Entrepreneurship Minor Science & Engineering Creative Entrepreneurs Arts & Humanities Business & Social Sciences Motivating Students to Create Extra-Ordinary Things for Ordinary People Entrepr eneurial Mindset Awakening Creativity De esign Innovation Entrepren eurship Project E-Team Business Plan New Venture Flow chart of Tr rinity s Entrepreneurship Program
ENTREPRENEURSHIP MINOR AT TRINITY UNIVERSITY Rationale: Traditionally situated in professional graduate programs, entrepreneurship has significantly expanded throughout the country at the undergraduate level with strong emphasis on creativity, innovation, and leadership. Trinity s integration of the liberal arts and professional programs creates a promising foundation for the development of such a program for students from all of our disciplines of study. This interdisciplinary minor will provide a point of departure for this initiative and will position Trinity to make distinctive, substantial contributions to this national trend. ENTREPRENEURSHIP Faculty/Staff Advisory Committee: RICHARD V. BUTLER, Ph.D., Professor, Economics L. BROOKS HILL, Ph. D., Professor, Speech and Drama GERALD PITTS, Ph. D., Caruth Distinguished Professor, Computer Science CLAUDIA SCHOLZ, Ph. D., Coordinator of Research Programs MAHBUB UDDIN, Ph. D., Professor, Engineering Science; Chair DAN WALZ, Ph. D., Professor, Business Administration The Entrepreneurship minor is designed to cultivate, coordinate, and integrate Trinity s diverse resources for the development and application of more creative entrepreneurial behavior and achievement. It builds on the overlap of three clusters of programs: arts and humanities, science and engineering, business and social sciences. The Entrepreneurship minor provides students an interdisciplinary approach to the process of creativity and entrepreneurship. This minor focuses on the process of creativity, opportunity identification and evaluation, design and innovation, financing, strategy, marketing and new venture development. This minor offers an opportunity for students to form multidisciplinary entrepreneurship project teams (E-Teams) for transforming creative ideas into practical realities, and to interact with alumni entrepreneurs. This minor requires twenty-one hours of coursework with at least nine hours at the upperdivision level. Students who wish to go beyond the minimum required of this minor should investigate the possibility of an Interdisciplinary Second Major and prepare an expanded plan that integrates more of these courses. A form that describes the Interdisciplinary Second Major is available in the Office of the Registrar.
THE MINOR Core Courses. From this list select twelve hours of coursework, including the specified section of GNED 1300 or GNED 2340 and ENTR 3340, 3341, and 4193. GNED 1300 First Year Seminar: Creativity and Entrepreneurial Behavior ENTR 2190 Exploring Entrepreneurial Opportunities GNED 2340 Creative Thinking and the Artistic Process ENTR 3-90 Directed Studies Junior Level ENTR 3340 Innovation, Design and Entrepreneurship ENTR 3341 Entrepreneurial Planning and Strategies ENTR 4-90 Directed Studies Senior Level ENTR 4193 Capstone E-Team Project Elective Courses. Along with members of the advisory committee, students will select three elective courses which meet the following criteria: (1) the specific courses selected should encourage students to develop essential skills for their entrepreneurial development or lead students to investigate broader areas of social concern; and (2) the courses must be approved by the advisory committee of the minor. ENTREPRENEURSHIP MINOR COURSE DESCRIPTION 1. Creativity and Entrepreneurial Behavior (GNED 1300) Creativity is described as breaking down prior assumptions and making new connections for new ideas. Entrepreneurial behavior is described as the processes, practices, and decision-making activities that lead to the realization of our creative ideas. This first-year seminar course on Creativity and Entrepreneurial Behavior is designed for students across the humanities, arts, engineering, sciences and business who love the initiative, ingenuity and excitement of putting creative ideas into action. This course focuses on the following topics: Awakening Creativity, Channeling Creativity through Design, the Entrepreneur Within, Entrepreneurial Opportunity, and the Entrepreneurial Challenge. As part of this challenge, students will form Entrepreneurial Teams. Each E-Team will develop long-term project plans to transform their creative ideas and turn them into market-place realities. Students interested in this seminar are encouraged to live on the Entrepreneurship residence hall floor. 2. Exploring Entrepreneurial Opportunities (ENTR 2190) This course focuses on the process of identifying and recognizing entrepreneurial opportunities. In this course students learn various ways to identify an opportunity such as observing trends,
solving a problem, finding gaps in the market place. Students learn how to analyze economic and social forces, technological advances, political and regulatory changes to develop entrepreneurial opportunities. 3. Creative Thinking and Artistic Process (GNED 2340) This course encourages students to synthesize a theoretical and experiential approach to the creative process as studied through the visual arts, music, creative writing, and theatre. Students enter into the creative process as a means to develop creative self-expression, aesthetic sensibility, and an understanding of the arts. The nature and drive of artisic endeavor is explored through studies of the lives of significant thinkers and artists, examination of art works, guest lectures, and projects. Students will engage in activities and projects that will enable them to access and develop their own creative thinking skills in concert with traditional, analytic modes. 4. Innovation, Design and Entrepreneurship (ENTR 3340) This course focuses on the process of innovation and design for entrepreneurial venture development. In this course students learn to develop a persuasive structure to make innovative ideas attractive and defensible. Design is an essential step in transforming innovative ideas into a marketplace reality. This course focuses on the use of design as a form of expression, communication and development of functional prototypes of innovative ideas potentially leading to entrepreneurial ventures. In this course students are required to form multidisciplinary design teams. Students develop the knowledge, skills and behaviors related to developing innovative ideas, design methodologies, use of appropriate information, materials, tools and technology for entrepreneurial ventures. 5. Entrepreneurial Planning and Strategies (ENTR 3341) This course focuses on entrepreneurial planning and strategies with emphasis on the areas of financing, management and marketing. Major topics include attracting seed and growth capital from sources such as individuals, venture capital, investment banking, government and commercial banks, creating marketing plans for a new venture, entrepreneurial or opportunity oriented management, strategic control, operational functions and organizational management, short and long range planning and measurement of economic performance. 6. Capstone for E-Team Project (ENTR 4193) This is the capstone course for students in the entrepreneurship program, a course in which all elements of the program are tied together. In this course each E-Team project group develops a comprehensive "business" or operational plan for their entrepreneurial venture. Students are required to defend their strategic plan for a panel of potential investors. This course incorporates
wisdom, insight and experiences of successful entrepreneurs and explains the benefits and risks involved in the proposed entrepreneurship ventures. Entrepreneurship Project Directed Studies Junior Level (ENTR 3-90) This junior level directed course will permit all students in the program an opportunity to pursue research and development on their E-Team projects that culminate in the capstone course. Entrepreneurship Project Directed Studies Senior Level (ENTR 4-90) This senior level directed course will permit all students in the entrepreneurship program an opportunity to continue research and development on their E-Team project that culminates in the capstone course. E-Teams During the first year, E-teams will brainstorm, analyze and evaluate their creative ideas for potential entrepreneurship venture. In the second year, E-teams will shape their creative ideas through design and develop a prototype of whatever they plan to advance. In the third year, they will develop a comprehensive business plan and seek funding from venture capitalists. In the fourth year, E-teams will take their new product or services to the market and prepare to launch their entrepreneurship venture following graduation. Market DEVELOPMENT OF BUSINESS PLAN CHANNELLING CREATIVITY THROUGH DESIGN AWAKENING CREATIVITY