Peabody launches Center for Entrepreneurship
Education
by Ann Marie Deer Owens
Small business owners, K-12 educators and others interested in helping people
become successful entrepreneurs attended a June 17 workshop at Peabody College.
The purpose of the one-day Entrepreneurship Planning Institute was to help
develop teaching strategies, curriculum and student field experiences for
a new Center for Entrepreneurship Education, according to R. Wilburn Clouse,
professor of educational leadership at Vanderbilt.
"The focus of our center is to teach people how to think and live outside
of structured organizations," Clouse said. "Downsizing has caused
hundreds of thousands of people to lose their jobs. Many of these people
have spent their lives working in a structured environment, and they do
not know how to be creative, see an opportunity and move on it."
He also said that people must know how to deal with uncertainty and how
to manage chaos if they are to be competitive in the 21st century.
"We want to develop minds that create jobs instead of taking jobs,"
Clouse said. "Entrepreneurship is a way of thinking about your life
and the world around you."
The center will have three areas of emphasis, Clouse said. These are: course
offerings that focus on entrepreneurship education; partnerships with selected
school districts in Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi and Tennessee;
and assistance to business owners through Chamber of Commerce organizations
in smaller communities.
Clouse also wants to develop a computer-based network of entrepreneurs to
improve communication about entrepreneur education and related issues.
Panelists for the institute included Stephen Bistritz, a former IBM executive
who is vice president of Target Marketing Systems Inc. of Atlanta; George
Peterson, also a former IBM executive turned entrepreneur; Mike Gavlick,
retired colonel in the U.S. Marines who is a self-acknowledged futurist;
Hank Nelson, a former South Central Bell executive and Jefferson County,
Ala., school board member turned entrepreneur; Caroline McClain, a former
music industry executive who formed McClain Enterprises; and Ted Ridings,
an insurance agent with New York Life. Ridings was involved in the early
design of Nashville's East Bank stadium development project.
The Center for Entrepreneurship Education is being funded by the Coleman
Foundation, which has been supporting entrepreneurship training since 1980.
John Hughes, chairman of the foundation, said there is a growing demand
for entrepreneur education by young people looking for self-employment.
"Having your own business gives you the opportunity to set your own
standards and ethics, build self-esteem and self-reliance, and receive credit
for what you accomplish," Hughes said.
Business owners and others interested in receiving more information about
the Center for Entrepreneurship Education should call Clouse at 322-8000.
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Document Created June 26, 1997
by Billy Kingsley