Southeast Community College, NE

Growing up in a small Midwestern town, hunting was a part of life. Some people did it for sport, and some did it as a way to provide for their families. My father was a hunter. When I was a kid, he taught me how to shoot a bow and arrow. In his words, "Anyone can pull a trigger, but archery hunting takes skill.” It is an art form. I was never the "big hunter.” It was easier for me to pretend I was Robin Hood and shoot cardboard targets. What Dad taught me was that archery takes patience, the ability to keep one eye on the target and one eye on the horizon, a steady hand, and follow-though. If you think about it, that is true for any sport, business, or personal goals.

Luckily, hitting the target was never the issue. My problem generally centered on lack of patience, but that is another story altogether. Knowing and understanding the target market in the entrepreneurial world, as in any business, is the key to success. As entrepreneur educators, we must identify our proper customer and understand as precisely as possible what they want. We tend to impose the traditional educational standards of recruitment when trying to identify the correct customer for our services. We may also limit the number of potential targets with a scope that may be too narrowly focused. Identifying those with the entrepreneurial spirit may seem like a daunting task, but it is not impossible. Keep in mind there may be several targets for your services. Do not leave any to fend for themselves.

Always remember, the entrepreneur that we are looking to attract may not fit into the nice, neat package of "Small Business Owner.” Being an entrepreneur is more complex, maybe even ethereal, if you will. We want to be able to attract the person who is a risk-taker, imaginative, and flexible enough to follow through with their goals. Understanding these traits should help to create a strategy that will attract this seeker of entrepreneurial knowledge. Failure to see this person for who they truly are could mean the loss of a customer or, worse, the loss of an entrepreneurial soul.

Here are some basic entrepreneurial target markets categories to look for:

• The person who has the spirit, but would prefer to be entrepreneurial within someone else’s company.
• The person who has a skill or is learning a skill and eventually wants to have their own business.
• The person who has the entrepreneurial spirit, but does not know what to do with it.
• The person who had the entrepreneurial spirit, but has since lost it and needs to be refocused.

And the person I call a "Second Lifer.” This person has been working for 10–20 years at a job, but now wants to do whatever it is they want to do. They have the experience, but need the help getting started.

There are many possible targets for your entrepreneurship program. Your job is to first find those you know you can help. Then, figure out ways to help those who emerge that you did not know existed. As long as you are patient, keep one eye on the target and one on the horizon, have a steady hand, and follow-through, you will hit the bull’s-eye every time.

 

 

I believe the first step in making the case for entrepreneurship is to demonstrate a ‘sense of urgency’ to act. For those of us living in states with adverse demographics and/or unfavorable economic indexes, all we need to do is a little research to pull the data together. The PowerPoint presentation provides demographic and economic indexes for Iowa.

Second, we need to demonstrate "why entrepreneurship is important.” The National Commission on Entrepreneurship provides an excellent set of reasons. They are:

Entrepreneurs use innovations to improve the quality of life. Small entrepreneurs lead the way in developing ideas. They are responsible for more than half of all innovations -- 67 percent of inventions and 95 percent of radical innovations since World War II.

Entrepreneurs create new jobs. New fast growth companies are but a small subset of the U.S. economy, comprising just 350,000 firms out of a total of 6,000,000 current U.S. businesses with employees. Yet, these fast growing companies created about two-thirds of new jobs between 1993 and 1996. In other words, a majority of net new jobs are created by a small subset of entrepreneurial firms that comprise only 5-15 percent of all U.S. businesses.

Entrepreneurs improve our position in global economic competition. Finding opportunity in change, entrepreneurs have pushed U.S. companies into dominating positions in critical global industries such as biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, and the Internet. Small businesses with fewer than 500 employees make up nearly 97 percent of all U.S. exporting firms, and their importance is growing. Between 1987 and 1997, the number of these small company exporters tripled, and between 1992 and 1997, the value of small company export dollars also tripled, to $171.9 billion. Companies with fewer than 20 employees have been the most successful exporters – they are the fastest growing both in numbers of exporters and in numbers of export dollars.

