Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Minor

Program Description

Skills attributed to entrepreneurial behavior and innovative thinking are beneficial for students in most if not all majors, and are critical to career success in established companies and new organizations to address pressing needs around the globe. This interdisciplinary minor uses problem-based learning and other active learning pedagogies to prepare students to create value and be agents of positive change in their discipline and their careers. The courses develop skills, knowledge and values in problem solving, innovation, opportunity recognition, self-efficacy, leadership, ethics, communications and learning from failure. To meet the students’ broad range of entrepreneurship and innovation interests, core courses (9 credits) establish foundational knowledge, and then students select a concentration cluster aligned to specific contexts such as entrepreneurship in food and bio-innovation, technology, bio-tech, the arts, media, hospitality, digital, social entrepreneurship, advocacy or new ventures. Students who complete the ENTI minor will be better prepared to be innovation leaders in their chosen career path, such as being entrepreneurial in an existing company (intrapreneurship), engaging in a start-up venture full or part-time, finding avenues to leverage their art or craft, or creating alliances to meet social or business needs.

Advising for students in this minor and approval of curriculum exceptions will be available through the Entrepreneurship and Innovation (ENTI) adviser for each cluster.

Arts Cluster (College of Arts and Architecture)

This specialization prepares students for entrepreneurial action in an arts context. To "entrepreneur" in the arts, one must understand aesthetic value and what drives people to consume aesthetic products. By learning how various arts markets view and consume art, emerging arts entrepreneurs envision "products" with specific markets in mind and craft marketing strategies to communicate aesthetic value to audiences. Upon learning how the non-profit and for-profit arts ecologies operate, students envision and develop their arts career and venture within the context, tying together the aesthetic and cultural value of their art form with the business acumen necessary to launch and sustain an entrepreneurial arts enterprise.

Bio-Tech Cluster (Eberly College of Science)

This specialization prepares students to develop an entrepreneurial mindset and apply innovative strategies to find solutions that benefit humans, animals, and the environment. Students will also develop unique skills in career readiness such as teamwork, leadership and communication. Students who complete this cluster will be better able to take an interdisciplinary approach to solving problems through Biotechnology.

Digital Entrepreneurship and Innovation Cluster (College of Information Sciences and Technology)

This specialization prepares a student to harness digital technologies and digital business models to develop their own concepts into commercial concerns or to contribute to the innovation activities of existing organizations (i.e., intrapreneurship). The IST Digital Entrepreneurship & Innovation cluster focuses on the impact of Information Technology (IT)-driven innovation across multiple industry sectors including for-profit, non-profit and governmental organizations. IT-driven innovation has created new business opportunities for both entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs and is key to increasing efficiencies and expanding the linkage between user-centric products and services. Students who complete this cluster will gain a foundational understanding of emerging information technologies, the components of digital business models, and implementation and design techniques that meet or exceed user-centric requirements.

Entrepreneurship as Advocacy Cluster (College of the Liberal Arts)

This specialization empowers students to utilize the process of entrepreneurship as a form of advocacy to improve the human condition and enhance public life. The cluster leverages a critique of the business paradigm of "maximize shareholder value" to encourage students to create organizations that can be a force for positive change in society.

Food and Bio-innovation Cluster (College of Agricultural Sciences)

This specialization will develop future entrepreneurs and innovators to address opportunities and challenges in the agriculture and life sciences space. The cluster focuses on the cornerstone challenge for agriculture: producing food for the world with entrepreneurial activity and innovation to develop, convert and use biological materials and natural resources (plants, animals, ecosystems and organisms, etc.) to meet the material and energy needs of society. Students are encouraged to take a series of courses in the cluster that complement their personal venture interests and engage in a series of immersive venturing experiences that can range from creating new ventures to mentoring with seasoned entrepreneurs or working within entrepreneurial organizations.

Hospitality Management Cluster (College of Health and Human Development)

This specialization prepares a student to create and develop novel but sound entrepreneurial concepts related to the hospitality industry in such businesses as lodging and food service. For example, through this cluster, students could develop and refine entrepreneurial concepts related to hotels, motels, bed & breakfasts, quick-service restaurants, upscale restaurants, mobile dining such as food trucks, on-line travel agencies, and other on-line ventures. The minor is also designed to prepare students to be innovators within existing organizations. Students who complete this cluster develop skills in creating business plans, feasibility studies, competitive analysis, supply and demand analysis, market analysis and financial forecasting. Students in this concentration are expected to include a mix of majors, not only students majoring in hospitality management.

New Media Cluster (College of Communications)

This specialization examines opportunities and challenges in the creation and distribution of news, entertainment and information. The same technological innovations that make it easy to start a media enterprise have introduced a host of editorial and business complexities. Media production and distribution skills and knowledge of media business, technologies, law and ethics are critical.

