Thank you for joining us today. While we would love to meet you in person and showed you our home on campus, the Venture Development Center, we're happy to be using our new, best friend Zoom to connect with you and help you learn if The University of Delaware and Horn entrepreneurship are right for you. I'm excited that you're going to be able to hear from our founding director, Dan Freeman, two faculty members Laura Gasiorowski, and Vince DiFelice, as well as four students. And I have one student from each of the four class years and you'll be able to hear about their experiences firsthand. Now I'm happy to turn it over to Dan Freeman. our Founding Director, he founded Horn Entrepreneurship in 2011. And he continues to work tirelessly towards our mission of empowering the next generation of world changers. Dan? Right. >> Well, thank you very much, Tricia, I'm gonna go ahead and share a screen or at least try, so that we can talk a little bit about why it might be great for you to study entrepreneurship here at the University of Delaware. >> And just to give you a very short answer to that question, really a reason for studying it at UD are the amazing people, the award-winning programs, our purpose-built facilities, our network of networks, and welcoming inclusive community are all here to support you. >> We want to support your individual aspirations. >> If we're able to have a live session with you, we'd actually spend a lot of time asking you what those are so that we can speak to how exactly we could support them. >> Instead, we're going to talk in more general terms about the people and programs and what we have to offer you. >> So what can you expect from the people at Horn entrepreneurship? Well, everyone on the Horn team is passionate about empowering students through entrepreneurship education. >> We're also open to new ideas. >> A lot of the programming that we offer, we actually started with the kernel of a student idea, something that a student thought could add value and really help them. >> And so we've taken a lot of those ideas and made them into the many things that we offer. >> We collaborate across campus with most of the units that are on campus and many that are in the broader community as well. And we operate, it very much as a meritocracy. >> In other words, what you put in is what you're going to get back. >> So if you earn an opportunity, you're going to be the one gets the amazing opportunity and a large measure of our scarcest resources. In terms of the programs, you know again, we've purposefully built a small program so that we can deliver you an amazing personalized experience supporting your individual aspirations. >> The curriculum, if you looked at what it looked like a couple years ago, it's very different today because it's very dynamic. We're constantly iterating, trying to prove what we deliver. >> And it's very holistic. We want you not just to, you know, understand business basics and how to execute the entrepreneurship process. But we want you to develop as a person and be able to explore a full range of your personal interests. The one, I think constructive feedback we occasionally get from students is we actually offers so many opportunities that can be hard to keep track of them all and also challenging to, to participate in all the ones that are exciting. >> So we really do offer an incredible array of opportunities and we focus very much on welcome you into a lifelong community. >> This isn't just about the four years that you're going to spend at the University of Delaware. We actually, we'd love for you to engage with us before you even arrive on campus and we'd love for you to stay engaged long after you leave because we're going to continue to do whatever we can to support your aspirations and hopefully have you come back and enrich the experiences of our current students. Just to share a little bit about the outcome. >> You know where you end this journey. >> We want you to develop the mindset, the skill set, and the means to be able to adapt and thrive. You know, one way to look at the way that technology is impacting the world, and also at the moment, the way Covid-19 is impacting the world is to think of it as the ground is constantly shifting beneath our feet. >> But with an entrepreneurial mindset, skill set means to create value from new ideas, you can be a problem solver and a value creator and really solve some of these problems and adapt and thrive, no matter how the world changes around you. Just to give you a sense of sort of Horn entrepreneurship by the numbers. >> You know, one of the really unique things is you have the opportunity to engage with students from all the different majors across campus. They're all welcome in our programs and our courses so that you can have the opportunity to engage with a biomedical engineer, a Visual communication student, a psychology major, a communications major, the full range of different students from across campus. And again, a rich set of opportunities. More than a 100 mentors and speakers participate in the program in a given year. More than a $150,000 in funding just for undergraduate student ventures alone each year. And we actually, through a lot of the programs we offer, we have such a great network that we're able to offer more signature internships typically than we have students. Our students are in very high demand. also, as evidenced by extremely favorable job placement. And not just a placement in a job, but a placement in a job that's interesting, rewarding, and fulfilling to the student. >> And now that you know a little bit about why you might want to study entrepreneurship at the University of Delaware. >> I'm going to turn it over to Professor Gasiorowski to share a little bit more about how we teach entrepreneurship. Thanks, Dan. >> I'm Laura Gasiorowski and I'm an assistant professor of entrepreneurship. And as an entrepreneurship major, you would take the Intro to entrepreneurship class with me. And then later on you would take a research methods class with me too. I think what's cool about Horn's education model is that we view faculty more as facilitators of learning rather than lecturers. Said, the way that our classes are taught is actually pretty cool. Students learn in a very hands-on way. They work on real world