Entrepreneurs create economic growth and new wealth for reinvestment in our country. The U.S. is among the most "entrepreneurial” nations because Americans believe they have opportunities to start businesses and live in a culture that respects entrepreneurship as an occupation. Each year Americans start 600,000 to 800,000 businesses with employees, and about two million Americans start their own self-employment ventures. These business starts are the foundation of an entrepreneurial economy. A new series of studies, the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), has finally made the connection explicit. The GEM researchers found that fully one-third of the differential in national economic growth rates is due to the impact of entrepreneurial activity.

Finally, we need to answer the question, "Will Entrepreneurial Centers Deliver?” The link to the PowerPoint presentation provides a case study with positive evidence to answer this question in the affirmative. To visit the PowerPoint presentation, point your browser to: http://www.niacc.edu/case.html. This presentation is focused on the Iowa case, but it can be appropriately modified for many other states looking to advance entrepreneurship. Best wishes and gook luck.

Such was the case at St. Petersburg College a few years ago, when a call resulted in a new 52,000-square-foot arts complex–a museum of fine arts, library, art education studios, auditorium, art vault and a one-of-a-kind art exploration room–not to mention an enormously valuable collection of 20th century art.

The creation was the Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art, a centerpiece for St. Petersburg College and a major asset for Pinellas County and the entire state of Florida. When combined with the art collection itself, as well as a sizeable cash donation, the total value of the project today is about $40 million.

The museum was an idea that never would have come to fruition if the fires of entrepreneurship did not burn brightly at St. Petersburg College.

Here is what happened:

A stranger telephoned the college in 1996 and simply said, "I’d like to speak to someone about a gift.” Such a call could have been bumped from office to office; however, in the 81 years of our existence, we have learned the importance of seized opportunities. The call was returned quickly, and it was only then we realized the scope of what was about to come our way.

The anonymous caller turned out to be Isabelle Leepa, wife of Allen Leepa, a retired Michigan State University art professor and noted artist. The Leepas had retired to Tarpon Springs, the home of one of SPC’s campuses, and they were looking for a place to donate his collection of abstract and modernist art. Her first phone call–to another institution in the area–had not been returned. The collection included Leepa’s own art; the art of his stepfather, the world-renowned Abraham Rattner; the sculptures and prints of his mother, Esther Gentle; and assorted pieces by their 20th century contemporaries.

Soon we were enmeshed in a state construction matching program, using dollars from our new gift to leverage matching construction dollars from the state. Various grants and other revenue sources quickly became part of the financial mix.

As it turned out, the need for entrepreneurial solutions did not end with the acquisition; similar creative efforts were needed to get the collection from its New York warehouse to Tarpon Springs. Specialized companies wanted $100,000 or more to handle the transfer; we simply rented a large truck and trailer and responsibly moved the collection ourselves.

Today, the Leepa-Rattner Museum is a major cultural asset. Also, the museum has inspired a re-examination of our fine arts and humanities curricula college-wide, including a consideration of mandatory student attendance at our own art museum.

Entrepreneurially-driven arts partnerships and investments additionally may contain real financial potential for institutions such as ours. Indeed, it has been documented that the arts actually create a greater economic benefit for the larger community than sports programs.

Adding a stroke of entrepreneurship to college fine arts programs may go a long way toward generating more influence in the communities they serve.

Baton Rouge Community College

The Baton Rouge Community College (BRCC) Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management Class of faculty member Andrea Vidrine is the result of many hours of dedicated work on the part of members of the Baton Rouge Area Chamber of Commerce Small Business Council and BRCC faculty and staff members. The course will provide students who have expressed and exhibited an interest in owning a small business a firsthand opportunity to hear from successful business leaders in the community what really must be done to succeed. Employers will also, where requested, provide a chance for students to enter the diverse workplaces to see what actually takes place in owning and managing a successful business.

Venture Capital: The North Iowa Venture Capital Fund, LLC. (NIVCF) is a $1.69-million-dollar fund with 61 investors all from the NIACC North Iowa region. This money can be used for early stage seed funding, start-ups, business succession, and growth and business turnarounds. The fund has invested from $50,000 to $250,000 in nine businesses.

The NIVCF has also proven to be a valuable tool for economic development in saving businesses, recruiting early stage start-up businesses or growing existing businesses. The NIVCF was a new funding mechanism that had not been previously available in North Iowa. Today there are over 13 community based seed funds in Iowa, and the NIACC JPEC is already creating a second venture fund.

