NEWS

CHAPEL HILL -- The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is among 15 universities nationwide selected by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation of Kansas City, Mo., to participate in the foundation’s Kauffman Campuses Initiative.

The new program’s goal is to make entrepreneurship education a common and accessible campuswide opportunity. The new Kauffman program builds on an emerging trend among colleges and universities to expand entrepreneurship education beyond business schools.

UNC will use a $50,000 planning grant awarded by the Kauffman Foundation to help fund development of a proposal to be presented this December. The foundation will award between five and seven challenge grants of up to $5 million at that time based on demonstrated ability to:

· Make entrepreneurship a common and accessible experience for all students.

· Infuse entrepreneurship into campus culture.

· Adopt a unique and innovative approach.

· Provide support of top university leadership.

· Position the university to serve as a model for other colleges and universities.

"Carolina values entrepreneurship for the creativity and innovation found within this process, and we are delighted to have the opportunity to add to this important field of knowledge," said Mark Crowell, associate vice chancellor for economic development and director of technology development at UNC. "Our research community has seen first-hand how attention to entrepreneurship can help important technologies and treatments get to market more quickly, benefiting citizens throughout the world and helping our state’s economy.

"Certainly, we also see what a force entrepreneurship will be in the lives of our students, as they prepare to take their place in a rapidly changing professional world."

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News Services contact: Deb Saine, (919) 962-8415 or deborah_saine@unc.edu