Letter from the Director
Welcome to the Fifth Third Bank Entrepreneurship Institute (EI) at Northern Kentucky University website. As Director of the EI, I am proud to be a part of an exciting academic venture at the fastest growing university in Kentucky. The EI brings together students, educators, entrepreneurs, as well as business and government leaders, joining together in an effort to advance Entrepreneurship education in Northern Kentucky and the Greater Cincinnati region. I joined an outstanding program and a talented team, and together we are committed to take our program to the next level.
Although the EI is an integral part of the Haile/USBank College of Business, we provide a variety of entrepreneurship courses for students from any major on campus. We have recently expanded our curricular offerings to include a course in Social Entrepreneurship, one of the newest focus areas in the discipline. Our faculty brings a global perspective to the classroom, with solid records of accomplishment in academic research and extensive business experience in international contexts. To assure that our curriculum keeps pace with the rapidly changing world in which entrepreneurs live, we regularly engage our Board of Advisors in classroom activities and discussions. Further, we facilitate student interns at several local companies, providing an opportunity for students to apply the concepts learned in the classroom to an operating enterprise.
In addition to internships, another way to prepare students for their career in entrepreneurship is through active involvement in one of our student organizations. In addition to our established and successful Collegiate Entrepreneurs Organization (CEO), we now offer students two new entrepreneurship-focused student organizations: Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE), and Collegiate DECA. These organizations provide opportunities for professional networking, and service learning. Leadership in these global organizations not only allows students to develop the skills they will need to be successful after graduation, but many firms actively recruit directly from their respective competitions.
Today’s business and academic environments present many challenges and opportunities. I believe that the critical thinking, opportunity recognition, and value creation skills we teach are need more now than ever before. Those entrepreneurs and business leaders that have joined us a guest speakers, Advisory Board members, and financial supporters have helped create and launch the EI. If you are interested in learning more about us or in getting involved in some way to help us achieve our goals, please email or call.