2014 California Entrepreneurship Educators Conference
by Amanda Moore
The inaugural California Entrepreneurship Educators Conference was held on March 5th & 6th, 2014 at the Lavin Entrepreneurship Center on the San Diego State University campus. The mission of the conference was to connect leaders in entrepreneurship education and serve as a springboard for the sharing of entrepreneurial initiatives taking place on college campuses. The conference was designed in a way that each session focused on engaging interaction between conference participants. San Diego State University was excited to have two past USASBE presidents, Rebecca White and Michael Morris, as featured keynote speakers at the event. The conference highlighted the following:
• Entrepreneurship curriculum design at the undergraduate and graduate level
• Incubator development, challenges and success stories
• The creation of social entrepreneurship programs
• Specialty programs reaching across campus connecting students with diverse backgrounds together to create innovative business models
• Innovative assurance of learning techniques utilized to confirm students are acquiring the competencies necessary to be successful innovators
Dr. Timothy Stearns from the Lyles Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship stated, “The conference was a great opportunity for schools in California to share ideas and provide valuable information about programs offered to their schools. We hope to see this be an annual event.”
Dr. Alex DeNoble, Executive Director of the Lavin Entrepreneurship Center at SDSU, noted “we were excited and encouraged by the interest level around this topic and the turnout at the inaugural event. Over 80 participants from more than 30 colleges and universities attended the conference. We look forward to future opportunities to enhance the level of entrepreneurship education.”