Programs

Undergraduate

Graduate

Doctoral

Faculty

Middle- and High School

Community

Advising and Consulting Services

Women Entrepreneurs Blog @ Simon

Undergraduate Programs

UR Entrepreneurs Club
http://www.sa.rochester.edu/urentrepreneurs/

UR Entrepreneurs works to promote and facilitate entrepreneurship in the UR community by providing education, inspiration, and networking opportunities. We inspire and facilitate members of varied backgrounds to form foundations and collaborations for development and launching of ideas. The UR Entrepreneurs also develops professional relationships with businesses and other entities that can offer advice and support.


Kauffman Entrepreneurial Year (KEY)
http://www.rochester.edu/college/ccas/AdviserHandbook/KEY.html

The University of Rochester defines entrepreneurship as “transforming an idea into an enterprise that generates value,” implying that the enterprise outlives the creator and that it positively affects others. The Kauffman Entrepreneurial Year (KEY) Program offers selected students a fifth, tuition-free, year of college to encourage students to pursue entrepreneurial endeavors. Qualified UR students may propose to devote as much as an entire academic year to internships, special projects, business plan development, research into various facets of entrepreneurship, or analysis of how culture and public policy influence entrepreneurial activity. Students may apply from the time that they have been accepted into a major through the second semester of their senior year.

To learn more about the Kauffman Entrepreneurial Year Program, its guidelines, and how you may want to proceed with your application, you should attend one of the following information sessions. The Fall application deadline is Monday, November 3, 2008 at 4:00pm. The same information is presented at each meeting; you need only attend one. Meetings are held in Lattimore 311. The Spring deadline is Thursday, March 19, 2009 at 4:00p.m.


Fall 2008 Kauffman Entrepreneurial Year (KEY) Information Sessions
All Information Sessions will be held from 4:00pm to 5:00pm in Lattimore 311.

  • Wednesday, September 10
  • Thursday, September 18
  • Monday, September 22
  • Wednesday, October 1
  • Tuesday, October 7
  • Thursday, October 16
Kauffman Entrepreneurial Year (KEY) Application Due

For more information, please contact KEY Program Administrator Juliet Sullivan (jsloger@mail.rochester.edu).

Click here for an overview of the application process.

Click here to download an application.

Click here to view past KEY Project descriptions.

Click here to hear current and past students talk about their KEY projects.

Join the Facebook group to talk to current and former KEY students


Urban Fellows Program
http://www.rochester.edu/college/rccl/internships/urbanfellows/

The Urban Fellows Summer Program emphasizes civic engagement, promotes learning about urban issues, and encourages a celebration and appreciation for cross-cultural issues and urban living. Through the Urban Fellows program, University of Rochester students work in area community agencies, study urban issues, and meet with local leaders, all in an effort to contribute to the Rochester community.

Eighty-five college students—about one-half from the University of Rochester—have served at least 30 different organizations since Urban Fellows began in 2002. Run by the local nonprofit Leadership Rochester with the College of Arts, Sciences, and Engineering, Urban Fellows is a collaborative effort funded by the Rochester Area Community Foundation, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, and City Hall. Stipends are available to fund these fellowships in the Rochester Community.

For more information, please contact interim Program Coordinator Matthew Burns (matthew.burns@rochester.edu).

Click here to download an application.

Click here for overview of Urban Fellows program.


Rochester Youth Year
http://www.rochester.edu/college/rccl/internships/youthyear/

The Rochester Youth Year Program provides an unusual opportunity for recent college graduates to engage in their community and provide much needed service to the youth of Rochester. It also offers a rare opportunity for recent graduates to become immersed in the life of the city as well as to connect to civic leaders of Rochester and Monroe County. Throughout the year, the program staff will work to develop special opportunities for Fellows to network with potential employers and young professionals living in the area.

Rochester Youth Year (RYY) combines the talent and expertise of community agencies, students, faculty and administrators to create and enhance the resources and support systems available for Rochester's youth. The program is the product of collaborative efforts between the University of Rochester, SUNY Geneseo, Roberts Wesleyan College, and the Rochester City School District.

For more information please contact Americorps/Vista Project Coordinator Sam Nichols (snichols@ur.rochester.edu).

Click here to download the application and brochure.