Revolving Loan Fund: Debt financing is the most requested capital need in rural markets. Working with the USDA, the NIACC JPEC received a Rural Business Enterprise Grant for $99,000. Adding a $34,000 local match created a revolving loan fund for gap financing. This financing tool allows investments of $10,000 to $25,000 into a business to supplement conventional financing, community based revolving loans funds and other community funding. The revolving loan program has helped a wide variety of new business starts, expansions and successions, keeping and adding jobs in their respective communities.

MicroFinance: The NIACC JPEC NanoLoan Program targets a specific, underserved segment of the entrepreneurial community: businesses in the ‘pre-bankable’ phase. NanoLoans of up to $2,500 can be used to move a business model farther along in its development by paying for prototype development, patents, equipment, working capital and other start-up costs.

The NanoLoan Program is a perfect vehicle for many home-based business enterprises (HBE) to move forward. Many HBE’s do not need a lot of money to get over the tipping point as they already operate a business to some degree and the challenges associated with starting and operating a new business are understood. Since it represents ‘first in’ money, NanoLoans can be leveraged to encourage participation by reluctant lenders.

It is critically important to package funding with a combination of business assistance services customized to meet each company’s unique needs. For many programs, recipients are required to attend FastTrac® NewVenture or GrowthVenture®, establish a board of advisors, and complete and report quarterly financials. It is paramount that each business receives the specific business assistance and consulting from expert advisors that will enable each to build, grow and sustain.

Roueche is a distinguished educator who has won numerous awards for his research in the field of community colleges and currently serves as the Principal Investigator on more than $15 million in projects funded by major American foundations. He holds the Sid W. Richardson Regents Chair in Community College Leadership in the Department of Educational Administration in the College of Education at the University of Texas at Austin.

As the first keynoter of the 2008 NACCE Conference, Roueche will deliver a presentation entitled "On Becoming an Entrepreneurial College.” He will share contemporary examples of successful fundraising and entrepreneurial strategies in community and technical colleges across the country, as well as will core learnings from these cutting-edge colleges.

A community college graduate who received his Ph.D. in higher education administration from The Florida State University in 1964, Roueche served as a high school history and English teacher, community college dean of students and instructional dean, and faculty member at UCLA and Duke University before joining the Texas faculty. Since 1970, he has spoken to more than 1,300 colleges and universities on topics of teaching and leadership excellence. He is the author of 35 books and more than 150 articles and chapters focused on leadership, teaching, and learning.

Roueche’s many honors include the 1988 B. Lamar Johnson Leadership Award from the League for Innovation in the Community College, and the 1986 National Distinguished Leadership Award from the American Association of Community and Junior Colleges. He has been honored with the Distinguished Research Publication Award from the Council of Universities and Colleges in 1990, 1994, and 1996. In 1998, he was honored by The University of Texas with its Career Research Excellence Award, the University’s top research prize.

The Voice of the Young Entrepreneur

Nineteen-year-old Ben Casnocha will kick off the second day of the conference with a presentation entitled "Entrepreneurship as Life Idea: How Anyone–Even College Students or Professors–Can Be CEO of Their Own Lives.” Drawing on his own experiences as entrepreneur, author, and current college student, Casnocha will discuss what it means to think entrepreneurially in all contexts, not just in the process of starting a business. He will present a series of ideas, facts, and provocative opinions around the entrepreneurial mentality and explain why he believes it is essential to think entrepreneurially in today’s hyper-connected, fast-changing world.

Casnocha, who hails from the Silicon Valley, is author of the bestselling book "My Start-Up Life: What a (Very) Young CEO Learned on His Journey Through Silicon Valley.” He serves on the board of Comcate, Inc., the leading e-government technology firm he founded six years ago. The accolades he has received include being named one of America’s best young entrepreneurs by BusinessWeek in 2006. In 2004 PoliticsOnline ranked him among the "25 most influential people in the world of Internet and politics.” The Silicon Valley Business Journal named his blog one of the "Top 25 in Silicon Valley.”

