New minor focuses on entrepreneurship and innovation

By SARAH-JAYNE SIMON Published October 10, 2012 at 3:04am Updated October 10, 2012 at 3:04am

A minor offered starting this fall is geared toward students who wish to learn entrepreneurial and innovative techniques within their field of study.

The entrepreneurship and innovation minor is a customizable 18-unit program now available to all UA undergraduates outside the Eller College of Management. The minor includes a number of 200 to 400 level classes, which accommodate students in any year of study.

Sarah Mauet, the center’s digital media communications manager, said the program is intended to provide non-Eller students the opportunity to gain business experience without declaring a business major.

“Students have the opportunity to get an appreciation for entrepreneurship,” Mauet said. “They will get the appropriate training to see these opportunities and learn to take benefit to whatever their field of interest is. It is a new opportunity for non-business students on campus.”

For a student to be eligible for the minor, he or she must have six 3-unit courses, a minimum of nine units of upper division coursework and at least nine of the 18 units must be completed in residence at the UA.

The minor fullfills the center’s mission to advance the understanding of the influence and role of entrepreneurship in both the business and academic communities, said Sherry Hoskinson, the center’s managing director.

“This is an entrepreneur economy, and in all likelihood, will remain that way,” Hoskinson said. “Attention to economic and environmental issues all move very rapidly today. The minor can help students create solutions that are sustainable in this very rapid changing environment.”

In an effort to establish a community between students in the new minor, the center is hosting an open innovation competition for students, who have been asked to come up with real and actionable business proposals. According to Mauet, there are eight students enrolled in the minor.

“The competition is really open with very few requirements,” Mauet said. “We really want to hear about people’s great ideas without restricting them.”

Winners of the competition will receive a cash prize.

Entrepreneurship is the skill to spot opportunity and build success, not just in business but in every other field, said entrepreneurship student services coordinator Daniel Jeffrey.

“Our intention with the minor is to meet the demand of students across campus,” Jeffrey said. “Our goal is to really assist the students to meet the challenges of our changing world.”