ADVISORY: Media invited to entrepreneurship reception

The Office of Entrepreneurship and Liberal Arts is part of an initiative to incorporate entrepreneurship into the liberal arts at Wake Forest. Its main goal is to encourage liberal arts students to use their education to pursue opportunities, leverage resources and initiate change that will add value to their lives and the lives of others.

The office was founded in December 2003 when the university was named one of eight Kauffman Campuses: an honor that included a $2.16 million grant awarded by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.

In May 2004, Gatewood was named the office’s director. She was previously the Jack M. Gill Chair of Entrepreneurship and director of The Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation at Indiana University. Earlier this year, Entrepreneur magazine named her one of the top ten entrepreneurship center directors in the country.

Gatewood says establishing relationships with local entrepreneurs and businesses will benefit students and the community in many ways. One of those benefits would be a new internship program that links students with area businesses and entrepreneurs in order to further familiarize students with entrepreneurship.

“We know we will have undergraduate and graduate students from all disciplines interested in working in entrepreneurial organizations,” Gatewood said. “We hope these organizations are here in the Triad area.”

Page West, Benson-Pruitt Associate Professor of Business, was instrumental in Wake Forest’s efforts to secure the Kauffman grant. He was named program director of the University Center for Entrepreneurship. Working in conjunction with the office, the center is an organization that will provide physical space, informal instruction, faculty advising, guest speakers, connections with the community and other resources for students to help them develop their entrepreneurial endeavors.

West says that in the long run, more Wake Forest graduates in the Triad could mean a better local economy.

“That’s where the internship program, in part, plays itself out,” West said. “When we connect students with organizations in this area, they are more likely to stay and further contribute to the development of a vibrant economy.”

Contact Maggie Barrett at 336-758-4393 or barretmb@wfu.edu.