Casnocha’s work has been featured in hundreds of media around the world, including CNN and USA Today. He is a seasoned speaker on entrepreneurship and leadership at universities such as Stanford, Wharton, and Duke. He graduated from San Francisco University High School in June 2006, where he edited the school newspaper and was captain of the varsity basketball team.

Parkland College

Leaders from the Academy for Entrepreneurial Leadership at the University of Illinois and the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at Parkland College have collaborated in the creation of a new TV show called "Outside the Box.” This dynamic, fast-paced program showcases local entrepreneurs in Champaign-Urbana, IL. The goal of the show, besides to inform, is to inspire local viewers to become students, designers and owners in the world of entrepreneurs.

This TV series was inspired by the positive connection between two colleges around the work of enhancing student learning through new ways of thinking. The networking between Dr. Tony Mendes, Executive Director of the Academy for Entrepreneurial Leadership, and Carl Meyer, Executive Director of the Parkland Foundation, began the conversation that would include Parkland’s faculty with the University’s faculty in the Academy. As Associate Vice President for Teaching and Learning, I agreed to launch the work at Parkland College through the Center for Excellence. In Parkland’s pilot year, two biologists designed entrepreneurial curriculum allowing students to use their critical thinking skills to save the environment and create a nutrition bar. In addition, they joined the community of 15 University of Illinois Academy scholars through workshops and social events.

The premiere of Outside the Box, produced by the talented crew of the Parkland College TV station, featured downtown Champaign entrepreneurs who stimulated an exciting Renaissance. Specifically, a boutique owner and two major real estate developers were interviewed to share their insights of the thoughts and actions it takes to be successful. In addition, the show covered the Research Park at the University of Illinois. Viewers got the chance to see incubator companies–which are great ideas that are being allowed to grow within the services of Research Park–and much more.

What’s the value in producing a locally designed show on entrepreneurship? Such a show:

• Informs the community that both colleges work together for the common good.
• Makes the student audience aware of original approaches to teaching.
• Supports the initiative to retain educated talent in the area.
• Provides knowledge of local entrepreneurs and successes.
• Stimulates new thinking.
• Highlights faculty from both colleges.

The second show was filmed in Chicago at the Worldwide Universities Network Conference in October with key international entrepreneurs, students and faculty being interviewed. The "Outside the Box” Web site will encourage audience participation and series design. This is just the beginning ... stay tuned.

While these issues certainly can be obstacles, I believe the creative and innovative minds of community college leaders can more often than not find entrepreneurial solutions when obstacles threaten the pursuit of initiatives that directly support their vision and mission statements. This belief has proven to be correct in my pursuits of entrepreneurship program expansion with the senior leadership at JCCC.

Therefore, the question becomes how entrepreneurship education addresses components of the vision and mission statement of your community college. At Johnson County Community College the vision statement states "The college will continue to enrich the quality of life for those it serves through creative solutions to education, economic, and community challenges.” The mission statement addressing the objective of "learning comes first” identifies the stimulation of economic development resulting from the quality of learning that takes place at JCCC. This concept is not unique to JCCC because when you are asked if the economic vitality of your community is a primary outcome of the quality education initiatives at your community college, you respond affirmatively.

Today it is not just academic leaders but governmental leaders as well who believe America’s community colleges are a critical component of our nation’s higher education system. Imbedded in the vision and mission statements of America’s community colleges is the belief that the economic health of our communities will be enhanced through quality education.

My belief is that entrepreneurship education initiatives are perfectly housed with our nation’s community colleges. At Johnson County Community College, our vision for our entrepreneurship education initiatives is to serve both aspiring and existing entrepreneurs with quality programming in both credit and non-credit formats. Community colleges are committed to lifelong learning. For entrepreneurs, as businesses evolve, they often need long-term support to grow and sustain their businesses. The "support” those entrepreneurs need takes the form of both credit and non-credit programming with the initial training (aspiring entrepreneurs) developed and delivered by the credit division; the long-term support (existing entrepreneurs) developed and delivered by the non-credit division. This team of credit and non-credit thus creates a seamless opportunity for the entrepreneurs of our community to maximize the success of their entrepreneurial venture. Strategically, entrepreneurship education initiatives at JCCC:

Offer credit curriculum to train the student with entrepreneurial goals.