New Ventures Cluster (Smeal College of Business)

This specialization helps students develop the skills and ways of thinking required to create, develop, innovate and manage entrepreneurial companies. Students learn about acquiring and balancing limited resources, changing business direction quickly, building a coherent team, managing intellectual property, and creating new markets. This cluster develops a wide range of managerial skills not usually demanded in one person within a larger organization.

Social Entrepreneurship Cluster (College of Engineering)

This specialization focuses on creating sustainable social impact within marginalized communities. The cluster grounds students in social business, user-centered design for extreme affordability, systems thinking and scholarly research to develop innovative and appropriate technology-based solutions to address compelling global challenges. Travel and fieldwork in which students work in multidisciplinary teams to research, design, test, and commercialize ventures are required.

Technology Based Entrepreneurship Cluster (College of Engineering)

This specialization develops skills and knowledge through a practical entrepreneurial experience in a technology based environment.  Technology and engineering design topics form the practical content of the cluster.  General entrepreneurial business topics and tracking current and emerging technologies provide additional foundation structure for this cluster. Students understand and apply fundamental engineering design skills, product feasibility analysis and marketing techniques to move innovative products toward commercialization.

What is Entrepreneurship and Innovation?

Entrepreneurship and innovation is an interdisciplinary field that deals with new enterprise creation and the process of change and transformation in methods, ideas, and products. It is about problem-solving and the creation of value and positive change in business and society.

You Might Like This Program If...

• You want to learn what entrepreneurs do and how innovators create and solve problems in any field. Whatever you’re majoring in or whatever career you’ve chosen, entrepreneurs and innovators are there already making a positive difference. You can learn to be one, too.
• You’re passionate about starting your own business, non-profit, or social enterprise (entrepreneurship) or pursuing a career as an innovator within an existing firm or organization (intrapreneurship).
• You want to learn the skills and develop the mindset of an entrepreneur and innovator.

MORE INFORMATION ABOUT ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND INNOVATION

Program Requirements

Requirements for the Minor

A grade of C or better is required for all courses in the minor, as specified by Senate Policy 59-10.

Arts Cluster

Course List

Code	Title	Credits
Required Courses
AA 323	Arts Enterprise Development 1	3
AA 424	Arts Entrepreneurship Capstone Research Project 1	3
Choose one 3-credit course from the following list: 2		3
AA 121	Design Thinking and Creativity
AA 322	Arts Marketing
GD 304	Practical Communications
PHOTO 404	Professional Photography Capstone Seminar: Self-Marketing and Professional Presence

bIO-tECH cLUSTER

Course List

Code	Title	Credits
Required Courses
Choose one foundational course for the Bio-Tech cluster from the following list:		3-4
MICRB 201	Introductory Microbiology
MICRB 201H	Introductory Microbiology
BMB/MICRB 251	Molecular and Cell Biology I
BMB 251H	Molecular and Cell Biology I
BIOL 230W	Biology: Molecules and Cells
BIOL 230M	Honors Biology: Molecules and Cells
Choose one of the following advanced courses for the Bio-Tech cluster:		3-4
BIOL 405	Molecular Evolution
BIOL 409	Biology of Aging
BIOL 412	Ecology of Infectious Diseases
BIOL 415	Ecotoxicology
BIOL 416	Biology of Cancer
BIOL 419	Ecological and Environmental Problem Solving
BIOL 419H	Ecological and Environmental Problem Solving
BIOL 424	Seeds of Change: The Uses of Plants
BIOL 426	Developmental Neurobiology
BIOL 432	Developmental Genetics
BIOL 439	Practical Bioinformatics
BIOL 443	Evo-devo: Evolution of Developmental Mechanisms
BIOL 451	Biology of RNA
BIOL/ANTH 460	Human Genetics
BIOL 461	Contemporary Issues in Science and Medicine
BIOL 467	Molecular Basis of Neurological Diseases
BIOL/BBH 469	Neurobiology
BIOTC/BIOL/HORT 459	Plant Tissue Culture and Biotechnology
BIOTC/AGRO 460	Advances and Applications of Plant Biotechnology
BMB 401	General Biochemistry
BMB 442	Laboratory in Proteins, Nucleic Acids, and Molecular Cloning
BMB/MICRB 480	Cancer Development and Progression
BMB 482	Introduction to Computational Biology
BMB 484	Functional Genomics
BMB/VBSC 485	Human Genomics and Biomedical Informatics
CHEM 402	Chemistry in the Environment
CHEM 423W	Chemical Spectroscopy
CHEM 425W	Chromatography and Electrochemistry
CHEM 431W	Organic and Inorganic Preparations
CHEM 459W	Advanced Experimental Physical Chemistry
CHEM 476	Biological Chemistry
FRNSC/CHEM 427W	Forensic Chemistry
MATH 405	Advanced Calculus for Engineers and Scientists I
MATH 406	Advanced Calculus for Engineers and Scientists II
MATH 448	Mathematics of Finance
MATH 450	Mathematical Modeling
MATH 484	Linear Programs and Related Problems
MATH 486	Mathematical Theory of Games
MICRB 401	Microbial Physiology and Structure
PHYS 462	Applications of Physics in Medicine
PHYS 465	Network analysis of biological systems
PHYS 472	Elements of Nuclear Physics and its Applications to Medical Imaging and Treatments
Choose one of the following capstone courses for the Bio-Tech cluster: 1		3
BIOTC/MICRB 416	Microbial Biotechnology
BIOTC/BIOL/HORT 459	Plant Tissue Culture and Biotechnology

