Aerial view of campus with Williamsport, the Susquehanna River and Bald Eagle Mountain as a backdrop

Lycoming College launches Entrepreneurship minor

Just one year after Lycoming College added entrepreneurship classes to the curriculum, and appointed Marshall Welch III to the position of Sloter Endowed Chair in Entrepreneurship, the College is débuting entrepreneurship as a new minor available to all students, regardless of their major.

Based on the idea that a student’s entrepreneurial interests revolve around their major, the program is designed to support all majors and minors at the College. The curriculum, lectures, and opportunities for practical application of entrepreneurial skills work in unison to enhance a student’s abilities to start a venture of their own, or begin an entrepreneurial career within an established company or an emerging growth organization.

Core courses cover topics including the basics of entrepreneurship, human performance, and finance and intellectual property. Additional courses address privately owned business management, social entrepreneurship, digital marketing, readings in entrepreneurship and applied entrepreneurship.

More than 50 students have already decided to pursue the entrepreneurship minor, filling all courses offered for Fall 2018. Additional classes will be offered in Spring 2019 and subsequent semesters.

During its first year, the entrepreneurship program visited the Yuengling brewery and met with 1966 alumnus Dick Yuengling to discuss his entrepreneurial inclinations, and hosted celebrity chef Jay Ducote for a lecture on how he followed his passions and took risks on his road to success as a chef, radio show host, restaurateur, television personality, writer and speaker.

“At its heart, entrepreneurship is about finding and creating value. If you follow your passions and determine what appeals to others, and couple that with the knowledge and hands-on learning opportunities offered at Lycoming, you’ve jumpstarted the lifelong learning process for entrepreneurial success,” said Welch. “Effective entrepreneurs never stop learning and improving themselves and their businesses. Students who study entrepreneurship learn to be more innovative and can better articulate business issues — both qualities that appeal to employers and investors.”

Joey (Hall) ’80, who chairs the board of directors for Rocketship Education schools, and Stanley Sloter ’80, chair of the board of trustees and president of Paradigm Companies, themselves both accomplished entrepreneurs, established the Sloter Endowed Chair in Entrepreneurship as a way to expose students to accelerated learning in entrepreneurship and develop the skills needed to start a business and better understand it as a career option.