In a recent Forbes article, Sramana Mitra asks whether business schools that emphasize raising venture capital over bootstrapping set up their students for failure in the “real world.” First-time entrepreneurs typically don’t have the track record necessary to secure venture capital, so if they see it as their only option they may never get their business off the ground. It’s a testament to CEE Professor Jeff Fahrenwald’s Entrepreneurship course that bootstrapping and venture capital are both given equal consideration as appropriate funding tactics.

Read the article at Forbes.

Congratulations to Khetsiwe Dlamini, who was the subject of an article the Rockford Register Star this week for her leadership in the Rockford College Student Government. Khetsiwe also made her mark in Dr. Stephen Hicks’s Entrepreneurship and Ethics course, in which she gave an excellent presentation of her case study on the entrepreneur Richard Branson. Watch a short video clip from her presentation here. Additionally, Khetsiwe was featured in the April 2009 issue of Kaizen.

Read the article at the Rockford Register Star.

During the spring 2009 semester CEE sponsored a contest for the best essays in the Business and Economic Ethics course on the following topic: “Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely”—True or False? The essays were judged on the basis of their thoroughness, cohesiveness, and originality.

The two first-prize winners were Naomi Byars and Jennifer LaSarre, who received $300 each.

Here are the essays of the two first-prize winners (both essays are in PDF format):

Naomi Byars – “The Corruption Triangle” [pdf]

Jennifer LaSarre – “Power, Privilege, and Political Entrepreneurs in America” [pdf]

In addition three Honorable Mentions were awarded to Kathreen Atkerson, Seth Kryder, and Brittney Leach, who received $100 each. Congratulations to our five winners for their excellent work!

During the Fall 2007 semester, the Center offered prizes for the best two student projects in Professors Hicks and Rezazadeh’s Capitalism in the Modern World course. The projects involved researching a country’s political and economic history, and students were judged on the basis of the quality of their analysis and the effectiveness of their presentations, both oral and written. The winners, Paul Lindsay and Emily Wallen, received $300 each. Below are brief video clip excerpts of their presentations.

Paul Lindsay on Venezuela

Emily Wallen on Japan

Professor Stephen Hicks will be teaching a course on Free Speech and Censorship during the spring 2009 semester at Rockford College. This course explores what the greatest minds in history have argued about free speech and censorship in art, politics, religion, business, science, and sex. Who should decide what books are read? Should pornography be censored? What about politically rebellious pamphlets? Or the advertising of tobacco on television? Or hate language that attacks a person’s sex, race, or ethnic origin? See the Free Speech & Censorship course flyer (PDF). For information on course dates and times please visit Rockford College’s IQ.Web.

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.

To be offered in the Fall 2008 semester. In this course students will consider a range of ethical, political, and economic issues about sports: Why are sports so universally popular? What physical and psychological values do they provide? Does the playing of sports develop good character? Why are many sports fans so fanatical? What is the proper place of sports in higher education? Is there anything wrong with ticket-”scalping”? How should mega-sports complexes be funded—politically or through the market? See the Sports Ethics flyer.

Professor Stephen Hicks will teach a new course this fall 2008 semester at Rockford College: Entrepreneurship and Ethics. The purpose of this course is to integrate entrepreneurship, business history, and business ethics. It will consist of case studies of major entrepreneurs in modern history, e.g., Commodore Vanderbilt, Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Samuel Insull, John Johnson, Martha Stewart, Bill Gates, and others. Part of each case study involves learning the entrepreneur’s business practices and how he or she achieved business success. What traits and practices did they have: intelligence, risk-tolerance, leadership, ambition, ruthlessness? And part of each case study will involve learning about the ethical controversies their activities generated: Were they “predatory competitors,” “monopolists,” “robber barons”—or were they extraordinarily productive individuals who benefited both themselves and their customers? Students read and analyze business histories and biographies by both proponents and detractors. See the Entrepreneurship and Ethics course flyer.