The Midwest Entrepreneurship Education Center is located in Ball State University's Miller College of Business, but the new director of the program said he wants it to be a cross-campus program -- rather than one limited to the business college.
"I really believe that entrepreneurship is more than just business and that anyone can benefit from what it can teach," Larry Cox, the entrepreneurship program's recently hired director, said.
Brien Smith, chair of the department of marketing and management, was in charge of a national search for the director position, a search that spanned the summer and finally finished in early August.
At the time, Smith said entrepreneurship is a hot area, and instead of waiting for applicants to come to Ball State, he and others had to aggressively go in search of people to fit the bill.
The excitement of the dean of the business college, Lynne Richardson, and President Jo Ann Gora were just two of the many things that attracted Cox to Ball State.
"It's rare to go to a university and have that much support for what you're doing," Cox said of the administration's view of the entrepreneurship program and its potential.
Cox's strong academic background and experience with the leading entrepreneurship foundation in the country made him the ideal choice, Richardson said in a prepared statement.
"Where I was at, I was not in a tenure track position, and here I am, and that's very valuable to me as a career choice," Cox said, offering another reason he was drawn to Ball State.
Cox also said that the program plays a larger role at Ball State than it does at many other universities, which was appealing, and he was also fairly familiar with those on Ball State's entrepreneurship team.
In fact, about 10 years ago, Don Kuratko, former director of the entrepreneurship program, invited Cox to Ball State to look at the possibility of being an assistant professor.
Cox will replace Kuratko, who resigned in January to work for Indiana University's Kelley School of Business.
Since Kuratko started the entrepreneurship program in 1983, it has risen to the be nationally ranked as the fourth best in the country, and Cox said he looks forward to being part of such a successful program.
"When you're nationally ranked, everybody takes note," Cox said.
Once he gets settled, Cox wants to try to work a few trends into Ball State's entrepreneurship education that may or may not be already included.
One such area he would like to focus on is social entrepreneurship, which is applying for-profit business models to what have traditionally been non-profit models.
While Cox was director of the Wienert Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, he worked with students to turn a floundering recycled computer business into a $3 million a year business.
"Nearly all of the experiences in my career will help me to better work at Ball State," Cox said.
His work at a small business development center in Nebraska was valuable in helping people write business plans and present the most effective ways to teach entrepreneurship, he said.
He also worked with the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City, Mo., where he said he was exposed to some of the best thinkers and researchers around.
All of the staff of the entrepreneurship center have been doing great work, and Cox said he looks forward to joining the team this year.
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