Undergraduate Minor for Business and Non-Business Majors

Entrepreneurial Studies is an interdisciplinary program that provides opportunities to students to learn about entrepreneurship - the process of creating value through recognizing and developing opportunities. It serves to complement the student's major area of study, in any college, by offering a means of putting theory and science into practice.

The goal of the Entrepreneurial Studies program is to provide the knowledge and skills needed to create value through recognizing and developing opportunities. In addition to feasibility analysis and business planning, the program deals with the topics of innovation, opportunity recognition, technology transfer, industry analysis, and competitive strategy. Although the program introduces some fundamental concepts from accounting, finance, marketing, and management, it does not attempt to substitute for any business course in these areas.

Minor Requirements: 15 hours – The minor must include at least 9 credits that are not used to meet any other departmental, college, or university requirement. Up to 6 of the 15 credits required for the minor may also be used in the student’s required program of study.

Non-business majors who are not eligible for admission to the College of Business may take only 9 credits of courses numbered 300 or above in the College of Business.

Required courses (6 cr):

Electives (6 cr) from an approved list of entrepreneurship-related courses. Students are encouraged to take electives within their major colleges. (see list of approved courses)

Experiential learning (3 cr):

Students will engage in the process(es) of entrepreneurship to earn experiential learning credits. Entrepreneurial processes include 1) identifying an opportunity, 2) developing a concept; 3) determining required resources; 4) acquiring the necessary resources; 5) implementing and managing the concept; and 6) harvesting the venture. Students will submit a written proposal to the Entrepreneurship Supervisory Committee explaining how their proposed activity relates to entrepreneurial processes. This must be done prior to the activity to receive pre-approval for the experiential learning credits. Students may use existing courses, internships, consulting projects, or independent studies to meet this requirement as long as there are significant applicable entrepreneurial experiential activities, as judged by the Entrepreneurship Supervisory Committee.

Students desiring to take courses other than those approved must seek approval from the Entrepreneurship Supervisory Committee. Similarly, transfer students who desire to transfer in entrepreneurship courses and have them count toward completion of the minor have to follow the routine process of verifying course transfer into the University.

How to apply for entrepreneurial studies minor:

1. Complete the "Request for Minor" form available in the undergraduate advising office in your college.
   • Indicate the courses you plan to take to fulfill the minor requirements. This will include the two required courses—Mgmt 310 and either Mgmt 313 or Mgmt 410; how you intend to complete your 3 credits of experiential learning; and 6 credits of electives from the approved course matrix.
2. Obtain required signatures:
   • Department offering the minor—Dr. Kay Palan, 2200 Gerdin
   • Student's academic advisor
   • College of the minor—because this is a university-wide minor, your home college is the college of the minor.
   • College of major/curriculum—your home college.
3. Turn in the completed form to the undergraduate advising office in your home college.
4. For assistance during this process, consult either with your undergraduate advisor, a member of the supervisory committee for the minor, or Dr. Kay Palan, academic coordinator of the program.