Mark Ain Business Model Workshop Series and Competition
http://www.rochester.edu/entrepreneurship/ain.html

The Mark Ain Business Model Workshop Series and Competition provides aspiring student entrepreneurs at the University of Rochester an opportunity to attend a series of three workshops that cover the following topics: articulation of their concept, sizing up market dynamics, development of business and operational models, and exposure to startup implementation issues.

At the conclusion of the workshops, student finalists present their concept, analysis, and recommended business model to a panel of distinguished alumni entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship professionals in a competition with a first-place cash prize of $10,000. The competition is made possible by support from Simon alumnus and entrepreneur Mark S. Ain '67, founder of Kronos Incorporated, the Chelmsford, Massachusetts-based market leader in the workforce management industry.


Charles and Janet Forbes Competition
http://www.seas.rochester.edu/SEAS/entrepreneurship.html

The primary goal of the Charles and Janet Forbes Entreprenuerial Award is to encourage current, full-time UR undergraduate engineering students to consider the commercial potential of their design project or research. Students, individually or in teams, compete by submitting a business plan for a manufacturing or a technical business, often based on their senior design projects, but not limited to those projects. Students intending to compete for the Award should contact the Associate Dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

Many competitors enroll in EAS 202K: Entrepreneurial Product Development Topics, which explores a variety of topics important to anyone intent on bringing a new product to market. Monetary prizes are awarded.

For more information, please contact Rosemary Boyd Parker (rosemary.b.parker@rochester.edu).


Eastman New Venture Challenge
http://www.esm.rochester.edu/iml/kauffevents.html

The Eastman New Venture Challenge is a contest to encourage new thinking and innovative ideas in music. It gives Eastman students the opportunity to fulfill a business plan that could result in the launch of a new entrepreneurial enterprise. Successful entrants will have demonstrated creativity, innovation, uniqueness, and added value to the music field.

For more information, please contact Professor Ramon Ricker (rricker@esm.rochester.edu) at the Institute for Music Leadership.


Graduate Programs

Simon Entrepreneurs Club
http://simonexchange.rochester.edu/home/Clubs/SE

Simon Entrepreneur's (SE) is a student-run, faculty, industry, and community advised club, centered at the William E. Simon School of Business Administration at the University of Rochester. The club was founded in September, 2005 on the following vision:

We declare the possibility of instilling entrepreneurship as a way of being in all endeavors and integrating students, faculty, alumni and external resources to create a platform for launching successful ventures and contributing to the development of a top ten entrepreneurship program.

Implicit in this declaration is the realization that entrepreneurship is a way of managing one’s life and resources to undertake new ventures. It can be applied not only to emerging technologies, but also to family and small businesses, initiatives and restructuring in large corporations, social impact, and personal projects. It is the goal of SE to create an environment that fosters such thinking in all disciplines by creating a portfolio of academic, professional, and social activities that integrate entrepreneurial interests and resources from throughout the Rochester community.

In doing so, SE believes it will help create leaders with the skills to thrive within uncertainty and ambiguity. Additionally, SE activities will accelerate the rate of Rochester companies started per year, spurring economic growth in the region. These outcomes will prove to be self-perpetuating as they will yield knowledge that is fed back into the curriculum and attract more highly qualified students to Simon, ultimately leading to a program that is internationally recognized as top ten.


VISION-CONNECT
http://outside2.simon.rochester.edu/clubs/vision/

The VISION Program is the unique student-managed portion of the Simon School's M.B.A. experience. Designed each year by a committee of second-year M.B.A. students, the program was established to complement the academic curriculum and to prepare effective managers for today's dynamic business environment. The VISION Program is required for all first-year full-time M.B.A. students.

For 2007-2008, the VISION Board has established a new Corporate Social Responsibility initiative -"VISION CONNECT"- in association with the University of Rochester Center For Entrepreneurship. Simon students will now have an opportunity to work on real world projects such as marketing and business plans for Not-for-Profit organizations and their clients in the Rochester area. Students can evaluate and choose the projects based on their area of interest and will receive Vision credits based on the project length and feedback from the agency. Most of the projects will be 2-4 weeks in duration.

    VISION CONNECT PARTNER ASSOCIATIONS:

  1. City of Rochester Economic Development Department
  2. Small Business Development Center
  3. Ibero-American Action League, Inc.
  4. Action For a Better Community, Inc.
  5. The Community Place of Greater Rochester, Inc.
  6. NeighborWorks
  7. Urban League of Rochester, NY, Inc.

