Entrepreneurial Studies

Interdepartmental Undergraduate Minor

Entrepreneurial Studies is an interdisciplinary program that provides opportunities to students to learn about entrepreneurship—the process of creating value through recognizing and developing opportunities. It serves to complement the student’s major area of study, in any college, by offering a means of putting theory and science into practice. The goal of the Entrepreneurial Studies program is to provide the knowledge and skills needed to create value through recognizing and developing opportunities. In addition to feasibility analysis and business planning, the program deals with the topics of innovation, opportunity recognition, technology transfer, industry analysis, and competitive strategy. Although the program introduces some fundamental concepts from accounting, finance, marketing, and management, it does not attempt to substitute for any business courses in these areas.

A minor in entrepreneurial studies is available to all undergraduate students at ISU. Students must follow college specific rules in selecting courses. The college representatives to the supervisory committee will be responsible for advising students in their college, and will inform students about the details of the college rules.

A student seeking a minor in entrepreneurial studies must successfully complete a minimum of 15 credits in courses approved for use in the entrepreneurial studies program, including:

MGMT 310 Entrepreneurship and Innovation is the introductory course and provides an overview of the entire field.

MGMT 313 Feasibility Analysis and Business Planning emphasizes developing an idea for a new venture, conducting a feasibility study, researching the potential market, analyzing the competition, and preparing a formal business plan.

Students take two entrepreneurship-oriented electives (6 cr.) from an approved course list and must also take 3 cr. of experiential learning. Up to six of the 15 credits required for the minor may also be used in the student’s required program of study. Detailed information about the minor and the list of approved electives is available online at http://www.business.iastate.edu .

Graduate Certificate

An interdisciplinary graduate certificate in entrepreneurship and innovation is available to post-graduate students from any discipline. The program provides students an opportunity to learn about entrepreneurship, innovation, and the new venture creation process and to develop business skills that can be used to start a business. The program is flexible so that students can design a program that provides core entrepreneurship education through one required business management course as well as discipline-specific training from entrepreneurship courses in other colleges. The certificate program is taught at a distance using computer-based instructional media.

Students seeking this Graduate Certificate must meet minimum university criteria for admission to graduate programs. Students interested in the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Certificate must successfully complete a minimum of 12 credits in courses approved for use in the certificate program, including one required course, MGMT 566 Entrepreneurship and New Business Creation and three entrepreneurship-oriented electives (9 cr.) chosen from an approved course list. MGMT 566 Entrepreneurship and New Business Creation focuses on the essentials of starting and operating a new business. Additional information as well as the list of approved electives can be found on the certificate website.