Georgia State University has approved a new undergraduate Minor in Entrepreneurship; the first of its kind for major research universities in the state. The new minor is open to all eligible GSU students, regardless of their major, and will be administered through the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Institute initiative, led by Dr. Richard J. Welke, at the J. Mack Robinson College of Business (RCB). The program’s leadership are currently seeking influencers from Atlanta’s startup/tech community to get involved.
The Program
The overall objective of the courses within this minor is to provide GSU undergraduate students the opportunity to think like an entrepreneur. In order to do so, the university aims to arm students with entrepreneurial skills such as: uncovering authentic consumer demand for an idea or concept, pitching a new business model to customers and investors, and understanding what is involved in scaling startup operations to accommodate rapid growth, just to name a few. While there are over 500 universities offering majors or minors in entrepreneurship across the globe, RCB’s new minor hopes to differentiate itself by providing students a unique and modern view on what entrepreneurship is, what it demands, what they can contribute, and how to become part of this ‘movement’ that’s creating the bulk of new job opportunities around the world.
Leadership
“It will be a tremendous advantage for our students to have this knowledge, regardless of their ultimate career path, and to have it recognized on their transcripts to ensure grounding in this critical area,” says Dr. Welke, who helped lead the effort to establish the new minor at Georgia State. Dr. Welke is currently the Director of the Center for Process Innovation, a Computer Information Systems (CIS) professor, and was previously the chair of the CIS department at Georgia State. Having been published in over 100 research papers, Dr. Welke is considered the ‘father of methodology engineering.’
How You Can Get Involved
We’re excited to see Georgia State focus heavily on startups. With RCB student Berkley Baker recently winning $20,000 in Robinson’s Business Plan Competition for his CIMI Robotic Surgery Solution, there’s already some first signs of tech success at GSU. We’re happy to see some structure surrounding it. We will be reporting on the talent and projects coming out of the program, specifically ‘The Startup Venture’ and ‘Commercializing the Startup’ courses. Stay tuned.
As previously mentioned, the new minor’s leadership are currently seeking guest speakers and mentors to join this exciting new program. This is an enormous opportunity for Atlanta’s startup/tech community to rise to the occasion and expose GSU students to the city’s burgeoning ecosystem. We’d love to see startup co-founders act as mentors, as well as co-working spaces, to allow students to see entrepreneurship at the ground level. If you’d like to get involved, please contact Dr. Welke at rwelke@gsu.edu.
