Social Entrepreneurship team supports local economy with food incubator research
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Overview
How do you develop ideas for new products and services? How do you create sustainable solutions to societal problems? What leadership skills are necessary to set-up and manage a new venture? How can an artist create a brand and forge their unique career? The Entrepreneurship Pathway addresses questions like these by focusing on the entrepreneurial mindset and skill development.
Entrepreneurship touches many career options. It encompasses an interdisciplinary set of soft and hard skills that are connected to an entrepreneurial mindset. The entrepreneurial mindset is a way of thinking about challenges and opportunities. It enables the entrepreneur to identify problems, develop and implement solutions that have value, communicate that value to others, and provide leadership for these activities. In the Entrepreneurship Pathway, students have a chance to explore how entrepreneurial thinking is relevant to a wide range of domains, from crafting an innovative business model to effecting social change or launching an arts enterprise. This preparation is relevant for both those who want to work for themselves and those who want to increase their effectiveness within existing organizations.
The entrepreneurial mindset can be applied to a broad set of career scenarios such as:
- Starting a business
- Managing a career in the arts
- Founding a school
- Building a non-profit to address humanitarian or environmental problems
- Serving as a business or finance consultant
- Being a professional who owns a practice such as a physician, dentist, or attorney
The courses and experiential learning opportunities in the Entrepreneurship Pathway are for students who are interested in business, social entrepreneurship, arts entrepreneurship, and entrepreneurship applications in new areas. Students in this pathway will practice communication and leadership skills that that are transferable to many other career paths beyond entrepreneurial activities. Whether you’re new to entrepreneurship or already focused on specific entrepreneurship goals, this pathway will help you learn effective organization leadership skills and gain knowledge about communication and human behavior that will prepare you for your work at Wooster and beyond graduation.
Faculty
Peter Abramo
Director of Entrepreneurship, Liaison to the Entrepreneurship Pathway
Kristin Tripi
Associate Director of Student Activities and Director of Greek Life, Lowry Center and Student Activities
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Requirements
Experiential Learning Opportunities (One Experience)
Students will complete one experience in one of the following categories. Approved experiences should give students firsthand, guided opportunities to connect the entrepreneurial mindset and their particular career of interest.
- Business-focused examples include: AMRE, Commons Innovation Accelerator Program, Jenny Investment Club, Startup Weekend
- Social Entrepreneurship-focused examples include: Involvement with Enactus for one school year, Internships with social organizations or non-profits
- Arts Entrepreneurship-focused examples include: TREK: Art in the City (New York, Chicago, Minneapolis, or Cleveland—biennial; no credit), THTD 12105 Practicum: Scenery, Costumes, Stage Management, Box Office (.25 credit), IDPT 430 Internships with arts organizations (.25 credit), Projects with the Wayne Center for the Arts and their STEAM Factory, Projects with Jimmy Noriega’s independent theatre company
- Flexible Experiential Learning examples include City TREK with entrepreneurial focus, Off Campus Study programs, sophomore research assistantships, campus leadership positions, campus work experiences
Reflection
Reflections guide students to articulate meaningful connections between the skills and knowledge they are gaining and the experiences in their coursework, experiential learning opportunities and career goals. Reflections take place along five points in the pathway:
First Reflection Touchpoint: At the Start of the Pathway
The first opportunity to reflect is when the student declares their Pathway. Responses to prompts asked at this moment establish a baseline from which student moves forward.
Second Reflection Touchpoint: An Opportunity to Investigate
This is an opportunity for students to dig deeper to articulate what they are learning along the Pathway in classes and about experiential learning options related to the interests they shared in the first reflection. It is also a point at which to prepare for experiential learning/career exploration.
Third Reflection Touchpoint: Before Experiential Learning Opportunity
This reflection takes place as a student is learning about experiential learning opportunities related to their pathway.
Fourth Reflection Touchpoint: After Experiential Learning Opportunity
This reflection takes place after the student has completed an experiential learning opportunity and asks them to consider how the work they have done connects with their pathway.
Fifth Reflection Touchpoint: At the End of This Pathway – and the Start of New Ones
At this touchpoint, students engage with questions that help them build connections between theory and practice, their career goals, and how they plan to extend their Pathway beyond Wooster.
Coursework (Four Courses)
Students will complete four courses that meet the following descriptions:
Entrepreneurial Mindset (at least one course)
Coursework in the entrepreneurial mindset is oriented around developing and putting into practice skills such as design-thinking, innovation, risk-taking, problem-solving, and leadership. Approved courses in the entrepreneurial mindset should provide students with opportunities to exercise creativity and innovation in order to develop human-centered solutions.
- IDPT 22000: Entrepreneurship and Societal Impact
- IDPT 40514: Angel Investing*
- IDPT 40507: Social Entrepreneurship
- IDPT 40511: Global Social Entrepreneurship
- IDPT 22100: TREK: Entrepreneurship in Hungary
- IDPT 12000 Introduction to Entrepreneurship
*Course has pre-requisite or requires instructor permission to register
General Skills of Entrepreneurship (at least two courses)
Approved coursework in general skills of entrepreneurship prepares students for effective organizational leadership by offering emphases on communication skills and human behavior. Courses may also provide instruction on how to develop financially sustainable enterprises and reach potential clients or encourage students to explore how ethical frameworks can inform entrepreneurial activity. These courses are strongly encouraged not to overlap with a student’s major requirements.
- BUEC 23000: Marketing*
- BUEC 11900: Financial Accounting
- COMM 22100: Interpersonal Communications*
- COMM 22500: Small Group Communication*
- COMM 22600: Organizational Communication*
- COMM 22700: Intercultural Communication*
- COMM 25200: Argumentation and Persuasion*
- ECON 10100: Principles of Economics
- EDUC 10000: Introduction to Education
- EDUC 19903: Urban Education
- EDUC 19905: Teaching Globally Engaged Learners
- PHIL 10000: Ethics, Justice, and Society
- PSYC 10000: Introduction to Psychology 3
- RELS 21900: Ethics in a Social Perspective
*Course has pre-requisite or requires instructor permission to register