Full Circle Fall 2008 Full Cirlce Magazine Home

 
Entrpreneurial Programs

Tom Duening and students of the Entrepreneurial Program who formed the company Watel Solutions Corp. which focuses on the problem of water scarcity in Africa.

 

“Entrepreneurship is a valuable part of the curriculum for engineering students, because it teaches them how to create value, and to retain some ownership of that value.”

The Entrepreneurial Programs Office (EPO) in the school of engineering was launched in September 2004. The office is led by Dr. Tom Duening, formerly assistant dean of the C.T. Bauer College of Business at the University of Houston, where he helped develop the now #1 ranked Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation.

Built on Duening’s broad experience, EPO delivers undergraduate and graduate courses in technology entrepreneurship and enterprise innovation. These opportunities expose engineering students to business and economic concepts that prepare them for the global marketplace. Duening says that his overriding goal in his teaching is to help technologists develop economic self-reliance.

“Entrepreneurship is a valuable part of the curriculum for engineering students, because it teaches them how to create value, and to retain some ownership of that value,” says Duening. “The average age of a first-time technology entrepreneur is
about 40 years old. We are not trying to create entrepreneurs, but rather to familiarize our students with their own potential for economic selfreliance at some point in their careers.”

EPO also coordinates the Arizona Technology Investor Forum (ATIF). ATIF is an angel investor community that connects angel investors with promising Arizona-based technology ventures. Duening said the ATIF mission is to “be the most active, engaged technology investor group in the state.” Since May 2007, ATIF has invested more than $2 million in eight ventures.

Many of the technology entrepreneurship students support ATIF and are invited to attend the quarterly meetings. Duening notes that the practical experience the students get from these meetings is invaluable.

“Teaching entrepreneurship in the classroom is like trying to teach someone to ride a bike without using a bicycle,” Duening says. “I can help you understand some principles, but pretty soon you have to just ride the bike. Entrepreneurship education is a little bit like that.”