problems and they work on their own projects. So I know in my classes, students will learn from experts. Experts that the Horn program brings in, experts that you seek out to talk to. Students learn from customers. They learn from each other and they learn by doing. For instance, in the class I'm teaching right now, I have students that are working on their own ideas and ventures and they're actually running experiments to test different parts of their business model. I think at the end of the day, students are learning more skills that are relevant to discovering their interests and passions. Skills that are more relevant to the real world. And I hope they have, they're having fun doing it. And I think all of that is really complimented by what students are also getting from our venture development pathway. So I'll pass it over to Vince to talk more about that. >> So thanks. Laura, My name is Vince DiFelice and after 30 years of living a life of an entrepreneur. And like most entrepreneurs, starting many, many companies, most of which failed, but a few succeeded. >> Fortunately, I had a few successes. And after having sold the last company, I had the opportunity to come here to Delaware and to help students. >> And so what I do is I had the opportunity to teach and to support nascent students startups. >> And we actively support students startups because they provide a powerful vehicle to accelerate learning about oneself and about one's interests and passions, and about how it fits into the world, about how when fits into the market. >> And this empowers students to launch their careers, to launch startups and these start-ups and careers are aligned with what makes them happy, what they care about. And the reason this is true is because one doesn't necessarily learn entrepreneurship in the classroom. >> One learns by doing so. >> Programs we offer allow you to do so. >> And so we work in concert with the courses that that Laura teaches. And with that, I'd like to turn this over to Tricia. >>Thanks, Vince. So I have two roles here, up in entrepreneurship. One is I serve as the academic advisor for students in the major for all four years. And two, I run our enrichment programming, which are designed to enrich the academic experience outside the classroom. Though a little different about the advising is most majors will have, they will have a generalist advisor for two years and then a faculty advisor for two years. By getting to work with you all four years, I get to know you pretty well. And then I can help you navigate the course selection and also to pick your technical competency, which is, I think the coolest part of our major. So there are four aspects to the major, curriculum-wise. One is breadth classes - University requirements at every major has to take. Second are your core business classes. And so that'll be courses like marketing, accounting, finance, operations management, You have your entrepreneurship core, where you're going to learn things like creative problem-solving, Design Thinking, Leadership, selling. We really try to teach you a well rounded skillset that employers are looking for. And finally, the technical competency, again, is probably the most interesting part of the major. That allows you to apply this entrepreneurial and business skills to an area that you're passionate about and that you love and that's different for everybody. We're not trying to prepare you for one specific job. We're preparing you to create value in the area that you love. And so you get to pick that. That could be marketing, it could be finance, but it could be computer science, it could be health and wellness, it could be fashion, and you get to choose that. So we give you space in your schedule to actually learn in that industry. So by me getting to know you, I can help you choose that if it's not something you already know that you want. In addition to being the advisor and running the enrichment programming. a couple of the ones I'd like to highlight is, one is the peer mentor program. So coming to college can be a big adjustment. And it's nice to have somebody who's been there and done that. So before you even step foot on campus, I will match you up with an older student where they will help you navigate college life. They will help you pick your classes. They will help you know who to take and who not to take. And they can just kind of be there to listen to. Our students actually tell you a little bit more about that. One of our other areas is our signature internship pathway. We actually have a coordinator who recruits entrepreneurially minded companies to hire our students to solve real world problems for them. And you also get paid. A lot of times, these internships will result in a fulltime job offer. Another area is our Professional Development course. So I teach two semesters of professional development. You'll take it your very first semester here and that's where we're actually going to teach you skills that are transferable across all career paths. So we're gonna teach you things like networking, how to get a job. We're gonna teach you things like stress management, time management, goal setting. And I can answer your questions if you reach out, if you have more about those. Next, I'd like to turn it over to our students to have them tell you about their experience. So first, I'd like you to hear from Heather. Hi, I'm Heather. I'm a freshman here at UD and my first year experience has been filled with so many amazing opportunities so far, including the peer mentor program like Tricia was talking about. I was actually assigned a mentor for my four years. And whether it has helped academically or socially, she has really made it known that she will always be there for me. And has been a great first friend to have on campus just to show me around for any help needed. >> Also for professional development, the classes you have, are workshop based lecture show like Tricia was talking about, that are very focused on your professional profile to employers. You go over utilizing LinkedIn, leading an internship, and actually landing your own dream internship, which most schools don't actually teach you. There are so many networking opportunities, entrepreneurs who come into speak about their experiences, companies for free lunch on