San Diego State College of Business Administration will become one of a select few U.S. schools to feature an interdisciplinary minor in entrepreneurship.
In Fall 2013, SDSU will offer an entrepreneurship minor to all undergraduate students. The minor’s purpose is to unite academic minds from across the campus and give students the chance to collaborate their skills developed by different majors.
SDSU business administration senior Gregg Anderson is the senior vice president of the SDSU Entrepreneur Society. Anderson believes the major will be a key asset to the school and hopes to see continual growth in the program. He has started two businesses and feels the entrepreneurship minor program will directly contribute to student success.
“Thirty years ago, entrepreneurship wasn’t even considered a field in academia … Now it’s being introduced as a minor campus-wide,” Anderson said. “It’s a huge win for people who understand that they don’t have to be job seekers, they can be job creators.”
SDSU Department Management associate professor Congcong Zheng has worked with several other professors to bring the minor to SDSU. Zheng notes the importance of the minor and the challenges associated with introducing it.
“It’s not easy to break down the barrier in the academic field to have this across-campus minor,” Zheng said.
SDSU already provides several key resources to help students cultivate real-world, innovative plans. The SDSU Lavin Entrepreneur Center offers internship placement programs that provide students with hands-on experience as well as fellowships that pair students with mentors to help establish working businesses. The Zahn Center for Technological Innovation provides a think tank to connect students. The SDSU Entrepreneur Society, open to any major, attempts to welcome a broad range of students to build entrepreneurial competency in students, foster ideas and bridge the gap between majors to create foundations built upon shared knowledge.
SDSU management associate professor Lawrence Rhyne believes the minor will be a practical tool for students.
“A lot of our students are looking at careers with the idea that they aren’t going to be working for someone, but that they will start their own company,” Rhyne said. “They have ideas and they need to turn them into a product.”
SDSU is a marketplace for ideas. SDSU alumnus Thom McElroy helped create the popular action sports company Volcom. Currently, SDSU entrepreneurs are creating a site called Jobioz, a site similar to LinkedIn, tailored specifically to connecting students with careers.
Many entrepreneurs stem from SDSU, now there is a minor that can enhance the skills of these natural-born leaders.
