The educational goals are to provide students with an appreciation of the entrepreneurial process, to provide students with the critical skills necessary to become successful entrepreneurial and intrapreneurial leaders and to promote economic development and new venture creation and growth in our community.  These goals will be accomplished via lectures, case studies, discussions, development of strategic marketing plans, the preparation of business plans and field study projects.

 Entrepreneurship Course Descriptions

GEB 6115 New Venture Formation/ EIN 6115 Technology Venture Strategies (3 Hours)

An overview of the new venture creation process, this course is intended to provide new MS EAT and MBA students with a basic understanding of the entrepreneurial process of Venture Creation and Innovation.  Lectures and selected case studies are combined with experienced guest speakers to give students a rich understanding of the challenges facing entrepreneurs.

GEB 6116 Business Plan Development/ EIN 6324 Technology Entrepreneurship (3 Hours)

Business Plan Development is one of two summary or ‘capstone’ courses in the MS EAT program.  The first part of the course focuses on developing the effective written and oral communication skills students will need in preparing and presenting their business plans to investors.  The second part of the course is focused on how to develop an effective business plan.  Student teams will develop a business plan for either an opportunity developed by students or one by an entrepreneur in the local community.  Business plans developed by student teams will be presented before a panel of local entrepreneurs for evaluation and critique in a business plan competition format. 

GEB 6930/EIN 6935 Strategic Market Assessment for New Technologies (3 Hours)

This course focuses on development of techniques for assessing technology merit of new innovations (including development of an appreciation and understanding of intellectual property) and development of strategic frameworks to commercialize new products.  It uses classroom discussions, field projects, and technology assessment tools to evaluate investigators’ intellectual property portfolios of client entrepreneurs and technology organizations to help create high value licensing opportunities and new venture creations.                                                  

GEB 6930/ EIN 6934 Fundamentals of Venture Capital and Private Equity in Entrepreneurship (3 Hours)

The course focuses on critical skills necessary to develop appropriate financing strategies for new venture creation and growth.  Students will use case studies and team projects in course studies.  Three primary topics are covered: first, an overview of the entrepreneurial finance process and involved players; second, performing business valuations; and third, securities law with emphasis on developing term sheets and private placement memorandums.  Student teams will complete a valuation and mock securities offering for an existing small to mid size business.  Financial valuations and terms sheets developed by student teams will be presented to a panel of venture capital professionals for evaluation and critique. 

GEB 6930 Product Development/ EIN 6936 Advanced Product Development (3 Hours)

This course focuses on new product development process from invention to commercialization of technology products.  Topics include intellectual property, product design, manufacturing process patent process, licensing, market assessment, and commercialization.  Students will use case studies and team projects in the course of study.

GEB 6930 Applied Topics in Entrepreneurship (permit only) (3 Hours)

The Advanced Topics course is intended to provide students the opportunity to apply acquired knowledge into practice.  This is achieved either through an individual, faculty directed project or through a field study/internship.  Students elect either option depending on their individual needs and goals.  Individual projects typically involve developing a business plan for a business the student intends to launch.  Internships involve working directly with senior business leaders in an entrepreneurial environment.  Students will be expected to participate in open classroom discussion of their on-going experiences during their projects/internships, with a presentation of their project before peers and faculty.  (A limited number of fellowships may also be applied)

GEB 6930 Strategies in Technology Entrepreneurship/ EIN 6936 Strategies Entrepreneurship in Technology (3 Hours)

The strategy course is the second ‘capstone’ course together with business planning for MS EAT students.  Students acquire an in depth understanding of the strategic planning process and theories of competitive advantage and opportunity recognition.  The course is taught from a ‘corporate entrepreneurship’ perspective: how existing business ventures grow and transform themselves through identifying and pursuing new opportunities outside of their core business.

GMS 6094 Biomedical Ethics for Business and Entrepreneurship  (3 Hours)

The course focuses on the various ethical issues related to the development, production and marketing of biomedical, biologic and pharmaceutical products.  In particular, topics will focus on the current status of medical devices and human health care products.

GMS 6095 Principles of Intellectual Property (3 Hours)

This course focuses on the various approaches to protection of intellectual property rights including domestic and international patent filings, copyrights, trademarks and trade secrets.  The course examines the relevance of intellectual property protection to the development of a global strategy for business growth.

EIN 6430 Overview of Regulated Industries (3 Hours)

This course examines the environment landscape of conducting business operations in industries requiring regulatory oversight from governmental agencies and /or industry oversight groups.  The course examines the role these entities play in the development, manufacturing, marketing, and distribution of consumer products.