Include skill-specific courses students will need to be successful entrepreneurs and the business acumen necessary to launch, grow, and sustain their entrepreneurial venture.

Upon completion of the credit curriculum, graduates are invited to participate in the services of the Small Business Development Center on campus for ongoing assistance (workshops and one-to-one counseling) needed as they sustain and grow their entrepreneurial venture.

JCCC’s Entrepreneurship program mission is to:

• Support entrepreneurship education in credit and non-credit formats.
• Continually seek quality improvement in curriculum, programming and delivery formats.
• Continually explore and implement initiatives that weave entrepreneurship education throughout the college.
• Be a metropolitan, state, and national example of successful entrepreneurship education at community colleges.
• Share learning experiences with other community colleges.

Entrepreneurship initiatives capture student audiences across campus. "Being my own boss” is a goal often expressed to JCCC’s team of academic advisors by incoming students to this institution. To maximize our success we have specifically worked to NOT label entrepreneurship as just a business option, just a credit option, or just a non-credit option for student audiences on this campus but rather to "weave” entrepreneurship throughout our institution. As such, the leadership in multiple areas have been and will continue to be involved in the planning and development of our ever-evolving entrepreneurship programming initiatives.

Who are those senior leaders on your campus that can be of assistance to your entrepreneurship champions? We suggest your Dean of Instruction, Dean of Continuing Education, Dean of Student Services, and Executive Vice President of Academic Affairs, to name a few. Focusing on your institution’s vision and mission for student success and long-term economic vitality, we are convinced your entrepreneurship champions and your community college’s senior leadership team can develop your formula for success.

The elevator grant method is based upon the business planning skill of describing a new business venture in a three-minute pitch that could be given to a potential investor during an elevator ride. Using these same concepts, the foundations have conducted similar sessions for secondary, community college and collegiate educators over the past six years, employing an on-the-spot grant making process to award well-placed, small grants that support entrepreneurship education.

Based on interviews with several NACCE members who received grants in the last round of funding, it’s easy to see how important this funding mechanism is. For example, Jonathan Deutsch, Assistant Professor at Kingsborough Community College, City University of New York said, "The Coleman grant enabled us to reach students in ways that we are unable to with the constraints of the classroom environment. Our entrepreneur in residence brought student businesses from idea to incubator, moved incubator businesses out into the world, and made students realize that being their own boss isn’t a pipe dream or the exclusive domain of the entitled. The project created a palpable energy on campus.”

Indian River Community College in Ft. Pierce, FL, is using its Coleman grant to reach out to businesspeople in Martin and Indian River Counties. According to Associate Dean Jan Pagano, J.D. the College’s Entrepreneur Development Institute, (EDI), in partnership with several other organizations, is hosting 16 "Lunch & Learn” seminars at its various campuses. These 60-minute informative sessions are being held twice monthly and enable local business owners to attend EDI programs during lunchtime without taking critical time away from their busy work.

"We’re having up to 50 to 70 people at each seminar; people are ecstatic that they have an opportunity to learn how to grow their business,” said Pagano. "We’re bringing people on campus who have never been here before, and people love that we’re accessible. We have gotten so many e-mails and so many thank you letters from people who have said this is great. The Coleman grant made it financially feasible to do the program, and we’re very, very appreciative of that.”

A Credibility Builder

Two grant recipients pointed out the importance of the credibility that receiving such a grant can lend to an entrepreneurship project or program. At Washtenaw Community College in Ann Arbor, MI, faculty member Cheryl Davisson Gracie, JD, CPA, RCC is using the Coleman grant to support a Student Enterprise Competition (SEC) that will enable students to plan and evaluate an idea they have for starting a business. "What the grant did for me was to bring recognition to our work, which allowed me to bring in others to become involved in the SEC competition,” she said. "Having Coleman endorse my idea enough to give me a mini-grant was wonderful in getting people to take a look at what we were doing and help. Having to present it gave me something to show to others that was clear and convincing.”

