Entrepreneurship and Innovation Curriculum Grants provide up to $6,000 for revising existing courses and up to $7,000 to develop new courses in support for faculty members who introduce entrepreneurial thinking and skills into the curriculum. The Entrepreneurship Minor fosters entrepreneurship principles across numerous disciplines in order to serve the diverse interests of students and meet UMBC’s Mission and Vision to encourage innovative approaches to teaching and learning and contribute to entrepreneurial initiatives in the region.
The Entrepreneurship Committee accepts proposals from all departments at UMBC to include courses as elective options in the Entrepreneurship Minor. Departments and faculty are encouraged to consider courses that might count towards a department major, minor or certificate so students may earn credit towards both the department degree and the Entrepreneurship Minor within the same course. Proposals that encourage collaboration between two or more departments are highly encouraged.
Proposals are accepted and reviewed on a rolling basis. Guidelines and the proposal form can be downloaded here.
We recommend you contact the Faculty Fellow for your college, who will work with you one on one to prepare a proposal.
For a recording of the Teaching Entrepreneurship Workshop held on 3/11/2022 click here.
FAQs for Faculty and Departments
Why should I make my course part of the ENTR minor?
Most importantly, learning entrepreneurial principles will enhance the ability of your students to achieve their goals and career objectives, because they will become better at developing their ideas and solving problems. In addition, many faculty feel that their courses are better and more fun to teach when they include entrepreneurial principles, in part because it is easier for students to see the connection between what they are learning and how that learning can be applied to solve problems in the real world. And finally, ENTR minors in your department will benefit from having a larger variety of courses that satisfy both the ENTR minor and their major requirements.
Who can take my course if it is listed as part of the ENTR minor?
That will be up to the department scheduling the course. ENTR minor electives are subject to the same prerequisites and permissions put in place by the home department.
If a course in my department is listed as an ENTR minor elective, will students in my department who are not ENTR minors have trouble enrolling?
Often ENTR minor courses in other departments are 300 – 400 level courses. If the department course has prerequisites within the department, it is unlikely you will get a rush of ENTR minors from outside the department. More often, having a department course listed on the ENTR minor electives list encourages your own majors to think about how entrepreneurship can be applied within your discipline and be innovators in the field, because they will be taking classes both within and outside the department to fulfil the ENTR minor.
What if more than one person teaches the course I want to infuse with entrepreneurial principles? How do we maintain consistency?
Since a course can be taught by different instructors, consistency is achieved by listing the entrepreneurial elements of the course in the learning outcomes and course description. This should be approved by the department’s curriculum committee or chair to ensure that no matter who teaches the course, the minimum standard of entrepreneurial content is maintained.
Does my course need to cover business principles, running a company or inventing a product to be considered for the minor?
No, entrepreneurship takes many forms in the world and can look different from discipline to discipline! The Entrepreneurship Center supports all kinds of entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs , social entrepreneurs and artist entrepreneurs!
UMBC believes that entrepreneurship is the ability of an individual to identify a goal and to provide the leadership and mobilize the assets necessary to reach that goal. As such, individuals taking the risk to push the envelope in science and technology, break ground in the creative arts or craft new solutions to society’s problems are all entrepreneurs.
If at least 10% of your course addresses these principles as it applies to your field, it is eligible to be part of the minor!
How much entrepreneurial content does my course have to have to qualify for the minor? Do I have to significantly change my curriculum to be included?
This may vary from course to course. Some courses already have entrepreneurial content and will not need a lot of changes, while others may need additional assignments, readings or activities to meet the 10% threshold of entrepreneurial content. The entrepreneurship faculty fellow in your college will be happy to work with you on how to best prepare your course and proposal.
Can I add a Topics course to the minor?
Since approved courses for the ENTR minor electives are listed in the catalog, the topic must be the same every time it is taught, so we cannot add specialty Topics courses to the list.
How often does an ENTR Elective course need to be offered?
The home department must commit to offering the course at least once every two years.
Ok, I’m convinced! How do I make my course part of the ENTR minor?
Contact the Faculty Fellow for your college, who will work with you one-on-one to prepare a proposal.
Proposal for ENTR & Innovation Grant: The proposal form can be downloaded here.