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Kelley School of Business launches new program enabling students to minor in entrepreneurship
Aug. 14, 2000
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Students are increasingly interested in starting their own companies after college, even if they are majoring in a discipline other than business.
To serve this growing demand, Indiana University's Kelley School of Business this fall will begin offering a program for undergraduates who wish to minor in entrepreneurship and small business management.
"The new program is intended for students who have business aspirations and goals that will require entrepreneurial skills," said Marc J. Dollinger, chair of undergraduate programs in the Kelley School.
The program should appeal to students who want to apply their acquired knowledge in another field toward a start-up company or an existing family business. It will allow students to pursue their career goals, while at the same time incorporating business essentials into IU education. It will be offered as an alternative to IU's traditional minor in business.
The Kelley School expects that 50 to 100 students will take part in the new course offering.
"This new minor will give us an opportunity to advance the spirit and practice of entrepreneurship in Indiana and the Midwest," said Elizabeth J. Gatewood, the Jack M. Gill chair of entrepreneurship, who directs IU's Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.
To enhance course work in the program, the Johnson Center will provide additional speakers, seminars and special events for students. The Kelley School's student services office also plans to expand the scope of an existing business plan competition to include these students and to locate more internship and career opportunities for them.
Dollinger said many corporations are hiring students with liberal arts degrees because business schools cannot fully meet their placement demands.
"When we first designed the program, we thought of computer science students, who didn't require the full corporate treatment but who want to be savvy in business," Dollinger said. He hopes the program also will be attractive to students now earning degrees in the College of Arts and Sciences and IU's schools of music, journalism, public and environmental affairs, and health, physical education and recreation.
Given the media's strong interest in business news, Dollinger said, "We expect journalism students to be interested because they may be covering business someday."
More students are starting businesses either while enrolled or right after graduation, and many of them aren't majoring in business. "It is a merger of talent that resides outside the business school with techniques that reside within the business school," Dollinger said.
As part of the new program, students will take courses in accounting, business law, marketing, entrepreneurship and small business management. They must complete 26 credit hours to graduate with a minor in entrepreneurship and small business management.
The Kelley School of Business, through more than 75 years of innovation, continues to maintain its visibility as one of the country's premier business schools. Its undergraduate program was ranked ninth in the nation by U.S. News and World Report in its most recent survey.
For more information on the new program, contact the Kelley School of Business Undergraduate Program at 812-855-0191.
(George Vlahakis, 812-855-0846, gvlahaki@indiana.edu)