Kettering wins $225,000 grant for entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship studies
By Patricia Mroczek
Kettering won a $225,000 grant to encourage the development of a nationally innovative program focused on teaching entrepreneurship studies across the curriculum. Kettering joins the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) as the only two grant winners to enter the next phase of a program spear-headed and supported by the Kern Family Foundation of Waukesha, Wisconsin.
Provost Michael Harris said he was delighted with the news and thankful to the foundation, the many faculty members and talented students who have laid the groundwork for Kettering’s nationally innovative program. “This generous grant and the confidence expressed by the Kern Family Foundation will help us prepare students who excel in Engineering, Science and Business, while valuing and promoting entrepreneurship. It is consistent with our mission and gives Kettering another opportunity to enhance the University's capacity to provide relevant opportunities to prepare for and even create the jobs of tomorrow,” he said.
The grant came through the Kern Entrepreneurship Education Network (KEEN), a program encompassing 22 universities and colleges across the country. KEEN aims to graduate engineers equipped with an entrepreneurial mindset who will contribute to business success and in so doing transform the U.S. workforce. The strength of the KEEN program is in this network of colleges that collaborate to share best practices in producing entrepreneurial-minded graduates.
Harris explained that through faculty training Kettering will expose students to entrepreneurship throughout their academic and co-op experience, including working with students to incorporate an entrepreneurial focus in their senior theses. To do this, key faculty and administration will establish a seminar in which representatives from each department will participate to learn the importance of entrepreneurship and to integrate it into their courses. Kettering faculty will also read articles, listen to and question guest speakers and participate in a term-long workshop where the outcome is a revised syllabus for their own courses. They will also teach from the revised syllabus and document the changes made. Once the University has piloted this new system, it will serve as a model for other universities in the network to adopt or adapt as they reformulate their curricula.
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