Alumni

Valpo Awarded Second Grant for Entrepreneurial Curriculum

Viewing innovation as a key to a successful career, Valparaiso University’s College of Business Administration and the College of Engineering have continued a partnership that helps prepare students to become entrepreneurs.

For the second straight year, Valpo was awarded a $50,000 grant from the Kern Entrepreneurship Education Network as the business and engineering colleges continue to develop course work and co-curricular opportunities for students.

“The KEEN initiative has had a positive impact in all of the targeted areas,” said Paul Trapp, assistant professor of marketing and international business.

The goal of the initiative is to teach students how to see opportunities, gather the resources and create products that fulfill a need.

“Our goal is to integrate entrepreneurship topics into engineering courses at all levels, from freshmen to seniors, so that students have many opportunities to learn about how entrepreneurship skills can benefit them in their careers, whether they start their own business or use those skills to become innovative leaders within existing companies,” said Doug Tougaw ’05 M.B.A., Richardson professor of engineering.

The initiative has created a partnership with Students in Free Enterprise, a student campus organization. Students involved with the entrepreneurial activities also will take part a number of public events to build relationships with entrepreneurs in the community.