About the Entrepreneurship as Advocacy Cluster
Total number of credits in this cluster: 9
The Entrepreneurship as Advocacy Cluster empowers students to utilize the process of entrepreneurship as a form of advocacy to improve the human condition and enhance public life. Students conduct rigorous research and are encouraged to think critically and argue effectively about the role of creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship in promoting, for example, economic justice, physical and mental health and well-being, racial and gender equality, and civic engagement. The cluster offers an alternative to the paradigm of "maximize shareholder value" to encourage students to create non-profit and for-profit organizations that can be a force for positive change in society.
Students who complete this cluster will be able to create a non-profit or for-profit venture based on the iterative vetting of an original idea rooted in careful and rigorous research; examine the impact of that venture and the resulting services and/or products on themselves, employees, customers, the environment, and local, national, and/or global communities; understand how the ecologies of successful non-profit and for-profit liberal arts ventures operate; and articulate best practices of successful Liberal Arts startups and organizations in relation to founder roles and relationships, fundraising, public presentation/pitching, market analysis, product differentiation, financial projecting, sales and marketing strategies, and scaling.
Students who successfully complete this cluster are able to:
- Create a non-profit or for-profit venture based on extensive vetting of an original idea rooted in rigorous primary and secondary research as well as customer discovery
- Apply principles of Lean Startup methodology to the creation of a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) for their venture
- Articulate parallels between "ways of thinking" and "ways of doing" within the Liberal Arts and purpose-driven entrepreneurship
- Critique normative definitions and practices of entrepreneurship in the contemporary U.S. in regards to gender, class, and race
- Investigate the economic, political, social, historical, and/or rhetorical factors that shape the ideation of Liberal Arts ventures
- Envision innovative services and products designed to ameliorate urgent problems that impact the quality of public life and the human condition
Preferred Sequence of Courses for the Cluster
The Entrepreneurship as Advocacy Cluster in the ENTI Minor includes three courses worth a total of 9 credits. All students in the minor also take three core courses.
Core Courses
- MGMT 215 Entrepreneurial Mindset
- ENGR 310 Entrepreneurial Leadership
- MGMT/IST/ENGR 425 New Venture Creation
To meet the prerequisite requirement for MGMT/IST/ENGR 425, you must take:
- (ECON 102 or ECON 104 or ECON 14 or MGMT 215; an ECON course is not required for the ENTI minor) and (CAS 100 or CAS 137T or EMSC 100S)
Cluster Required Courses
- L A 202 Innovation and Entrepreneurship in the Liberal Arts
- L A 424 Liberal Arts Ventures Development
- Select 3 credits from the following list
- AFAM 100N Black Freedom Struggles Keystone/General Education Course
- AFAM/SOC/WMNST 103 Racism and Sexism Keystone/General Education Course
- AFAM/LER/WMNST 136 Race, Gender, and Employment Keystone/General Education Course
- AFAM/HIST/WMNST 213Y African American Women's History Keystone/General Education Course
- CAS/ENGL 137H Rhetoric and Civic Life I Keystone/General Education Course
- CAS 175 Persuasion and Propaganda Keystone/General Education Course
- CAS 210 Landmark Speeches on Democracy and Dissent Keystone/General Education Course
- CAS 220 Persuasion Keystone/General Education Course
- CAS 222N/AYFCE 211N/CIVCM 211N Foundations: Civic and Community Engagement Keystone/General Education Course
- CAS 321 Rhetoric and Law Keystone/General Education Course
- CAS 373 The Rhetorics of War and Peace Keystone/General Education Course
- ENGL 162N Communicating Care Keystone/General Education Course
- ENGL 228 Introduction to Disability Studies in the Humanities Keystone/General Education Course
- ENGL 236N Inequality: Economics, Philosophy, Literature Keystone/General Education Course
- LER 100 Introduction to Labor and Human Resources Keystone/General Education Course
- LER 201 Employment Relationship: Law and Policy Keystone/General Education Course
- PLSC 2 American Public Policy
- PLSC 91
- PLSC 210N Rights in America Keystone/General Education Course
- PSYCH 100 Introductory Psychology Keystone/General Education Course
- SOC 1 Introductory Sociology Keystone/General Education Course
- SOC 5 Social Problems Keystone/General Education Course
- SOC/CRIM/CRIMJ 12 Criminology Keystone/General Education Course
- SOC 23 Population and Policy Issues Keystone/General Education Course
- WMNST 100 Introduction to Women's and Gender Studies Keystone/General Education Course
- WMNST 105N Living in a Diverse World Keystone/General Education Course
- WMNST 200 Global Feminisms
Cluster courses must be taken in this sequence. L A 403 and L A 424 can be taken concurrently.
