News > August 30, 2007

By Elliot Engstrom | Asst. news editor

The entire nation, thanks to Fortune Small Business magazine, is hearing about entrepreneurship at the university.

In the magazine’s September issue, the university was listed with 24 colleges as best for cross-campus entrepreneurship education and 26 graduate business schools best for “blending real-world small-business know-how with top academics.”

The magazine’s September issue was the first to include such a list.

“We are delighted that Wake Forest’s exceptional learning environment for liberal arts and entrepreneurial thinking has been recognized,” Provost Jill Tiefenthaler said in a univeristy press release. “We offer innovative academic programs that encourage our students to link knowledge and experience, to assess resources and opportunities and to initiate change and general value – essential capabilities for the 21st century entrepreneur.”

Fortune Small Business magazine developed the list through a process involving in-depth interviews over a seven-month period with entrepreneurs, professors, students, alumni, administrators and venture capitalists.

The list is not ranked in numerical order in the magazine.

The university’s interest in entrepreneurship is reflected in the student body. During the past academic year, about 5 percent of undergraduates enrolled in one or more entrepreneurship courses.

The faculty also reflect this aspect of the university, as 75 undergraduate faculty members from 24 departments have participated in the entrepreneurship program.

“Our goal is to weave entrepreneurship into the fabric of the university and to make entrepreneurship an integral part of the culture,” Elizabeth Gatewood, director of the office of entrepreneurship and liberal arts, said of the recently-founded program.

“The distinguishing feature of our entrepreneurship program is that it allows students to pursue a rigorous liberal arts or business education and pursue an education in entrepreneurship that can be tailored to their specific interest or area of academic study.”

Over a third of full-time Babcock School of Management students are members of the Babcock Entrepreneurs club, over 90 percent take an entrepreneurship elective and 70 percent take two or more.

“We practice entrepreneurship in the design and delivery of our programs,” Stan Mandel, executive professor and director of the Angell Center for Entrepreneurship, said. “We are making the curriculum richer and more relevant for our students by concentrating on diversity in the classroom and providing exciting experiences outside it where students can pursue interests about which they are passionate.”

But entrepreneurship courses are not only for business or management students. Courses can accommodate students studying law, medicine and accounting, among other subjects.

Internships also can be tailored to students in a variety of fields, and can vary from social entrepreneurship to regenerative medicine.

According to the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, almost 3,000 schools offer classes in entrepreneurship. In the mid-80s, the number was closer to 300.