December 15, 2006
Kauffman Foundation awards Purdue $1.5 million grant to bolster campuswide entrepreneurship programs
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The Kauffman Foundation grant to Purdue and the Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship in Discovery Park is part of a $200 million effort to transform the way entrepreneurship education is taught in the nation's colleges and universities.
"Entrepreneurship is fast becoming the hottest ticket on campus with the demand for education in this area growing exponentially in the past few decades," said Alan Rebar, executive director of Discovery Park and interim director of the Burton Morgan Center. "The Kauffman Foundation grant will energize entrepreneurship on the Purdue campus through all of our disciplines."
Purdue was one of a select number of universities to receive grants as part of the foundation's Kauffman Campuses Initiative. That effort was launched in 2003 to foster creation of interdisciplinary entrepreneurship programs, tapping into college students with backgrounds in liberal arts, engineering and other non-business programs.
Purdue was selected based on a series of criteria, including the ability to create a culture of entrepreneurship that permeates the campus, the potential to create new representative models and the ability to collaborate with other foundations and partners.
With the Kauffman Foundation's current investment, combined with matching commitments from other funding partners, including the Burton D. Morgan Foundation in Akron, Ohio, more than $200 million will be directed to cross-campus entrepreneurship programs over the next five years.
"Purdue, along with the other new Kauffman campuses, will empower all students on campus to access the skills, orientation and networks that can lead to greater individual opportunities and to the creation of jobs, innovation and prosperity for America," said Carl Schramm, president and CEO of the Kauffman Foundation.
Of the two- and four-year accredited, not-for-profit colleges and universities in the United States, more than 80 percent currently teach entrepreneurship, according to the Kauffman Foundation. About 90 percent of the nation's 888 accredited master's and doctoral degree-granting institutions offer entrepreneurship courses and, in most cases, multiple courses and degree options.
Of the 1,191 accredited two-year colleges, 78 percent offer at least one entrepreneurship course for credit. More than 700 four-year colleges and universities now have entrepreneurship centers to help students, faculty and community members launch new ventures.
"We know there's an entrepreneurial spirit sweeping across college campuses today, and we're thrilled to build on this momentum so that entrepreneurship becomes a natural and vital aspect of the American education experience," said Judith Cone, the Kauffman Foundation's vice president of entrepreneurship. "Our goal is to make the entire university system more entrepreneurial."
The Burton Morgan Center was launched at Purdue's interdisciplinary research hub, Discovery Park, to bring together existing entrepreneurial efforts on campus. The center also serves as a resource for Purdue researchers to commercialize their discoveries and as the intellectual center of education on, and discussion of, entrepreneurial philosophy and issues.
In conjunction with Purdue's Krannert School of Management, the Burton Morgan Center serves as host of the annual life sciences and business-plan competitions, which draw participants from across the country.
In fall 2005, Purdue and the Burton Morgan Center created the undergraduate certificate in entrepreneurship and innovation program. The first class last fall had 40 students and grew to more than 600 students this fall. Rebar said the center's certificate program is on target to hit its 1,000-student goal by fall 2008.
"We see the Kauffman Campus Initiative as an enormous opportunity for Purdue and the Burton Morgan Center to build on an already very strong foundation and to take entrepreneurship to a signature level that we believe has never been seen at a major research university," Rebar said.
Purdue will sponsor several campus events from Feb. 22 through March 3 in connection with Entrepreneurship Week USA and its national theme, "What's Your Big Idea? Take it On!" The event is sponsored by the Kauffman Foundation along with government and not-for-profit organizations and businesses, including The New York Times and INC. magazine. Additionally, the U.S. House of Representatives noted the importance of entrepreneurship education this fall by enacting a resolution in support of a national entrepreneurship week.
The Kauffman Foundation, which is based in Kansas City, Mo., is a private, nonpartisan foundation that works with partners to advance entrepreneurship in America and improve the education of children and youth. The late entrepreneur and philanthropist Ewing Marion Kauffman established the foundation in the mid-1960s.
Writer: Phillip Fiorini, (765) 496-3133, (765) 427-3009, pfiorini@purdue.edu
Sources: Alan Rebar, (765) 496-6625, rebar@purdue.edu
Michelle Keller, Kauffman Foundation, (816) 932-1024, mkeller@kauffman.org
Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu
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