WFU selected to compete for $5 million entrepreneurship grant
The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation of Kansas City has awarded Wake Forest University a $50,000 grant that will be used to create a proposal for how the university plans to make entrepreneurship a common and accessible campus-wide opportunity.
Wake Forest was one of only 15 universities nationwide to receive the grant, which is part of the Kauffman Campuses initiative. In December, the Kauffman Foundation will select five to seven from that group to receive up to $5 million each to fund initiatives outlined in the proposal.
“Our professional schools and faculty provide a strong foundation in entrepreneurship teaching, research and outreach from which to build a program,” said Wake Forest president Thomas K. Hearn Jr. “We believe Wake Forest possesses a unique ability to develop a model for making entrepreneurship part of the campus culture at a liberal arts university.”
The Kauffman Foundation has recognized Wake Forest’s commitment to entrepreneurship in the past, with grants to support the Calloway School of Business and Accountancy’s Center for Undergraduate Entrepreneurship and the Babcock Graduate School of Management’s Angell Center for Entrepreneurship.
Page West, Benson-Pruitt Associate Professor of Business and director of Calloway School’s center, says part of the motivation for further development of the university’s entrepreneurial resources is a response to student interests.
“I have had students from economics, psychology, physics and the arts come to me for advice about starting up their own new ventures,” said West. “In fact, many entrepreneurial endeavors are centered on the liberal arts disciplines, such as staging a new theater production or museum event, creating public policy to encourage economic development, creating new educational programs targeting at-risk students, or leveraging science research into practical applications. So, entrepreneurship is no longer relegated to business programs alone. Our students from all over campus have a high level of interest and energy in entrepreneurship.”
Undergraduate students at Wake Forest have won first place in the Central Atlantic Global Student Entrepreneur Awards twice, in 2001 and 2003. Wake Forest has offered an annual Presidential Scholarship in entrepreneurship since 1987.
This spring, Entrepreneur magazine ranked the Babcock School among the nation’s top tier of entrepreneurship programs and first among entrepreneurship faculty.
The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation of Kansas City works with partners to encourage entrepreneurship across America and improve the education of children and youth. The Kauffman Foundation was established in the mid 1960s by the late entrepreneur and philanthropist Ewing Marion Kauffman.
Categories: Awards & Recognition, University Announcements
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