Ball State’s focus on entrepreneurship includes not only a new top administrator but a new emphasis on creativity across campus.
“I think ultimately I have a real interest in creativity and innovation,” said Michael Goldsby, the school’s newly appointed chief entrepreneurship officer.
“In business schools, entrepreneurship is an area where you can really get in the creative side of business. More important, it’s more a life philosophy of people pursuing life opportunities."
President Paul Ferguson hailed the new emphasis on entreprenurship and problem solving in his opening address to faculty at the start of the semester, naming Goldsby to the new position and introducing Jennifer Blackmer, the school’s first associate provost for entrepreneurial learning.
Goldsby said then that he hopes the new focus will help students approach challenges with an entrepreneurial mindset will help them be successful in any situation or organization.
“The social contract of the 21st century has changed,” he said. “Today, people have to chart their own course.”
Ball State’s Entreprenurship Center opened in 1983 in the Miller College of Business. Goldsby has been with the program for 14 years.
“Our faculty teach you step-by-step how to creatively identify real-world opportunities, apply a business model to your solution, and then assess the feasibility of your idea,” the center says on its webpage.
Goldsby has his own personal story of problem solving, beginning with a bulldozer.
Well before earning his doctorate degree, he worked with his uncle, the dozer, dump truck and backhoe to build and run a golf course.
After the course was completed, he realized people were enjoying his vision and getting to play on something he helped create.
Later at the university, new colleagues spotted some of that creative energy.
“When I came to Ball State, the founder and director of the program, Dr. [Donald F.] Kuratko, he saw ... that I had an entrepreneurial way about me and I would enjoy working in this field,” Goldsby said.
Kuratko, now a professor of entrepreneurship at Indiana University, said he saw potential and passion in Goldsby. In his 14 years at Ball State, Goldsby has set the scene for continued support of entrepreneurial efforts at the university, Kuratko said.
Kuratko said Goldsby’s addition to the program was like spotting a gem.
“It’s good fortune he found us,” said Kuratko. “I think over the years he’s developed a great vision for entrepreneurial learning at Ball State University."
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