Northern Virginia College in Arlington, VA, is using part of its Coleman grant to draw attention to the new collaborative joint venture it has created with a local non-profit called the Community Development Partnership to develop the College’s entrepreneurship program. "It wasn’t so much the dollar amount because the College is putting up a lot more dollars,” said Robert P. Rogers, Jr., a business leader who serves as Special Assistant to the President on the innovative project. "What it really was about was the Coleman people saying of our proposal, ‘Look this is legitimate; we think this is something that makes sense in entrepreneurship.’ So when I go to talk to all the people inside the college and to business leaders, I can say, ‘Hey, this isn’t a local thing that we cooked up. I took this concept and competed against community colleges all across the country and we won.’”

A few months ago I received a call from a small business owner in total distress. She had an excellent education and background in restaurant management, and about a year back opened her own restaurant. Her crisis was fairly simple: Her banker had given her 15 days to come up with a plan to turn it around or they’d be backing "the truck” up to the back door of her restaurant, and reclaiming her equipment.

I felt like I had opened a book to a chapter in the middle. I had a hundred questions that begged to be answered…but she had 15 days! My first thought was, "Sorry, I can’t help you. Maybe if you’d called me a few months ago…”

But in this business, we get what we get. Of course I met with her, just like you would have. I met with her landlord. And I met with her banker. I even facilitated a meeting between the restaurant owner and my best CPA, himself a "recovering banker.” But it was too late to make any significant difference. Fifteen days later, she was out of business.

But that experience got me thinking about her and others like her. And I’ve not been able to forget her painful cry for help. Since then a strategy – or a plan has been taking shape in my head. My intent here is to share my thoughts with you, my professional peers of NACCE. For lack of a better name, let’s call it The Small Business 911 Service.

It occurred to me that here in Wisconsin we spend a tremendous amount of time, resources, and energy on nascent entrepreneurs–start-ups, and early stage businesses. A large number of those who graduate from our classes are sole proprietors or are only destined for self-employment. Former Governor Tommy Thompson once described Economic Development as a three-legged stool. He used to say: "One leg is Job Development, one leg is Job Retention, and the third leg is Entrepreneurship.” And I started to think, "What do we do for those businesses that need urgent help NOW? How do we respond when they are in total crisis? I was thinking of job retention! It seems to me, we don’t do a lot. ”

The restaurant owner’s problem was that she was so busy scrambling to make it, that by the time her banker lowered the proverbial boom on her, she was already paralyzed–and was barely able to speak when she found me. In reality, her business had already died–she just didn’t know it yet. She didn’t just lose her business; seven people lost their jobs!

But what if, in the name of "job retention,” we made our new Small Business 911 Service known far and wide and easy to access? What if we branded it and promoted it! Then, when the call does come in, our response would work something like this:

1. We pull together an "A-Team” consisting of five professionals with expertise in sales and marketing, finance, human resources, systems management and a technical specialist unique to the business (in this case, it would have been restaurant ownership). The complexion of the team is uniquely based on the client.

2. The A-Team responds within 48 hours. Each A-Team member conducts a SWOT analysis from his/her respective area of expertise. They interview, examine, question, read, observe, analyze, probe and prod. We spend an intense seven hours in the business. At the end of seven hours, the A-Team reassembles in private and lines the room with flipchart pages of findings, both positive and negative.

3. After substantial debate, sharing of findings and discussion, a definitive Action Plan is created with essential steps for correction. These steps are then prioritized, and a realistic timeline is created and agreed upon.

4. The following morning, the A-Team meets with the business owner to reveal and discuss its findings. This takes the form of an Executive Summary–short, succinct, powerful, dynamic, strategic and goal-oriented. Input is sought from the owner briefly, but in the end, the owner must agree and commit to the Action Plan and the timeline.

5. This then becomes the working action plan that the bank receives and must endorse.

6. We invoice the bank $5,000 for the day. That’s a $1,000 for each A-Team member’s time and commitment to the process. The bank then can amortize the $5,000 over the life of the business loan. So ultimately, the business pays for the process, but in a way they can afford.

This fantasy of mine is built on the presumption that the bank is not interested in seeing a loan default. Nor are they interested in owning restaurant equipment. They are interested in short-range and long-range success. I hope I’m not wrong about that.

