Entrepreneur program among best nationwide

Fresno State entrepreneurship program ranked 8th in the nation by Entrepreneur magazine

By REBECCA MARTIN

Of more than 500 colleges and universities surveyed by Entrepreneur magazine, Fresno State ranked eighth for its entrepreneurship program.

The survey included programs from schools such as MIT, which placed seventh, the University of Arizona placed second and Babson College, Massachusetts was ranked number one.

The entrepreneurship major has many different programs to offer students, program director Timothy Stearns said. Some of these include an internship program and a children’s summer camp that began in Fresno and now has locations around the world. The entrepreneurship program is also home to the Collegiate Entrepreneur Organization (CEO).

“CEO is one of the only clubs in the nation to have a functioning business,” CEO president Brian Santiago said.

The club partnered with Bouquet of Fruits, a community business, to start a stand at the Save Mart Center called Viva la Fresh.

The strong relationship the program has with the community could be one of the reasons the program is so highly ranked, both Santiago and Stearns said.

“Our program is based on applied entrepreneurship,” Stearns said. “You’ll never get an average exam in an entrepreneurial course; it’s all about the application.”

Santiago agreed, saying the classes in the entrepreneurship program are focused on what the core of business is supposed to be. He even started his first business in one of his entrepreneurship classes.

“I enjoy the layout of the classes,” Santiago said. “The entrepreneurship program is set up so that you actually do stuff. That’s an experience you couldn’t learn from any book.”

A big focus of the program, Stearns said, is to attract not just students from the Central Valley, but from all over the country. The program, with the help of the Coleman Foundation, recently began offering two $10,000 scholarships for incoming students.

While Stearns said being nationally ranked is always a plus, the program is trying to improve by looking at attracting a variety of students across the country.

“I think we have a good program, but not a great one,” Stearns said. “We need to attract students across the country. We need students in Florida, in Texas. We want it to be great.”

The opening of the new Lyles Center, a center for business and innovation that assists entrepreneurs by offering business support services will help the program improve, Stearns said. The new center, which will open next year, features eight hatcheries, or idea rooms, as well as a multimedia conference room.

“The center will be better than any student facility I’ve ever seen,” Stearns said.

The entrepreneurship program and the Lyles Center will also begin a new program in Spring 2006 for student groups who create a new business to compete. The winning student group will win $10,000 toward ita-s business and a free space to house their business in the new Lyles Center. At least one of the members of the team must be a Fresno State student, and the members cannot all be from the same college.

“The key is, I want students to start communicating with one another between different colleges on campus,” Stearns said.

In the meantime, the program is continuing to help students and alumni get jobs and create their own businesses.

According to Stearns, the program helps students succeed in the job field.

“It’s already helped me get a job,” Santiago said. Santiago will start developing three different fruit stands that feature salads and non-dairy smoothies at Fresno State next fall.

Stearns said some research has shown that entrepreneurship graduates make $23,000 more a year than other business majors in already-established businesses.

“The entrepreneurship programs teach students skills they want,” Stearns said.