For more information, please e-mail VISION@simon.rochester.edu.

Master of Science, Science & Technology Commercialization (MSSTC)
http://www.simon.rochester.edu/other/MSSTC_overview.aspx

The ability to commercialize new technology rapidly is essential for competitive advantage in dynamically changing private and public sector environments. Science and technology commercialization is key to the reinvention of organizations and the basis for the creation of new customer oriented technology-based enterprises.

Through the MSSTC program one gains the knowledge and skills to cope with the formidable economic, social, financial, and political changes associated with creating economic value from knowledge. The focus is on the rapid transfer of research, knowledge, and technology from ideas to the marketplace—the entrepreneurial wealth creation process. Scholarships of up to $10,000 are available through a WIRED grant (Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development).

For more information, please contact Jack Fraser, Office of Technology Transfer (jfraser@ott.rochester.edu).


Mark Ain Business Model Workshop Series and Competition
http://www.rochester.edu/entrepreneurship/ain.html

The Mark Ain Business Model Workshop Series and Competition provides aspiring student entrepreneurs at the University of Rochester an opportunity to attend a series of three workshops that cover the following topics: articulation of their concept, sizing up market dynamics, development of business and operational models, and exposure to startup implementation issues.

At the conclusion of the workshops, student finalists present their concept, analysis, and recommended business model to a panel of distinguished alumni entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship professionals in a competition with a first-place cash prize of $10,000. The competition is made possible by support from Simon alumnus and entrepreneur Mark S. Ain '67, founder of Kronos Incorporated, the Chelmsford, Massachusetts-based market leader in the workforce management industry.


Graduate Student Research Grants
http://research.kauffman.org

The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation offers Kauffman Dissertation Fellowship grants in the amount of $15,000; the grants are awarded to current Ph.D. students engaged in the study of entrepreneurship, and represent a variety of academic disciplines.

"The work completed at the beginning of a young academic's career often influences his or her future research interests," said Robert J. Strom, Ph.D., director of entrepreneurship research and policy at the Foundation. "We hope these grants will inspire this group of promising scholars, representing many different disciplines, to make a substantial contribution to the growing body of scholarly literature on entrepreneurship."

The Kauffman Dissertation Fellowship program was begun in 2002. Since then, 62 grants have been awarded, totaling more than $900,000. Information regarding the 2008-2009 Kauffman Dissertation Fellowship Program will be available on the Kauffman Entrepreneurship Research Portal by August 1, 2008.


Eastman New Venture Challenge
http://www.esm.rochester.edu/iml/kauffevents.html

The Eastman New Venture Challenge is a contest to encourage new thinking and innovative ideas in music. It gives Eastman students the opportunity to fulfill a business plan that could result in the launch of a new entrepreneurial enterprise. Successful entrants will have demonstrated creativity, innovation, uniqueness, and added value to the music field.

For more information, please contact Professor Ramon Ricker (rricker@esm.rochester.edu) at the Institute for Music Leadership.


Doctoral

Kauffman Dissertation Fellowship Grants
The Dissertation Fellowship Program is now accepting applications for 2008-09. The program will award up to fifteen Dissertation Fellowship grants of $20,000 each to Ph.D., D.B.A., or other doctoral students for the support of dissertations in the area of entrepreneurship. Recipients may use the grant to pay for costs associated with their dissertation, including data collection and analysis, databases, specialized hardware/software, and travel. The deadline to submit proposals is 5:30 p.m. Pacific Time on Wednesday, October 1, 2008.

Click here for complete information and to download the application documents.


Faculty

Kauffman Faculty Research Grants
The University of Rochester has adopted a broad definition of entrepreneurship: "Transforming Ideas into Enterprises that Create Value," where the value could be economic, cultural or social. From 2005 to 2008, the University offered research grants on a semi-annual basis for clinical and tenured faculty at UR who were conducting research that helped us better understand how entrepreneurship thus defined may play out in different fields.

Click here to see a list of Kauffmann Faculty Research Grant awardees from the years 2005-2008.


