Elevating entrepreneurship

UND becomes one of first public universities to establish School of Entrepreneurship

BY KRIS BEVILL

Entrepreneurs often describe their craft as a passion that’s just in their blood And while successful entrepreneurship certainly requires a dose of innate qualities such as passion, courage and attitude, the practice of entrepreneurship also includes skills which can certainly be learned, and taught. Beginning this fall, students across the University of North Dakota’s campus will have the opportunity to learn those skills and apply them in their chosen fields of study through the newly established School of Entrepreneurship ed by a $50 million endowment over time, according to the university The school will be part of the College of Business and Public Administration (CoBPA) and will focus on providing hands-on entrepreneurship learning to students in all areas of study and provide greater visibility to programs associated with entrepreneurship, which is expected to help attract more high-quality students and faculty as well as additional fundraising opportunities

University of North Dakota finance students utilize the university’s Lanterman Investment Center in the College of Business and Public Administration.

UND is only the second public university in the nation to establish a School of Entrepreneurship, joining Oklahoma State University and three private universities The school was approved by the State Board of Higher Education earlier this summer and will be support-

The Center for Innovation will serve as the school’s outreach and practitioner arm. Bruce Gjovig, founder of the Center for Innovation, says one of the center’s duties will be to find entrepreneurs to team up with the school’s students and share their knowledge “We want to engage our entrepreneur students with startups and companies all over Nor th Dakota and nor thwest Minnesota,” he says.

Practice Makes Perfect

Like any craft, the best way to learn entrepreneurship is from a practitioner, and good practitioners are the best teachers Gjovig says the ideal entrepreneurship practitioner to mentor students will possess an “opportunity mindset” someone who is able to recognize an opportunity and then organize a plan to capture that opportunity. Along with that quality come leadership skills and a willingness to work hard “It’s passion, it’s energy, it’s leadership it certainly also takes courage, ” he says.

Gjovig believes entrepreneurs will participate in the School of Entrepreneurship because they understand the transformational quality of the practice, and, because they are naturally philanthropic, they will be willing to help the next generation of entrepreneurs succeed. Also, he points out that the school’s entrepreneur students can provide the extra help that is always in need at new business ventures

About 900 UND students were enrolled in one entrepreneur class in 2013-’14 and more than 400 were enrolled in more than one class Gjovig believes those numbers will grow over time as the School of Ent repreneurship grows, but stresses that because the purpose of the school is to promote entrepreneurship throughout ever y major, enrollment numbers in the school alone will not determine its success rate

“Our goal is not necessarily numbers as much as quality,” he says “We want to have the best practitioners in entrepreneurship come out of the university experience as possible. One of the goals, quite frankly, is to turn the entrepreneur genius on in many of the areas where it also can have a real impact on their field of study.”

Long Time Coming

Gjovig has been pitching the idea of an entrepreneurship school to higher education officials since 2007. “When you ’ re changing education, it can be a slow process, ” he says “But we ’ re there and we ’ re delighted that we are there ”

Thomas DiLorenzo, UND vice president for academic affairs and provost, agrees that the time is right for the entrepreneurship school to launch. “At this important time in the history of the state, with so much economic opportunity to be developed, it is imperative that the skills and innovative thinking possessed by entrepreneurs be leveraged by the university,” he says

The university anticipates creating 14 School of Entrepreneurship faculty positions over time half of which would be endowed positions for practicing entrepreneurs Dennis Elbert, longtime dean of the CoBPA, became one of the new school’s first professors when he stepped down from his role as CoBPA dean this summer to accept an endowed professor role at the entrepreneurship school. He says moving entrepreneurship from a department to a school will elevate the status of both the program and the university.

“This will enhance opportunities for our students and leverage the success of the Center for Innovation,” he says “This next step allows us to be on the true forefront of entrepreneurial education ” PB

Kris Bevill Editor, Prairie Business

701-306-8561,

kbevill@prairiebizmag

com