“Oh, but I don’t want to start a company.” That’s what students often say about coursework focusing on entrepreneurship. This reflects a commonly held misconception that learning about entrepreneurship is only for aspiring entrepreneurs or business majors.
In recent months Rowan University, based in South Jersey, has made a significant commitment to change this view by embracing the “entrepreneurial mindset” that they see as foundational for their students’ future careers. The Deans of the Colleges of Business, Science and Mathematics and Engineering are closely collaborating to instill entrepreneurial thinking into university-wide curriculum.
“These three colleges together have sponsored and pioneered something we are calling ‘entrepreneurship across the campus’ that is now set for all of the campus regardless of major or college,” stated Susan Lehrman, Dean of the College of Business. Dean Lehrman, now approaching her one year anniversary, is championing entrepreneurship at the university with solid support from a team of associates.
To set a clear course, the university first held a day-long event last fall to gain input from faculty and administrators across the campus. There was an overwhelmingly positive response, which crystalized the university’s decision to extend entrepreneurship across disciplines. Participants not only enthusiastically supported Rowan expanding its commitment to entrepreneurship, but they also provided a list of more than 50 deliverables.
Karen Magee-Sauer, Dean of the College of Science and Mathematics, having witnessed students’ passion for entrepreneurship in her college’s curriculum, explained: “They are creating companies and they are creating apps and [are] reaching out to the business community, but they don’t really have the full background to do so. So, having this ‘entrepreneurship across campus’ is a really great first step.”
To further this initiative, Rowan partnered with Hatch House Ventures, a growing network of accelerators for start-ups, to foster the entrepreneurial ecosystem on campus. Hatch House will have a physical space on campus to serve as a hub of campus entrepreneurial activities. Hatch House Ventures’ founder, Steve Boerner, will serve as its Director.
Cheryl Bodnar, an assistant Professor in Chemical Engineering, works closely with Boerner as Hatch House’s Academic Director, focusing on the faculty side to continuously bring improvement to student offerings. “I’m pushing from the top down so we can meet in the middle and create an intersection where all of our students will have exposure to entrepreneurial mindset before they complete their bachelor’s degree,” explained Bodnar.
Rowan has taken one extra key step to ensure that ‘entrepreneurship across campus’ takes hold: they launched an Innovation and Entrepreneurship Faculty Training Certificate Program. The program entails faculty electively participating in a six-part series to learn different techniques on how they can bring the entrepreneurial mindset into their classroom, exposing students to entrepreneurial skills regardless of their chosen major.
“An amazing number of entrepreneurial assets,” said Dean Lehrman, summing up all of the initiatives underway and resources available to Rowan’s students. The recent initiatives build upon pre-existing assets such as the Tech Park and the Rowan Innovation Venture Fund.
“Internally we have a tremendous ecosystem, and we have developed relationships externally to further that ecosystem,” added Steve Kozachyn, Director of External Affairs in the Rohrer School of Business. He sees these mutually beneficial relationships with area businesses as ultimately benefiting the students, both those who may be hired in the future as well as those launching ventures into the ecosystem.
Rowan’s growing commitment to universalize the entrepreneurial mindset on campus reflects a university willing to innovate in response to a highly competitive world that their graduating students enter. Rowan strives to give them all the skills and tools necessary to succeed.