Friday, for example. So there's a, there's a lot of guidance in this sense and Mark can kind of touch up on free lunch Friday too. Hi everybody, my name is Mark deZerpa >> And for me, I got involved in Horn Entrepreneurship when I was in high school. In high school, I participated in something called the Diamond Challenge, which to me was absolutely amazing, which is one of the main reasons why I ended up coming to UD and picking the Entrepreneurship major. >> And the cool thing about the Diamond Challenge is that even while you're in college, you can still participate and get to meet people from all over the world, over 20 different countries. >> In addition to that, I'm also a Delaware Innovation Fellow. And that to me is something really nice where you get to network with like-minded students on campus. We also plan different retreats during the semester, which, to me, absolutely helps in getting to know everybody. >> And another program that UD or Horn offers as well is Free Lunch Friday. The cool thing about Free Lunch Friday is you get to listen to a very successful entrepreneur and their life story over free food, which you cant beat that. >> Hi everyone. My name's Kelly Andreessen. I'm a junior entrepreneurship major and I'm from Bear, Delaware. >> I want to share a little bit about some of my experiences. >> One of the first ones being the signature internship program that was mentioned earlier. That's a really amazing program. I was paired with.. well, I was interning with a digital marketing agency in Wilmington. And I had a very entrepreneurial role where I was able to take leads on projects, come up with new ideas that were implemented, as well as work with the founders of the company. That was a great experience and it actually helped me decide on my minor, which has now advertising. So I learned a lot from that experience. I've also been able to develop my leadership skills through the Siegfried Entrepreneurial Leadership fellows. We meet with a select group of students who get into the program and discuss different leadership topics, apply those topics into a real-world project. And I was even given the opportunity to fly to Florida to attend to the executive coaching workshop with other entrepreneurs and CEOs. So that was a really amazing opportunity that I only had because of Horn. And lastly, one of my favorite opportunities that I've had, I'm a Special Programs Assistant at Horn entrepreneurship. So I work with Tricia on the enrichment team and help with student programming, community events, and all sorts of fun stuff. And I've really been able to take the skills I've learned from my classes about being an entrepreneur and applying them into my job here. And being able to act as an entrepreneur within a bigger organization, which is what we call an intrapreneur. >> So with that, I'll pass it over to Adam. >> Hi, I'm Adam. Zielinsky...I'm a senior Entrepreneurship major. You know, we live in very strange, uncertain times, but as Dan pointed out, that's when our students and entrepreneurs in general really thrive. And I think that's largely due in fact to like our comprehensive education and then the way we sort of integrate that with all the extra curricular programs that have been mentioned already. For me with my newfound free time, I've had a lot of opportunities to reflect on the last four years. And I think the biggest takeaway for me is the community that is built through Horn entrepreneurship that started for me with the Ignite early move-in Program, which is something I absolutely recommend, not only because I help coordinate it, but because it was really impactful moment in my freshmen transition. It allows you to move in to your dorm two days early, which is advantageous for a lot of reasons because you get situated, but you also get to meet a community of like 30-40 people that you really connect with because they're all like-minded individuals and they maybe are in different majors, but you're guaranteed to have at least one or two of them in just about every class you have for the rest of your time at university. So it's great to have that built-in group of friends throughout your college career and then to be able to come into the VDC at any point and immediately know some familiar faces and to have the full staff there to help you with whatever you need or just to have a home away from home. So I think the community that is built, you know I could really go on for probably an hour about it. But that's, that's probably the best, the best part about being in Horn entrepreneurship. >> Thank you. So proud of our students. I think they're pretty amazing. And that could be you! Before I turn it over to Dan, i just want to re-emphasize that our students are extremely well-prepared to adapt and thrive in this rapid change. They are highly sought after and I couldn't be more proud. And it would be great if you feel like this is right fit for you. We can't wait to meet you in person. With that, I'll turn it over to Dan. >> Great. >> Well, thank you, Tricia, and thank you for taking the time to watch this pre- recorded session. We really do appreciate it. >> And we know that you have a big decision to make about where to study and not being able to come to campus, not being able to, to visit the venture center, not being able to meet us in person obviously makes that challenging. But we hope that this session has been helpful. And we also want you to know that there's lots of other opportunities that we have for you. If you want to know a little bit more about us, we invite you to sit in on a virtual class session. And if you want to speak directly with one of that individual students, either the ones that you've met today or other students. >> If you want to spend some time one-on-one talking to Tricia, you can always email us. >> We're here, we're continuing to work and adapt our own programming because we're committed to delivering exceptional value to every student that chooses to study with Horn Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship — Lerner College of Business and Economics
From Kristina Demou April 15, 2020
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Learn more about our Horn Entrepreneurship program here at the University of Delaware.
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