Digital Entrepreneurship and Innovation Cluster

Entrepreneurship as Advocacy Cluster

Course List

Code	Title	Credits
Required Courses
LA 202	Innovation and Entrepreneurship in the Liberal Arts 1	3
LA 424	Liberal Arts Venture Development 1	3
Select 3 credits from the following list:		3
AFAM 100N	Black Freedom Struggles
AFAM/SOC/WMNST 103	Racism and Sexism
AFAM/LER/WMNST 136	Race, Gender, and Employment
AFAM/HIST/WMNST 213Y	African American Women's History
CAS/ENGL 137H	Rhetoric and Civic Life I
CAS 175	Persuasion and Propaganda
CAS 210	Landmark Speeches on Democracy and Dissent
CAS 220	Persuasion
CAS 222N/AYFCE 211N/CIVCM 211N	Foundations: Civic and Community Engagement
CAS 321	Rhetoric and Law
CAS 373	The Rhetorics of War and Peace
ENGL 162N	Communicating Care
ENGL 228	Introduction to Disability Studies in the Humanities
ENGL 236N	Inequality: Economics, Philosophy, Literature
LER 100	Introduction to Labor and Human Resources
LER 201	Employment Relationship: Law and Policy
PLSC 2	American Public Policy
PLSC 91
PLSC 210N	Rights in America
PSYCH 100	Introductory Psychology
SOC 1	Introductory Sociology
SOC 5	Social Problems
SOC/CRIM/CRIMJ 12	Criminology
SOC 23	Population and Policy Issues
WMNST 100	Introduction to Women's and Gender Studies
WMNST 105N	Living in a Diverse World
WMNST 200	Global Feminisms

Food and Bio-innovation Cluster

Course List

Code	Title	Credits
Select up to 6 credits of the following 200-300 level courses in the College of Agricultural Sciences:		6
AEE 201	Interpersonal Skills for Tomorrow's Leaders
AEE 311	Developing Youth Leadership through Organization and Program Structure
AGBM 200	Introduction to Agricultural Business Management
AGBM 302	Food Product Marketing
AGBM 308W	Strategic Decision Making in Agribusiness
AGBM 338	Agribusiness in the Global Economy
ANSC 201	Animal Science
ANSC 306	Swine Production and Management
ANSC 308	Sheep and Goat Production and Management
ANSC 309	Beef Cattle Production and Management
ANSC 310	Dairy Cattle Production and Management
ANSC 311	Poultry Production and Management
ANSC 324	Value Determination of Meat Animals
ANSC 327	Horse Production and Management
ANSC 350	Dairy Problem Solving
BRS/BE 391	Communication Skills for BE and BRS Students
BRS/BE 392	Leadership Skills for BE and BRS Students
CED 375	Community, Local Knowledge, and Democracy
ERM 300	Basic Principles and Calculations in Environmental Analysis
FDSC 200	Introductory Food Science
FDSC 206	Improving Food Quality
HORT 250	Landscape Contracting Design/Build Principles
Select at least 3 credits of the following 400 level courses in the College of Agricultural Sciences:		3
AGBM 407	Farm Planning and Financial Management
AGBM 408	Financial Decision Making for Agribusiness
AGBM 440	Food Product Innovation Management
AGBM 445	AgTech Entrepreneurship
AGBM/HORT 455	Retail Horticulture Business Management
AGBM 460	Managing the Food System
ANSC 410	Advanced Dairy Herd Management
ANSC 429	Advanced Beef Cattle Production
ANSC 450	Dairy Farm Management Systems
BRS/ERM 402	Foundations of Sustainable Business
BRS 429W	Biorenewable Systems Analysis and Management
BRS 437	Bioproduct Marketing and Sales
CED 417	Power, Conflict, and Community Decision Making
CED 425	International Community and Economic Development
CED 430W	Principles of Community Economic Development
ERM 411	Legal Aspects of Resource Management
ERM 412	Resource Systems Analysis
ERM 413W	Case Studies in Ecosystem Management
FDSC 411	Managing Food Quality
FDSC 430	Unit Operations in Food Processing
FDSC 444	Arguing about Food
FDSC/INTAG 460	International Food Production
FOR 440	Forest and Conservation Economics
HORT 410W	Issues in Landscape Contracting
HORT 453	Flower Crop Production and Management
HORT/AGBM 455	Retail Horticulture Business Management
TURF 436W	Case Studies in Turfgrass Management

Hospitality Management Cluster

New Media Cluster

New Ventures Cluster

Social Entrepreneurship Cluster

Technology Based Entrepreneurship Cluster

Academic Advising

The objectives of the university’s academic advising program are to help advisees identify and achieve their academic goals, to promote their intellectual discovery, and to encourage students to take advantage of both in-and out-of class educational opportunities in order that they become self-directed learners and decision makers.

