An Entrepreneurship Curriculum for the University of Maine System

A Joint Proposal of the School of Business, University of Southern Maine and the School of Business, University of Maine

By Valarie C. Lamont, Ph.D. Associate Dean for Innovation and Entrepreneurship School of Business, University of Southern Maine

Introduction

In Maine, approximately 90% of all businesses employ fewer than 20 people and 80% employ five or fewer people. Clearly, very small businesses are a critical component of Maine’s economy. At the same time, recognition of the importance of entrepreneurship and small business is not reflected in a systematic way in Maine’s educational system and its economic development strategy. In 2001, a state-wide Entrepreneurship Working Group (EWG) was created at the request of Governor Angus King. Convened by the commissioner of the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD), the purpose of the EWG was to develop recommendations to DECD on how to strengthen the support infrastructure for entrepreneurship in Maine. The EWG became the liaison organization with the Kauffman Foundation, the leading private foundation focused exclusively on entrepreneurship, to identify ways to bring Maine to the next level of entrepreneurial growth. The Kauffman Foundation worked with Maine through five task forces:

The Higher Education Task Force focused on its role in entrepreneurial education. Specifically, the School of Business at the University of Southern Maine and the College of Business, Public Policy and Health, University of Maine, discussed their interest in complementing current curriculum with more exposure to entrepreneurial and small business models and to offer that curricula university-wide and system-wide. Their respective interests and concerns on the Higher Education Task Force led to the collaboration on this proposal.

Project

In 2003, the Center for Entrepreneurship at the School of Business, University of Southern Maine and the School of Business, University of Maine, were awarded a grant by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation to initiate a process to develop an academic entrepreneurship curriculum for the University of Maine System over a three year period of time. This curriculum would be available to all students across disciplines and each campus would have the opportunity to select which courses (if any) would be appropriate for their needs in entrepreneurship.

As a first step in this process, the 2004 Maine Higher Education Entrepreneurship Faculty Forum was held June 10-11, 2004, at the Sunday River Resort in Bethel, Maine to focus on pedagogy in the classroom. This was the first time a forum on entrepreneurship education in Maine was convened. The Forum was designed for faculty members, from any discipline, with an interest in entrepreneurship, either to incorporate entrepreneurship content into existing courses or to create a new course. The Center for Entrepreneurship, housed in USM’s School of Business, partnered with the Maine Small Business Development Centers to design the Forum.

More specifically, the purpose of the Forum was to:

  1. Provide the fundamental framework for Entrepreneurship education through workshops and seminars on content and pedagogy;
  2. Foster “champions” for Entrepreneurship at each campus. It was anticipated that the participants in the Forum would become advocates for encouraging students to consider enrolling in Entrepreneurship courses;
  3. Develop a state-wide network of faculty to be involved in the continuous improvement of Entrepreneurship education, to share best practices, and to identify issues in content and pedagogy.

Participants included faculty from the University of Maine System, the Maine Community College System, private Maine colleges, the Maine Department of Education (K-12 through Adult Education), and Maine entrepreneurs.

The Price-Babson Fellows Program, presented each year at Babson College and the Experiential Classroom developed at Syracuse University were used as program models. Workshops included The Entrepreneurial Environment, Elements of an Entrepreneurship Curriculum, Case Studies as a Pedagogical Tool, Classroom Strategies and National Content Standards for Entrepreneurship Education.

A combination of Maine expertise and nationally recognized faculty in entrepreneurship presented the Forum content. The Keynote Address was delivered by James Wilfong, a Maine entrepreneur and a former Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the Kauffman Foundation. Presenters included Dr. Minet Schinderhutte, Syracuse University, Dr. Jack Trifts, Dean of the School of Business at the University of Southern Maine, Wendy Newmeyer, owner of Maine Balsam Fir and a FastTrac™ instructor, Constance Manchester-Bonenfant, the Consortium for Entrepreneurship Education, Dr. Brett Golann and Prof. Sheila Puchinski, UMaine Business School, Prof. Michael Donovan, Southern Maine Community College, John Massaua, State Director, Maine Small Business Development Centers, Dr. Nory Jones, UMaine Business School, Karem Durdag, Entrepreneur and Dr. Valarie Lamont, School of Business, USM.