“Undergraduate entrepreneurship education should not be viewed as a narrow careerist pursuit, but as giving new life to the traditions of a liberal arts education.”
Dennis Ray, (1990, 2001), “Liberal Arts for Entrepreneurs”

Pre-Conference Symposium

Working Convergences: Liberal Education, Creativity, and the Entrepreneurial Spirit

Wednesday, January 26, 2005, 8:30 am-4:30 pm

AAC&U asserts in its landmark report, Greater Expectations: A New Vision for Learning as a Nation Goes to College, that a liberal arts education is the best practical education for the 21st Century. This Working Convergences symposium will explore the emergence of what are typically seen as oppositional ideas—entrepreneurship and liberal education—that, on some campuses, are practicing liberal education in innovative and integrative ways. Drawing primarily from colleges and universities in the Kauffman Consortium for Liberal Education and Entrepreneurship, the symposium will examine some of the points of connection, controversy, and creativity that can be found in new curricular initiatives that lift entrepreneurial ideas outside of the confines of business schools and into traditional arts and sciences disciplines. Sessions will explore how the interplay between two powerful forms of knowing and acting transform each and in the process offers some intriguing configurations through which students can be better educated for the fast-changing, complex, and contested worlds in which they will live and work.

• How do the knowledge, critical thinking skills, values, and obligation to be an engaged citizen, which we associate with liberal education, relate to the entrepreneurial spirit and the role of entrepreneurs in creating new value in society and bringing innovation and change to their communities?
• Are there convergences that can be nurtured to the mutual benefit of both enterprises? Are there some cautionary notes that should be kept in mind?
• How can the arts and sciences and other professions work with business and engineering schools to explore new ways of seeing, knowing, and acting in the world for the betterment of society?
• How can new curricular initiatives related to entrepreneurship, particularly social entrepreneurship, be combined with or complement the growing campus commitment to educating for civic engagement and social responsibility?

This symposium is made possible by a grant from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and is co-sponsored by the Kauffman Consortium for Liberal Education and Entrepreneurship and AAC&U’s Center for Liberal Education and Civic Engagement

Schedule of Symposium Events

8:30-8:45 am
Welcome:
Caryn McTighe Musil, Senior Vice President, AAC&U
Samuel M. Hines, Jr., Dean, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, College of Charleston
Kauffman representative (to be determined)

8:45-10:00 am
Plenary and Respondents:
Liberal Education and Entrepreneurship: Points of Convergence and Controversy
Lee Higdon, President, College of Charleston
Respondents:
Tony Mendes, Executive Director, Academy for Entrepreneurial Leadership Development, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Amelia Wu, Vice President, Programs and Evaluation, The Global Fund for Women

10:15-11:30 am
Panel and Interactive Session:
Social Entrepreneurship: Educating for Social Responsibility
Idee Winfield, Associate Professor of Sociology, College of Charleston
Laura Scher, Lecturer, Public Policy Program, Humanities and Sciences, Stanford University and CEO, Working Assets
Johnny Ray Falla, Student, Stanford University

11:30 am -12:15 pm
Poster Sessions on Innovative Programs

12:15- 1:00 pm
Luncheon Roundtables:
What Do You Mean by That?: Finding Language That Works
(Each table is hosted by one of the Kauffman-funded institutions)

1:00 –1:30 pm
Luncheon Keynote:
The Power of Good Ideas: Social Entrepreneurship and Justice
Bill Drayton, CEO, Chair, and Founder, Ashoka
Introduction by Carol Geary Schneider, President, AAC&U

1:45-2:45 pm
Interactive Panel Discussion:
Developing Intentional Learners Through Entrepreneurial Pedagogies
Michael Fountain, Director, Center for Entrepreneurship, University of South Florida
Adam Weinberg, Dean of the College and Associate Professor of Sociology, Colgate University
Emily Cutrer, Dean of New College of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences, Arizona State University

3:00-4:00 pm
Panel Discussion:
Defying Boundaries: Entrepreneurial Interdisciplinary and Cross Disciplinary Programs
Elizabeth Gatewood, Director, University Office of Entrepreneurship and Liberal Arts, Wake Forest University
Kelly Shaver, Professor of Psychology, College of William and Mary
Peter Bardaglio, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, Ithaca College

4:00-4:30 pm
Concluding Session:
Continuing the Conversation and the Work
Samuel M. Hines, Jr., Dean, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, College of Charleston
Caryn McTighe Musil, Senior Vice President, Association of American Colleges and Universities

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If you have questions, please e-mail us at meetings@aacu.org.