Kauffman Foundation Grant Supports Development Of Center Of Entrepreneurship Learning By Smeal’s Farrell Center

UNIVERSITY PARK, PA (April 14, 2004) – The Farrell Center for Corporate Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Penn State’s Smeal College of Business has been awarded a $48,559 grant from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation of Kansas City to support the development of a strategic plan to create a Center of Entrepreneurship Learning (CEL) at the University. The center will be used to train teachers not only from Penn State, but also from other two- and four-year colleges and high schools, on methods for integrating problem-based entrepreneurship education into their classrooms.

The Farrell Center and Penn State will provide additional funds of $57,370 for the CEL initiative, which follows last year’s grant from the Kauffman Foundation to develop a computer-enhanced learning platform to teach entrepreneurship to a broader student population. Pilot versions of the resulting entrepreneurship courses were launched at the start of the spring 2004 semester to about 100 undergraduates.

“We've successfully implemented a unique, technology-supported teaching method that increases by at least five-fold the number of students able to participate in entrepreneurship education,” said Anthony C. Warren, Farrell Center Director. “Now, we’re tackling the second scalability issue of creating a sufficient body of teachers to address the need of providing quality problem-based entrepreneurship education to all students.”

The role of the CEL will be to create a laboratory environment where teachers will learn how to use problem-based learning for entrepreneurship education and develop problems and courseware tailored to their own needs. The CEL will be housed in the Smeal College’s new $68 million building, which is currently under construction and is scheduled for completion in summer 2005. The building will be the largest academic facility at Penn State when it’s finished.

Other projected tasks of the CEL include:

• Developing modules for either incorporating facets of entrepreneurship into existing Penn State courses or developing entirely new courses in entrepreneurship focused on particular academic disciplines.
• Running training seminars for groups of new entrepreneurship teachers at all levels and in a variety of disciplines.
• Developing new Act 48-related courses to help teachers meet established standards in entrepreneurship teaching. Act 48 requires mandatory professional development for Pennsylvania educators.
• Marketing the services of the CEL to school districts, colleges and corporations across the country.

About the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation
The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation of Kansas City works with partners to advance entrepreneurship in America and improve the educational achievement of youth. The late entrepreneur and philanthropist Ewing Marion Kauffman established the Kauffman Foundation in the mid-1960s. Information about the Kauffman Foundation is available at www.kauffman.org.

About the Farrell Center for Corporate Innovation and Entrepreneurship
The Farrell Center was formed in 1992 through an endowment from Michael J. Farrell. The center’s mission is to contribute to and interpret the best in academic research in the fields of entrepreneurship, including innovation and knowledge management, and to translate this into actionable best practices in the commercial and government sectors. Learn more at www.smeal.psu.edu/fcfe/.