THE CENTER for Entrepreneurship Education and Research, established in 1997, provides a state-of-the-art entrepreneurship curriculum for potential entrepreneurs and for people in the many organizations that interact with small, entrepreneurial and family owned businesses on a daily basis through world class research, education, and opportunity. The center, located within the College of Business, maintains working relationships with the College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning, College of Engineering and Applied Science, College of Law, College of Medicine, and others to foster a cross-campus entrepreneurial focus.
Students in the entrepreneurship program gain real world and practical experience in the center’s Small Business Institute®, an award-winning faculty-guided, student-based field case study program providing consulting services for local businesses as well as non-profits. While earning college credit, students work with local entrepreneurs. The center also provides financial assistance for student ventures through two programs: the Bearcat Bridge Fund and the Bearcat Launch Pad. Students may also win funds to start their business through one of the three business plan competitions hosted at the University of Cincinnati each year: the Undergraduate Venture Plan Competition, the MBA Business Plan Competition, and the Spirit of Enterprise Business Plan Competition.
The Undergraduate Curriculum
Given that 95% of all firms are considered small to medium enterprises and small businesses produce the majority of new jobs, the entrepreneurship/family business major provides students with the preparation necessary for creating or working in a start-up or new venture. Emphasis is placed on practical issues and interactions with individuals who work with and/or advise such firms across individual, social, and corporate entrepreneurship. Students are also well-prepared to work for businesses and organizations that interact with small, entrepreneurial, and family venture on a regular basis, including firms in the accounting, legal, and marketing industries.
Non-business students also have the option of enrolling in the entrepreneurship minor. By enrolling in the minor, students will learn methods for recognizing opportunity, obtaining funding for their ventures, and how to manage and grow a business opportunity. Fundamental business classes are blended with classes that are specifically designed to educate students about issues surrounding the challenges of launching new ventures or spearheading ideas within an existing organization.
Graduate Programs
A graduate-level entrepreneurship curriculum and research agenda have also been developed focusing on new venture creation, the management of small and entrepreneurial ventures, a faculty-guided, student-based field case model, and the formation, operation and succession of family-owned firms. The opportunity also exists for students to broaden their entrepreneurial experience in conducting field case studies in competitive analysis, strategic management, marketing, as well as non-profit organizations.
Graduate students may also decide to develop their business concept into a business plan and compete in the Spirit of Enterprise Business Plan Competition, an international level competition involving students from universities across North America for a chance to win up to $20,000 in prize money. The MBA Business Plan Competition involves working among other teams comprised of UC graduate students working together to develop your idea into a business plan and investment opportunity and present to real investors in a competition format.
Center faculty also work with an elite number of doctoral students who are pursuing research in the field of entrepreneurship. Over the past decade, six students in entrepreneurship have completed their doctoral degree and gone on to successful careers in academia, business, and government. In 2009, there are three doctoral students working under center faculty guidance.
