Entrepreneurship Minor

Are you a problem-solver, innovator, or change maker?  Do you want to make an impact in your community or change the world?  By minoring in entrepreneurship, you can sharpen your creative thinking and problem solving skills, develop an entrepreneurial mindset, start your own business, develop a new product, or become an innovator in an established company. The interdisciplinary Entrepreneurship Minor was designed to complement any major area of study by introducing knowledge and skills needed to create value through recognizing and developing opportunities.  Although the minor introduces some fundamental concepts from accounting, finance, marketing, and management, it does not attempt to substitute for any business courses in these areas.

Interdepartmental Undergraduate Minor

A minor in entrepreneurship is available to all undergraduate students at ISU.  The minor requires at least 15 credits from an approved list of courses, including at least 6 credits in courses numbered 300 or above taken at Iowa State University with a grade of C or higher. The minor must include at least 9 credits that are not used to meet any other department, college, or university requirement. 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.  Students with declared majors have priority over students with declared minors in courses with space constraints.

Non-business students with an Entrepreneurship minor are not permitted to major in Entrepreneurship.  Business students interested in entrepreneurship may choose to major in Entrepreneurship (https://catalog.iastate.edu/collegeofbusiness/entrepreneurship/#undergraduatemajortext), or pursue the Entrepreneurship minor.

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

Required Courses (6 credits):
ENTSP 310	Entrepreneurship and Innovation	3
ENTSP 313	Feasibility Analysis and Business Planning	3
or ENTSP 320	Corporate Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Technology Management
or ENTSP 410	Social Entrepreneurship

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

ENTSP 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.

ENTSP 320 Corporate Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Technology Management introduces and examines state-of-the-art approaches to product innovation and technology development in today's large and established organizations.

ENTSP 410 Social Entrepreneurship discusses issues related to the role of social entrepreneurship in helping to solve social problems, including innovation, opportunity recognition, planning and the launch of new non-profit organizations.

Elective Courses (6 credits):
Select TWO entrepreneurship-oriented electives from an approved course list (see below). Students are encouraged to take electives within their major college.

Experiential Learning (3 credits):
Students will engage in the process(es) of entrepreneurship to earn experiential learning credits. Students will either take a course that has been designated as an experiential learning course, or use some other experiential learning activity as the basis to receive credits through an independent study.

Detailed information about the Entrepreneurship minor, the list of approved electives, as well as information about the experiential learning options are available online at: https://ivybusiness.iastate.edu/entrepreneurship-minor/

FOR IVY COLLEGE OF BUSINESS STUDENTS ONLY: Students are limited to three business majors/degrees/minors within the Ivy College of Business.  This limit is on business majors/degrees/minors only, and does not apply to multiple majors/degrees/minors taken outside the Ivy College of Business.

Graduate Certificate

A graduate certificate in Entrepreneurship and Innovation offers post-undergraduate students the opportunity to learn the basics of starting a business. The certificate requires 4 courses (12 credits).  The two required core courses are offered online by the Ivy College of Business.  Elective courses are available across campus.

The graduate certificate in Entrepreneurship and Innovation focuses on strategies and resources for launching new ventures and helps students understand the role of innovation in entrepreneurship.

This interdisciplinary certificate provides a solid foundation in entrepreneurship and innovation through required core courses ENTSP 566 Entrepreneurship and New Venture Startup and MGMT 583 Formulating and Implementing Innovation Strategies.  At the same time, the program enables students to follow their own interests through electives offered by partners across campus.

For more information about the graduate certificate in Entrepreneurship and Innovation, please visit:  https://ivybusiness.iastate.edu/ei-certificate/

Contacts

Entrepreneurship Faculty and Advisors

Faculty and advisors in each college are available to answer questions about the Entrepreneurship minor and course requirements.  Please visit the link below for the contact in your college.

https://ivybusiness.iastate.edu/entrepreneurship-minor/contacts/