Both advisers and advisees share responsibility for making the advising relationship succeed. By encouraging their advisees to become engaged in their education, to meet their educational goals, and to develop the habit of learning, advisers assume a significant educational role. The advisee’s unit of enrollment will provide each advisee with a primary academic adviser, the information needed to plan the chosen program of study, and referrals to other specialized resources.

READ SENATE POLICY 32-00: ADVISING POLICY

University Park

Arts Entrepreneurship Cluster

Jonathan Gangi
Assistant Professor of Music and Arts Entrepreneurship
College of Arts and Architecture
104G Borland Building
University Park, PA 16802
814-865-9523
jjg27@psu.edu

Bio-Tech Cluster

Beatrice Sirakaya
Assistant Teaching Professor
201 South Frear Laboratory
University Park, PA 16802
814-865-8192
bxs205@psu.edu

Digital Entrepreneurship and Innovation Cluster

Megan Costello
Lecturer of IST and Undergraduate Studies Entrepreneurship Academic Program Coordinator
College of Information Science and Technology
E316 Westgate Building
University Park, PA 16802
muc148@psu.edu

Entrepreneurship as Advocacy Cluster

Chris Spielvogel
Associate Teaching Professor
College of the Liberal Arts
227A Sparks Building
University Park, PA 16802
814-863-6260
jcs111@psu.edu

Food and Bio-Innovation Cluster

Mark Gagnon
Harbaugh Entrepreneurship Scholar
College of Agricultural Sciences
208A Armsby Building
University Park, PA 16802
814-865-0469
mag199@psu.edu

Hospitality Management Cluster

William Kidd
Instructor
School of Hospitality Management, College of Health and Human Development
228 Mateer Building
University Park, PA 16802
814-863-4847
wrk2@psu.edu

New Media Cluster

Anne Hoag
Associate Professor
Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications
105b Carnegie Building    
University Park, PA 16802
814-865-7084
amh13@psu.edu

New Ventures Cluster

Jamey Darnell
Clinical Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship
417 Business Building
University Park, PA 16802
814-863-0740
jad961@psu.edu

Social Entrepreneurship Cluster

John Gershenson  
Director of Humanitarian Engineering and Social Entrepreneurship
School of Engineering Design, Technology and Professional Programs, College of Engineering
213 Hammond Building
University Park, PA 16802
814-865-2952
jzg322@psu.edu

Technology Based Entrepreneurship Cluster

Ted Graef
Director of Engineering Entrepreneurship
School of Engineering Design, Technology and Professional Programs
213 Hammond Building
University Park, PA 16802
814-863-2587
jtg150@psu.edu

Abington

Peter Hornberger
Lecturer, Management & Entrepreneurship
Rydal Executive Plaza, 309
Abington, PA 19001
215-881-7388
pah224@psu.edu

Beaver

Ashu Kumar
Instructor in Information Sciences and Technology
100 University Drive
Monaca, PA 15061
724-773-3894
axk60@psu.edu

Berks

Sadan Kultrel
Program Coordinator, Professor
Gaige 329
Reading, PA 19610
610-396-6137
sadan@psu.edu

Erie

Linda Hajec
Assistant Teaching Professor of Accounting
281G Burke
Erie, PA 16563
814-898-6102
lla129@psu.edu

Contact

University Park

UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION
Intercollege Minor in Entrepreneurship and Innovation
105b Carnegie Building
University Park, PA 16802
814-865-7084
amh13@psu.edu

https://www.enti.psu.edu

Abington

DIVISION OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
1600 Woodland Road
Abington, PA 19001
215-881-7388
pah224@psu.edu

Beaver

100 University Drive
Monaca, PA 15061
724-773-3894
axk60@psu.edu

https://beaver.psu.edu/academics/enti

Berks

EBC DIVISION
Gaige Building
Reading, PA 19610
610-396-6137
sadan@psu.edu

https://berks.psu.edu/enti-minor-overview

Erie

BLACK SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
281 Jack Burke Research and Economic Development Center
5101 Jordan Road
Erie, PA 16563
814-898-6107
behrend-business@psu.edu

https://behrend.psu.edu/school-of-business