My question to you colleagues of mine is this: Have you ever heard of such a thing? Is anyone doing this now? Do you think it could work? Can you think of ways to improve this process? I’d love to hear your thoughts. Here is my contact information:

Andrew (Andy) Clark, Manager, NWTC Center for Entrepreneurship, Business Assistance Center, 2701 Larsen Road, Green Bay, WI 54303, 920-498-7124, andrew.clark@nwtc.edu

To learn how such a program can be made to work, we interviewed Donna Duffey, a professor and career program facilitator at Johnson County Community College (JCCC) in Overland Park, KS. JCCC has merged its credit and noncredit classes in entrepreneurship.

Editor: What promoted JCCC to merge its credit and noncredit entrepreneurship courses?

Duffey: The primary thing driving schools to try this new approach is customer service. At JCCC, we wanted to reduce the confusion on the customer’s part regarding credit or noncredit courses in entrepreneurship. When you take a number of phone calls from people that ask, "Why should I take this credit course or why should I take this noncredit course?” you realize you probably have been confusing people.

Another significant motivation was the desire to use our resources more efficiently. We have been challenged numerous times to be sure we’re maximizing the use of our facilities and other resources. Sometimes you don’t really pay attention to those sorts of messages until you can’t have something that you want. What we ended up realizing was that we were seeing increased demand for additional curriculum in both the credit and noncredit areas. With both sides wanting to respond to that demand, we found we couldn’t always get the necessary space. But we learned that if we combined our initiatives, we drew more people and made more effective use of resources.

Editor: When did your program begin and how has it worked?

Duffey: We started in 2003 and it has worked very well for us. We think of it as a cross-marketing initiative. What is advertised on the credit side is also advertised on the promotional material for the noncredit side. One of the major advantages has been that the noncredit side has been able to expand their offerings of workshops and the credit side has expanded its offerings of credit courses.

We actually were more fearful initially than it turns out we needed to be. Things went far more smoothly than we ever thought they would.

Editor: So you had concerns at the start about potential problems that never actually arose?

Duffey: Yes. The first thing we worried about was the cost of courses. Costs for credit courses were based upon a credit hour rate of $68 multiplied by the number of credit hours in the course. On the other hand, noncredit workshops were always priced individually, with no particular pattern from workshop to workshop.

Now, what credit and noncredit people pay is based on the traditional credit hour multiplied by the credit hour rate basis, and both groups pay the same amount. We anticipated this might be a problem, but it hasn’t been.

Secondly, we thought we might have some challenges on who we hired to teach these courses. But the reality is that everybody at our institution wants quality instruction, so what we have done is to follow the guidelines of our institutional and department accrediting source. If a person has to have an MBA or higher to teach a credited entrepreneurship course, then those same criteria are followed when that course is also being marketed as a noncredit option.

Another thing we worried about was whether there would be resistance on the noncredit students’ part to having assignments given or to taking tests or quizzes. That also has not been a problem for two reasons. First, the majority of what we do in entrepreneurship courses is activity or process related. You get a grade as a result of project or activity assignments. The noncredit students are very interested in completing those assignments–that’s why they are there–so the fact that those assignments happen to add up to a grade is fine with them.

Secondly, our courses in financial management and legal issues involve quizzes and exams. We had anticipated that noncredit students would not wish to take those exams or would be argumentative about the quizzes. But it turns out they want to know that they have captured the information in the course, and the quizzes and tests help them identify whether they did. So there has been no problem there either.

Editor: It sounds like the response from the students has been very positive. How have the administration and the faculty reacted?

Duffey: We thought we were going to have more resistance administratively because the credit side reports through one division and the noncredit side reports through another division; budgets are allocated accordingly. However, both sides have been very supportive of this initiative, primarily because we’re serving our constituencies better than before.

We also were concerned that we might have some resistance from professors–mainly because it’s just a little bit more tedious to have to start the course with two rosters–one they receive from credit division and one from the noncredit division. The reality is that’s where the differences end. It’s one audience in front of you and just because the class roster started on two lists is not at all the way the class moves forward.

Editor: So have you had any problems at all with the new system?

Duffey: Occasionally after a course is completed, someone will say, "Maybe I should have done this for credit. Can I change that now?” We tell them they can’t make this change after the fact, because, frankly, we haven’t figured out how to do that. But we also point out that we have a number of other entrepreneurship offerings and they might go ahead and take those for credit. And they seem satisfied with that answer.