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University of Rochester a National Winner in Kauffman
Foundation 'Campus Initiatives' Program
 The
Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation has selected the University
as one of eight institutions across the country—and
the only one in the Northeast—to receive a major,
multi-year grant to make entrepreneurship education
an even deeper ingredient of academic activity.
The foundation awarded the University $3.5 million,
which will be part of a $10.5 million University program—affecting
students and faculty in the Warner School, Eastman School
of Music, School of Nursing, the College of Arts, Sciences,
and Engineering, Simon School of Business Administration,
and School of Medicine and Dentistry.
With these funds, the University will begin a program
over the next five years to embed entrepreneurship into
programs across the disciplines and schools. Entrepreneurship
is relevant to all fields and can be interpreted as
a way to "transform ideas into enterprises that
generate value," where the value could be intellectual,
social, or economic.
"When we talk about educators as agents of change,
we are really talking about preparing educators with
the vision, knowledge, and skills to affect change,
manage risk, and make strategic investments of time
and resources in new initiatives," says Dean Raffaella
Borasi, who worked collaboratively with the other deans
and sees great opportunity in bringing a focused entrepreneurial
lens to education.
The initiative will include the creation of a University
Center for Entrepreneurship to identify new partnerships
with alumni, local businesses, and nonprofit organizations,
to encourage faculty to design coursework and programs,
and to advance research into "best practices"
in entrepreneurship education.
For Warner, the grant will help to expand Warner Center
initiatives, fund new courses, and lead to the development
of new certificate programs at Warner to prepare educators
for emerging careers in professional development and
program evaluation.
Kauffman Campuses Initiatives Grants also went to Washington
University in St. Louis, Wake Forest University, University
of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, University of Texas
at El Paso, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,
Howard University, and Florida International University
in Miami.
The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation (www.kauffman.org),
based in Kansas City, works with partners to advance
entrepreneurship in America and improve the education
of children and youth.
University of Rochester President Thomas H. Jackson,
Eastman School of Music Dean and Director James Undercofler,
and Warner School Dean Raffaella Borasi take questions
at a press conference announcing the Kauffman Award.
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