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= Overview OVERVIEW =
Berea is a private liberal arts college, in Berea, Kentucky that differentiates itself by its ‘free tuition’ policy, its rigorous undergraduate academic programs and its labor program. Founded as the first interracial and coeducational college in the South, Berea admits only academically promising students, who have limited economic resources, especially students from Appalachia. All students at Berea work at least 10 hours per week in more than 130 departments and organizations on and off campus.
Entrepreneurship at Berea College has manifested itself in different academic and labor activities on campus such as the General Studies Program, Service-Learning Program, Active-Learning Experience. Most distinctively, the Entrepreneurship for the Public Good (EPG) Program has been the leading department in educating students about entrepreneurship.
= Promoting student innovation and entrepreneurship STUDENT INNOVATION AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP =
== Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Academics ==
The club creates a platform for a wide range of interdisciplinary students to have a weekly maker community get together and work on their personal projects. The club officers play the role of sharing knowledge and providing necessary tools and assistance to build on students’ personal projects. This is highly beneficial and encouraging for the students who have no prior experience in technology and design.
= Encouraging faculty innovation and entrepreneurship FACULTY INNOVATION AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP =
In the circle of academics, faculty often find themselves repeating what they have done and are comfortable with - highly academic settings with work that doesn't allow for creativity and innovation. We propose to educate faculty by utilizing the Ice House Entrepreneurship Program and the Work on Purpose program which is currently used by Dr. Peter Hackbert in the 8-week Entrepreneurship for the Public Good program to teach the cohorts about the entrepreneurial mindset. This would instill in the faculty and staff ideas about how to implement entrepreneurial thinking in each of their respective disciplines, thus changing the way the student body thinks.
Though change is never easy, these simple programs do a fantastic job of exposing the entrepreneurial mindset for what it is. In order to create an environment suitable for students to create, innovate, and potentially launch startups, their mentors and educators must first have said mindset to aid them along their journey.
= Actively supporting the university technology transfer function UNIVERSITY TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER FUNCTION =
Berea College is committed to providing an environment that supports the learning, teaching, scholarship, and creative activity of its faculty, students, and staff. While there isn’t a tech transfer office, there are other resources that will help students shift their student research or idea to a commercial business. All the administrative work that is related to commercialization or patenting of an idea created by faculty, and/or student is handled by the vice president of Academics and the Dean of Faculty.
<br/>This Policy covers all types of intellectual property, including, in particular, works protected by copyright, patent, and trade secret laws. Although the following list is not exhaustive, it provides examples of the kinds of work the Policy addresses: inventions, discoveries, trade secrets, trade and service marks, writings, art works, musical compositions and performances, software, literary works, and architecture.” ("Intellectual Property Rights Policy." Berea College)
= Facilitating UniversityUNIVERSITY-Industry Collaboration INDUSTRY COLLABORATION =
'''Berea College Office of Career Development '''has partnerships with several companies for students to increase various career development.<br/>It hosts several programs like the yearly '''''career fair ''''' that bring outside industry in to recruit students for both internships and full-time positions. It also organizes various events throughout the year to prepare students for internships and life after graduation, like '''''Cornell Weekend'''''. Cornell Weekend is an event where MBA student from Cornell University come to Berea College for a weekend and meet with students to help them with their resumes and do practice interviews. It also provides students with funding for various career development and graduate school endeavors like funds for professional clothing, grants for grad school application and travel, for job interviews, and attending professional conferences.<br/> In terms of innovation and entrepreneurship, outside of Entrepreneurship for the Public Good and their regional contacts that aid their efforts in Central Appalachia, there is no university-industry collaboration.
= Engaging with regional and local economic development efforts =