Syracuse University, among select group to compete for $5 million entrepreneurship prizes, receives $50,000 planning grant

Syracuse University, among select group to compete for $5 million entrepreneurship prizes, receives $50,000 planning grantSeptember 03, 2003Cynthia J. Moritzcjmoritz@syr.edu

The Kauffman Foundation has selected Syracuse University as one of 15 universities across the country to compete for grants of as much as $5 million. The grant program’s intent is to spread entrepreneurship across college and university campuses.

Thirty colleges and universities were invited to submit initial proposals for the Kauffman Campuses Initiative. Only 15 entrants were selected to continue; each has received a $50,000 planning grant to assist with the development of a comprehensive proposal, which will be presented in December. The Kauffman Foundation will award five to seven larger grants.

SU’s entry in the competition, titled “Syracuse Comprehensive Entrepreneurship Initiative,” is spearheaded by the program in Entrepreneurship and Emerging Enterprises (EEE) in the Martin J. Whitman School of Management.

If SU wins one of the final grants, the campus will benefit in a number of ways, according to Michael Morris, director of the EEE program and Witting Chair in Entrepreneurship. “It will establish a model for campus-wide cross-disciplinary collaboration,” he says, “and a large number of opportunities will be created for students in all disciplines to develop entrepreneurial skills and apply entrepreneurship to work in their own disciplines.” Other benefits he cites are the involvement of students in substantive economic development initiatives within the community, the opportunity for students to experience total immersion in entrepreneurship as they move from freshman year through graduate school and the opportunity for EEE’s curriculum to evolve into one of the leading entrepreneurship course offerings in the world.

The Kauffman Campuses Initiative builds on the Kauffman Foundation’s 10-year history of supporting entrepreneurship education efforts at U.S. colleges and universities. “We hope to effect nothing less than a cultural transformation,” says Carl Schramm, president and CEO of the Kauffman Foundation. “These grants will unleash the power of entrepreneurship on campus. We want all students-not just those enrolled in business or engineering schools-to have access to the skills, orientation and networks that lead to greater opportunities for them and result in more jobs, innovation and prosperity for America.”

The other universities competing for the entrepreneurship grants include Florida International University, Howard University, Purdue University, University of California-San Diego, University of Illinois, University of Maryland-Baltimore County, University of Memphis, University of New Mexico, University of North Carolina, University of Rochester, University of Texas-El Paso, University of Wisconsin, Wake Forest University and Washington University.