The University of Rochester is among 15 universities across the country selected by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation of Kansas City, Mo., to participate in the Foundation's Kauffman Campuses Initiative, a new program aimed at making entrepreneurship education a common and accessible campuswide opportunity.

The new Kauffman Campuses Initiative builds on an emerging trend among colleges and universities to expand entrepreneurship education beyond business schools so that entrepreneurship training and experiences are available across departments and to students of diverse disciplines.

A $50,000 planning grant awarded by the Kauffman Foundation to the University of Rochester will help fund development of a proposal to be presented in December. The foundation will award five to seven challenge grants of up to $5 million based on demonstrated ability to:
· Make entrepreneurship a common and accessible experience for all students.
· Infuse entrepreneurship into campus culture.
· Adopt a unique, innovative, and potentially break-away approach.
· Provide support of top university leadership.
· Position the University of Rochester to serve as a model for other colleges and universities.

"At Rochester, we understand entrepreneurship to mean the transformation of ideas into enterprises that generate value--intellectual, cultural, and economic," said Thomas H. Jackson, University president. "The University of Rochester is George Eastman's university. Eastman's educational philanthropy--itself the fruit of his distinctive entrepreneurial genius--made it possible for Rochester to become a leader among American universities."

The Kauffman Campuses Initiative would give the University the opportunity to expand entrepreneurship education and make a greater impact on students and on economic development in the community. Entrepreneurial values and concepts would be embedded into the curriculum, advancing innovation and fostering hands-on experiences across the University.

Those at the University contributing to the development of this investment in entrepreneurship include the College, the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and its Center for Electronic Imaging Systems, the Simon Graduate School of Business Administration, the Eastman School of Music, the Institute of Optics, the University of Rochester School of Nursing, and the University of Rochester Medical Center.