside the business school. Many of these efforts are experimental, lacking guidance from previous experience on other campuses. This handbook brings together in one volume a collection of papers that describe the philosophy, planning and implementation, and examples of best practices of entrepreneurship education initiatives across the university environment. The goal of this handbook is to provide a comprehensive guide for entrepreneurship curricula beyond the business school environment. We seek contributions in three areas:
Philosophy & Theory. Emphasizing philosophies that provide support for the fusion or integration of entrepreneurship and other traditional approaches across the broader university, papers might include:
• how entrepreneurship reinforces liberal arts learning goals
• entrepreneurship as idealizing democracy
• entrepreneurship and free market capitalism
• entrepreneurship contributions to humanity
• the nexus between entrepreneurship and scientific advancement
Planning & Broad Implementation. Papers that deal with the politics & process of implementing entrepreneurship initiatives outside business schools, such as:
• specific implementation approaches and program initiatives that have been developed on different campuses
• common problems experienced in this process (e.g. defining entrepreneurship, communication process) and solution alternatives
• issues germane to different types of academic environments (e.g. small college versus large university) or target populations within universities (e.g. liberal arts students, women students, African-American students, Hispanic students, science students, etc.)
• measuring performance and the effectiveness of implementation efforts, or assessing how an entrepreneurship curriculum contributes to learning outcomes in other areas of the university
Intersections with Other Disciplines. Fine-grained approaches to implementing entrepreneurship education in major divisions of universities outside business schools, including:
• Humanities
• Social Sciences
• Arts and Performing Arts
• Natural & Physical Sciences
• Engineering & Medicine
Within these contributions we seek specific examples of programmatic material used by contributors, such as sample syllabi, cross-disciplinary projects, not-for-profit and social enterprise initiatives, and community outreach beyond the boundaries of the campus, as well as a discussion of successes, learning, and revision ideas developed.
Submitted papers will be considered for chapters in an edited volume to be published in 2008 by Edward Elgar.
Authors of papers that generate new avenues of thought, and have the potential to contribute significantly to further dialogue in the field, will be invited to a special conference sponsored by Wake Forest University and the Kauffman Foundation on entrepreneurship education. The conference will be held in collaboration with Wake Forest University's Calloway School of Business and College of Arts and Sciences in Winston Salem, North Carolina from November 8-10, 2007, where the authors will have the opportunity to present their work to some of the leaders in their fields.
Submitters should send the following:
1) Electronic copy of your manuscript in MS Word with a title page listing authors' names, affiliations, and contact information.
2) The title page should list one of the three categories, listed above, in which the paper should be considered (Philosophy, Planning, or Intersections).
3) A cover letter requesting consideration for the edited handbook and/or special conference.
These materials should be sent via email to:
Page West
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
336-758-4260 (phone)
336-758-6133 (fax)
Submissions must be received by August 15, 2007.
Key dates to remember:
August 15, 2007 Submit paper
November 8-10, 2007 Conference in North Carolina
2008 Handbook published
Editors for the handbook include
Page West, Wake Forest University
Elizabeth J. Gatewood, Wake Forest University
Kelly G. Shaver, College of Charleston
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