Established in 1995, the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies (CES) at Washington State University offers students the opportunity to pursue an undergraduate major or minor in entrepreneurship, earn a master of business administration in a program focused on entrepreneurship and innovation, or focus their doctoral studies on entrepreneurship.
The program generally includes 50 undergraduates majoring and 20 undergraduate students pursuing a minor in Entrepreneurship. It is designed to provide education and training in the critical skills essential for business creation and innovation. Included in the mission is the desire to promote research directed toward the understanding of these processes, and to develop practical solutions to the management problems of small and medium sized businesses.
Entrepreneurship study at WSU prepares students to understand how to launch new ventures, and prepare entrepreneurial leaders within existing organizations, particularly given the concern nationally that corporations are not managing innovation successfully and the implications that has for the national and global economy. WSU provides a world-class experience face to face intended to build the human resources necessary to stimulate, develop, and promote a climate for accelerated business development and expansion in the Washington State region and beyond.
Business Plan Competition
Each semester the College of Business and Entrepreneurship program hosts a Business Plan Competition which gives students real world experience in building a business plan and attempting to launch a new venture. Each year 250 students participate in the competitions in Spring and Fall including international pre-heats in China and Europe, 50 MBA students and 20 Executive MBAs. Annually, judges include CEOs and venture capitalists looking to invest in winning ideas. Last year’s spring competition awarded over $100,000 to winning groups in cash and prizes.
Students In Free Enterprise (SIFE) Club
The WSU Chapter of the SIFE organization had a phenomenal year in 2009, winning 1st Runner Up at the Regional Competition in Seattle, they were a National Finalist (Top 20 Nation Wide) in the Success Skills Topic Competition (for their “Cougar Closet” project), they were a National Finalist (Top 20 Nation Wide) in the Market Economics Topic Competition and they won 1st Place in the National Market Economics Topic Competition for their Khmer Krafts project. The SIFE club is one of the most active clubs across the entire campus every year and is full of devoted students eager to start their entrepreneurial careers with a focus on sustainability and positively impacting their community.
External Visitors
Our Visiting Scholars Program brings in renowned scholars in entrepreneurship each year, including Shaker Zahra from the University of Minnesota and Duane Ireland from Texas A&M. In addition to bringing a variety of external guest speakers from industry into our classrooms every semester, we also host Entrepreneurs in Residence, such as Pete Parson (founder of the Xbox and Halo).
Fin 426 Entrepreneurial Finance:
Entrepreneurial Finance focuses on raising capital for new enterprises. Topics include venture capital, IPO's, debt financing, leasing and value startup ventures.
Entrp 485/486 Topics In New Venture Business Planning:
A series which lasts all year long, where Entrepreneurship professors team with faculty in engineering to place guide students in writing business plans around their ideas and designing prototypes all at once.
Entrp 489 Entrepreneurial Management:
This course is designed to help undergraduate students as leaders and learn how to launch and grow a new venture, featuring in-class visits from successful CEOs, business owners and executives to tell their secrets to success.
Entrp 600 Special Projects:
A graduate level seminar on the business of biotech where graduate students from all disciplines learn about new ventures and other forms of commercialization in the biotech sector, including case studies and guest speakers from the industry.
Students majoring in Management Operations, Marketing and Finance all take at least one Entrepreneurship class, while many students from majors across the College of Business take advantage of the Entrepreneurship classes offered as elective courses.
WSU’s Entrepreneurial Studies program was ranked 24th nationally by Entrepreneur Magazine in 2009 out of over 2,300 schools.
The College of Business is ranked 11th among business programs at public universities in the western United States (US News and World Report 2007).
The College of Business is among 2% of business schools worldwide to achieve AACSB accreditation at the bachelor, master, and doctoral levels (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business).
School Type: Four Year, Public, Founded: 1890
Affiliation: None
Website: http://www.wsu.edu
Student Profile:
Number of undergraduate, full-time students:
21,149
Percentage of undergraduate, full-time male students, female students:
47% male, 53% female
Percentage of international students:
5%
Percentage of minority students:
15%
Number of students participating in entrepreneurship:
50
Faculty Profile:
Number of full-time faculty:
2,443
Student/Faculty ratio:
14:1
Athletics:
Athletics division, conference, number of varsity sports:
Division 1A, Pacific 10 Conference. 17 Varsity Sports.
Financial:
Cost of tuition, room and board:
In State 7,600 per semester. Out of State: 18,676. Cost of room and board: 9,330
Percentage of students who receive some financial aid:
71.6%
