TY - JOUR
T1 - Engineering deans' perspectives on the value of entrepreneurial thinking in engineering education
AU - Huerta, Mark V.
AU - London, Jeremi
AU - McKenna, Ann
N1 - Funding Information:
Various stakeholders in the engineering education ecosystem have expesserd commitments to advancing entrepreneurship-related topics. For example, it is now commonplace for engineering students to be exped oto ensreptenerurship during their undergraduate education. Formal entrepreneurship programs (e.g., majors, minors, and certificates) have quadrupled from 1975 to 2006 [1]. Moreover, the National Science Foundation (NSF) and other funding agencies --including the Kern Family Foundatio, thenKauffman Foundation, VentureWell and the Lemelson Foundation--have invested in promotingentr epreneurship and innovation in engineering education [2]. Similarly, the Enreprteneurship and Engineering Innovation (ENT) Division of the American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE) is also supporting the movement through its mission to “foster and disseminate approaches to educate and stimulate faculty and students at all levels on entrepreneurship, including partnerships with business schools as well as the business and technology enterprise communities” [3].
Publisher Copyright:
© American Society for Engineering Education, 2018.
Copyright:
Copyright 2018 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2018/6/23
Y1 - 2018/6/23
N2 - The proliferation of entrepreneurship degree programs, centers, and on-campus programs implicitly signal that a variety of stakeholders are involved in advancing these efforts. Among these stakeholders are the deans of engineering colleges since they are primary agents for leading change efforts throughout an institutional context. To date, little literature has explored their perspectives on the value of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial thinking within engineering. In this study, we present the results of conducting interviews with 23 deans of engineering colleges representing three types of institutions: R1 Public (8), R1/R2 Private (5), and primarily undergraduate-focused (10). During the 30-minute interviews, deans discussed how they onboard and support junior faculty, and the role of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial thinking in engineering colleges. A thematic analysis of their responses revealed that, overall, engineering deans believe an entrepreneurial mindset can support both students and faculty and expressed their desire to continue scaling their institutions' entrepreneurship initiatives. The findings indicate that deans value entrepreneurial mindset because of its potential to enhance many of the activities that occur within an institutional context. The findings of this study add to the body of literature on this topic by documenting the perspectives of critical change agents connected to this topic.
AB - The proliferation of entrepreneurship degree programs, centers, and on-campus programs implicitly signal that a variety of stakeholders are involved in advancing these efforts. Among these stakeholders are the deans of engineering colleges since they are primary agents for leading change efforts throughout an institutional context. To date, little literature has explored their perspectives on the value of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial thinking within engineering. In this study, we present the results of conducting interviews with 23 deans of engineering colleges representing three types of institutions: R1 Public (8), R1/R2 Private (5), and primarily undergraduate-focused (10). During the 30-minute interviews, deans discussed how they onboard and support junior faculty, and the role of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial thinking in engineering colleges. A thematic analysis of their responses revealed that, overall, engineering deans believe an entrepreneurial mindset can support both students and faculty and expressed their desire to continue scaling their institutions' entrepreneurship initiatives. The findings indicate that deans value entrepreneurial mindset because of its potential to enhance many of the activities that occur within an institutional context. The findings of this study add to the body of literature on this topic by documenting the perspectives of critical change agents connected to this topic.
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M3 - Conference article
AN - SCOPUS:85051218553
VL - 2018-June
JO - ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, Conference Proceedings
JF - ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, Conference Proceedings
SN - 2153-5965
T2 - 125th ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition
Y2 - 23 June 2018 through 27 December 2018
ER -