Kauffman Bridging Fellowships
http://www.rochester.edu/provost/2006bridgingmemo.html

The Bridging Fellowship Program is a University-wide program that supports members of the University faculties in interdisciplinary study. Specifically, the program releases members from departmental obligations for one semester to allow them to move to another part of the University for the purpose of learning aspects of another discipline. The Kauffman Bridging Fellowships will be granted to support faculty working in areas related to the Kauffman Campuses Initiative. Prospective bridging fellows must propose a course of study, a line of research, or a specific project of enterprise creation, to their respective dean.


Middle- and High-School Programs

Young Entrepreneurs Academy (YEA!)
http://www.rochester.edu/College/osp/apply/yea_app.html

The Young Entrepreneurs Academy, developed with the support of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, is a yearlong program that educates middle- and high-school students in a course of project-based, hands-on entrepreneurial education. The program teaches students about entrepreneurship by teaching them how to write a business plan, pitch to potential investors, obtain funding, and then launch their company or social movement.

During the business plan and business development phases, students meet with business mentors from the city and surrounding areas who offer valuable advice based on their experience in the professional world.

For more information, please contact Program Director Gayle Jagel (gayle.jagel@rochester.edu).

Click here for overview of YEA! program.


Rochester Scholars and Rochester Scholars Jr.
http://www.rochester.edu/college/osp/youth.html

These innovative pre-college programs allow middle- and high-school students to gain new perspectives and meet peers with similar academic and personal interests while focusing upon an area of study. The wide range of course options include: "Entrepreneurship: How to Start your Own Business," "Sports Marketing," and "Digital Art." These non-credit courses are offered during winter, spring and summer breaks.

Click here for more information on the Rochester Scholars and Rochester Scholars Jr. programs.


Community Programs

Rochester Regional Business Plan Competition
http://www.htr.org/2008rochesterregionalbusinessplancontest.asp

The 2009 Rochester Regional Business Plan Contest is designed to advance new, high-growth ventures and encourage entrepreneurship in the Greater Rochester New York Region. Three winners will be selected to receive a customized business development and support package, including a cash award and in-kind services, to help grow their new ventures. The first- and second-place winners will be eligible to compete in the Golden Horseshoe Business Challenge.


Golden Horseshoe Business Challenge
http://www.rochesterbiz.com/GoldenHorseshoe/

The Golden Horseshoe Business Challenge is targeted toward entrepreneurs in cities in Western New York and Ontario, Canada. The first-place winner will receive $100,000 in cash to help implement the winning business plan. Judges will include a select group of venture capitalists. The competition is made possible by generous support from Simon alumnus and entrepreneur Mark S. Ain '67, founder of Kronos Incorporated, and the Finger Lakes WIRED grant from the Department of Labor. Participants in the Golden Horseshoe Business Challenge must first compete at the regional level.

Click here for an overview of the Golden Horseshoe Business Challenge.


Advising and Consulting Services

Advising and consulting services at the University of Rochester Center for Entrepreneurship include personal counsel from the University’s Entrepreneur-in-Residence and support from talented Simon Graduate School of Business students. Professional mentoring, on a flexible schedule, will help entrepreneurs and businesspeople improve on their business models; identify problems and formulate solutions; and create connections and networking opportunities. Open to University faculty and staff, students, and the greater Rochester community, this service offers multiple benefits to aspiring entrepreneurs, businesspeople, not-for-profit organizations, and established companies.

To learn more about advising and consulting services or to schedule an appointment, call the University of Rochester Center for Entrepreneurship at 585.276.3500.


Women Entrepreneurs Blog @ Simon


http://www.webatsimon.com

The Women Entrepreneurs Blog @ Simon provides a fact-filled online forum for women interested in starting their own businesses or furthering an existing entrepreneurial venture. The blog contains helpful information on starting a business, creating a business plan, finding financing, legal direction and much more. It also features insights from leading Western New York female entrepreneurs, including:

  • Suzanne Clarridge, president, C.E.O. and founder of My Brands Inc.
  • Yvonne DiVita, founder and president of Windsor Media Enterprises L.L.C.
  • Lauren Dixon, C.E.O. of Dixon-Schwabl Advertising
  • Jane Glazer, founder and president of QCI Direct
  • Cindy Hirschberg, intellectual property attorney at Brown & Michaels, P.C.
  • Stella Slaight, vice president of business and professional banking at M&T Bank
  • Kitty Van Bortel of Van Bortel Subaru