The Center is pleased to announce a new course on the Political Philosophy of the American Revolutionary Era, which will be offered for the first time during the spring 2009 semester. The course will be taught by Professor Jules Gleicher and will cover the era of the American Founding (1776-1800), perhaps the most philosophic period in our history. The course will examine texts by John Locke, Baron Montesquieu, Thomas Paine, the Declaration of Independence, and the writings of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. See the Political Philosophy of the American Revolutionary Era course flyer (PDF) and view Professor Gleicher’s brief video introduction to the course below. For information on course dates and times please visit Rockford College’s IQ.Web.

The Center is pleased to announce Rockford College philosophy department’s spring 2009 course lineup. Eight different courses will be taught. View the Philosophy Department Spring 2009 courses flyer with course listings and brief descriptions. Information on course dates and times is also available at Rockford College’s IQ.Web.

The Center is pleased to announce a new Entrepreneurship course, which will be offered for the first time during the spring 2009 semester by Professor Steve Kadamian. It examines the role of entrepreneurship in a changing and complex global business environment and the special challenges and opportunities entrepreneurs face when developing, starting and growing an entrepreneurial organization. Particular focus is put on writing and developing a business plan that turns an entrepreneur’s ideas and dreams into reality. See the Entrepreneurship course flyer (PDF) and view below Professor Kadamian’s brief video introduction to the course. For information on course dates and times, please visit Rockford College’s IQ.Web.

Flow Vision News is the newsletter of Flow, an organization founded by educator Michael Strong and Whole Foods CEO John Mackey. The current edition interweaves the story of Senegalese entrepreneur Magatte Wade-Marchand, founder of the beverage company Adina for Life, with a discussion of the difficulties involved in fostering entrepreneurship and building up the economy in Senegal.

StartupNation published its annual ranking of the top 20 dorm-based businesses. The winners include: Ablaze Custom Cleaning, specializing in window cleaning; AffordaBook, a website for cheap textbooks; CaptainU, an online networking platform connecting high school athletes and recruiters; and DigitalWingman, which creates 3D floor plans of college dorm rooms and apartments for marketing purposes.

A report by the UK National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (FESTA), the National Council for Graduate Entrepreneurship (NCGE) and The Council for Industry and Higher Education (CIHE) urges UK universities to take entrepreneurship education beyond business school startup courses and integrate it more deeply into university life so that the country can remain economically competitive. As Keith Herrmann, Deputy Chief Executive of the CIHE puts it: “Pure business skills are no longer sufficient. To add value to the workplace, graduates will need to distinguish themselves by developing entrepreneurial skills that enable them to seize and exploit opportunities, take risks, think strategically, work flexibly, manage complexity, and acquire the more generic employability skills needed for the workplace, such as team-working, communication skills, and commercial awareness.”

Frances Smith Foster’s Love and Marriage in Early African America contains some intriguing findings about the entrepreneurial spirit of African-Americans during the period of slavery and Jim Crow. At Knowledge@Emory, the author gives several examples of black entrepreneurship during the 18th and 19th century, including that of the emergence of a black press.

Matt Bandyk postulates three reasons why people choose to become entrepreneurs: money, passion, and independence. Of those three, he argues that not money but “the attraction of the entrepreneurial lifestyle or the opportunity to sell your passion for a living is why most entrepreneurs do what they do.”

Check out MyDebates, created by MySpace in partnership with the Commission on Presidential Debates. The site gives visitors the opportunity to watch a live stream of each debate and track how the candidates stand on certain issues. It will also allow users to access a video archive of the debates, the responses of the candidates, and to participate in polls.

Venture capitalist and founder of Garage Technology Ventures Guy Kawasaki shares the five most important lessons he has learned as an entrepreneur. His regular web log is also worth checking out.