School:Beloit College

Overview

Beloit College is a small liberal arts school in Southern Wisconsin. It has 1300 students studying for their undergraduate 

Student innovation and entrepreneurship

CELEB

Students at Beloit College looking to gain the skills and knowledge needed for a start-up or research do not need to look very hard. At Beloit College there is an entire center dedicated to helping student with what ever they may need. It is named the Center for Entrepreneurship in Liberal Education at Beloit College or CELEB for short. CELEB was founded in 2004 spear headed by Economics Professor and past Entrepreneurship Chair Jerry Gustafson.

CELEB consists of 6 different departments which together make up CELEB. They are the Coleman New Ventures Lab, Gallery ABBA, Maple Tree Studio, BATV, and the WISE Foundation.

Coleman New Ventures Lab

The Coleman New Ventures Lab is an incubator for student businesses. It offers offices for student run ventures complete with telephone, internet, conference rooms, receptionists, and expert advice on site. It can provide vital services to new start-ups like legal or business advice and free server space for the hosting of a website or a database app. It also serves as the meeting place for weekly entrepreneurship classes and a place to host various speakers or clubs.

Gallery ABBA

Gallery ABBA is a commercial art gallery run entirely by students. It embraces the idea of the Art of Business and the Business of Art. It gives student the opportunity to show, promote and sell their art of any medium and provides an entry into the business side of the art world.

Maple Tree Studio

Maple Tree Studio is fully functioning audio recording studio. Here students can learn the skills that are vital to be successful in todays music industry. Skills like learning the necessary software like Pro-Tools to learning how to record, edit, and mix music and sound. There are many students who have started successful record labels and started their careers from maple tree studio.

BATV

BATV is a well-equipped, fully functioning television station. Students are able to learn the skills needed to produce high quality video content and the skills needed for the television industry. Includes a full editing studio that any student can get access to. For a start-up today being able to display, market, and pitch their products and services is crucial to determining success or failure. The BATV studio gives students the tools and talent they need to create a professional image in the intense online environment where many start-ups gain recognition and find funding.

WISE Foundation

WISE is a student run foundation focused on solving problems that relate to the question "What is Social Excellence?" Its Mission is to investigate the elements of a truly good society, one that would offer joy and fulfillment to its members. WISE may promote panel presentations of various experts, engage students and others in careful discussion, commission white papers on particular topics, bring entrepreneurs and students together for sessions to promote values-clarification, or write proposals to real-world foundations to support such activities. While WISE staff work to shed light on what makes social life good, they also research the industry and visit the executives of actual foundations so as to learn about this special corner of the business world. WISE gives student experience with what running a foundation would be like and crucial leadership experience that any entrepreneur needs. It also gives students the chance to accept and decline grant proposals and see what makes up a successful proposal.

Maker Spaces

On-Campus

At Beloit there are several options for students who need access to some sort of maker space. The science center, which just opened in 2009, has several labs that any student can get access to by either taking an intro level class or working with a professor who oversee's the equipment. Some examples of the types of equipment the students at Beloit College have access to are the particle accelerator, electron scanning microscope, and the 3D visulation display system. There is also a machine shop that has a huge amount of tools and machines that are capable of fabricating an entire car from scratch. 

Off-Campus

If students can't find the tool or recources they need to build a prototype at Beloit there a several options to choose from. An hour north in madison is Sector67 a 8,500 square foot maker space which offers classes and equipment for whatever you might need to do. They have equipment like welders, mills, lathes, and 3D printers. An hour and a half top the north east in Milwaukee is the Milwaukee Maker Space a 16,000 square foot building filled with almost any tool ever made. Both of these location have extremely well established comunity's that will help you with what ever your final goal is.

Grants

There are several options for students looking for grants both within beloit but also recourses to help students apply for national grants.