º£½ÇÉçÇø

Sent: 2014-09-03
From: Dr. Marko Grunhagen, Director - Sustainable Entrepreneurship through Education and Development Center
To: Employees, Various Recipients

Subject: New EIU Entrepreneurship Center

<p>&nbsp;</p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Dear EIU Community,</p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">&nbsp;</p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">I would like to report a few changes that have been taking place recently with regards to <em>Entrepreneurship</em> at º£½ÇÉçÇø.</p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">&nbsp;</p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Effective Aug. 15, 2014, the new <strong>Sustainable Entrepreneurship through Education and Development (SEED) Center</strong> at EIU was established. The former Business Solutions Center (BSC), the entrepreneurship outreach unit that existed previously in the Lumpkin College of Business and Applied Sciences, is now being integrated into the new <em>SEED Center</em>. In other words, the BSC in its original form no longer exists. However, the outreach activities will continue to be offered as part of the new <em>SEED Center.</em> While the full integration will take some time, in addition to various outreach and community partnership activities, the <em>SEED Center</em> will now constitute the <strong>new interdisciplinary "home" for entrepreneurial education and research at EIU.</strong> The <em>SEED Center</em> is a Presidential initiative and its primary focus is to foster collaboration among students, researchers, and educators, and practicing entrepreneurs to promote, through integrative learning, an understanding of starting and managing a profitable business.</p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">&nbsp;</p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">A significant part of the new <em>SEED Center</em> is also the Entrepreneurship Minor, now entering its 5th year on campus. The ENT Minor is open to <strong>any</strong> EIU student who has completed at least 45 hours, with no other prerequisites to declare the minor. The ENT Minor is specifically designed for students from any major, who contemplate starting their own business, as a supplement to their chosen major. The ENT minor consists of 18 credit hours, with 12 "core" credits taught by faculty from the School of Business, the academic "home" of the ENT Minor. The remaining 6 hours are electives, which consist of a growing list of courses across campus. If you are interest to add courses to the ENT electives, or are generally interested to suggest the Minor to your students, please check out http://www.eiu.edu/entrepreneurship/</p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">&nbsp;</p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">As the incoming Director of the new <em>SEED Center</em>, I wanted to inform you about these changes as they are taking shape, and ask for your support as we move forward. We are planting the SEEDs to contribute to new economic development activities in the region by encouraging our students, staff, and faculty, to think "entrepreneurially". I hope I can count on your continued support and collaboration in the future as we move forward with new initiatives focused on Entrepreneurship at EIU and in the region.</p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">&nbsp;</p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">With my best wishes,<br />&nbsp;<br />Marko<br />&nbsp;<br />-------------------<br />Dr. Marko Gr&uuml;nhagen<br />Lumpkin Distinguished Professor of Entrepreneurship &amp; Professor of Marketing <br />Director, Sustainable Entrepreneurship through Education and Development (SEED) Center<br />º£½ÇÉçÇø<br />School of Business<br />3105 Lumpkin Hall<br />Charleston, IL&nbsp; 61920<br />U.S.A.<br />+1 (217) 581-6906 (Office)<br />+1 (217) 581-2913 (SEED Center)<br />+1 (217) 581-6642 (Fax)<br />http://www.eiu.edu/~marko<br />mgrunhagen@eiu.edu</p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>