Robinson Announces New Center for Entreprenuership

The Georgia State University – J. Mack Robinson College of Business recently announced the establishment of The Entrepreneurship and Innovation Institute. The institute intends to increase the accessibility of entrepreneurship and innovation courses across the university.

Although the institute is a recent addition, the unit has been in operation since 2015. As an initiative, the unit introduced the first undergraduate minor in entrepreneurship at a Georgia research university, available to all GSU students. The courses in this program also support two Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies (B.I.S.) programs in Media Entrepreneurship (at the College of Arts and Sciences) and in Social Entrepreneurship (at the Anrew Young School of Policy Studies).

“At the end of 2015, Inc. magazine reported that 27 million Americans were running new businesses, which is a record high and a trend we strongly believe will continue,” director of the Institute Richard Welke said. “…we are excited to create an entity specifically charged to ensure all university graduates can be exposed to and develop entrepreneurial skills.”

The institute will also reveal new opportunities, such as a master’s level four-course sequence on innovation and design thinking, beginning fall 2016. The courses will be available to students in the new Master of Interdisciplinary Studies in Biomedical Enterprise program, a combined offering of the Institute for Biomedical Sciences, the College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Law and Robinson. Part-time MBA students at Robinson will also have the option to take the course.

The Herman J. Russell, Sr. International Center for Entrepreneurship, the school’s innovation center since 1999, will be integrated as a center within the institute. According to Robinson dean Richard Phillips, “[I]ntegrating the Russell Center into the institute will allow it to impact an even wider audience across campus than it has thus far.”

regions: Atlanta

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