Dianne Welsh

Program Description

Program Desc Title

University Overview

The University of North Carolina at Greensboro is a public, coeducational, doctoral-granting, residential university chartered in 1891. It is one of the three original institutions of The University of North Carolina System.

UNCG is a prestigious, top tier university.

  • As a research university with high research activity, UNCG is in the same Carnegie classification as Auburn, Clemson, William and Mary, Rutgers, Wake Forest and Boston College.
  • UNCG’s endowment has grown to more than $184 million, placing the university third inthe system for largest endowment.
  • The General Assembly approved $60 million to fund the Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering with NC A&T. The school will offer a joint interdisciplinary PhD degree and a joint professional science master’s degree, provide training for scientists and engineers already in the work force and engaged in global economic development activities, conduct cutting edge nano research and emphasize commercialization of the products that are generated.
  • The Gateway University Research Park is one of only a few research parks in the United States jointly operated by two universities, The University of North Carolina Greensboro and North Carolina A & T University, and will focus on research in the life and physical sciences, engineering and technology.
  • UNCG has 20 major research centers emphasizing research and community engagement. Research encompasses a wide variety of work including professional development, drug design, creative writing, education, information technology, health care management, genomics, youth and immigrant outreach.
    • The McDowell Research Center for Global IT Management is a unique national center exploring applications of information technology in international settings and in the health care industry.
    • The Center for Business and Economic Research conducts high-quality research in economic development and regional economics. CBER produces industry profiles, regional reports, economic-impact analyses and opinion surveys, as well as the Triad Business Index, which highlights county and regional economic activity.
    • The center for Research Excellence in the Nanobiosciences (CREN) develops innovative and commercially viable nanobiotechnology products.
  • The Bryan School is among the top 10 percent of business schools in the nation to have earned AACSB International accreditation in business and accounting at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.

UNCG makes life better for people through its five leadership areas. In the area of business leadership, the Bryan Business School drives economic development.

  • The Bryan Business School places more than 500 interns and 45 consulting teams in North Carolina organizations including VF Jeanswear, Volvo Financial, Tyco Electronics, Red Hat Inc. and BMW Manufacturing and many entrepreneurial businesses.
  • Partnered with the Nussbaum Center for Entrepreneurship EASE Program-Entrepreneurial Assistance, Support, and Education-to provide Lincoln Financial scholarship interns to entrepreneurial businesses.
  • The Office of Technology Transfer helped to create four new companies in the last five years from more than 102 innovations disclosed from UNCG faculty, staff and students.

UNCG is a great place where people make great things happen and everyone can succeed.

  • With ethnic minority students making up 31 percent of current freshman enrollment, UNCG is the most diverse of the UNC system’s historically white universities.
  • UNCG students have logged almost 19,000 hours in service-learning (service within the curriculum) and just under 39,000 hours in volunteerism.
  • UNCG ranks highly in several categories in a 2008 Great Colleges to Work For survey by The Chronicle for Higher Education. The Chronicle ranked UNCG in six categories: Job Satisfaction, Confidence in Senior Leadership, Work-Life Balance, Healthy Faculty-Administration Relations, Collaborative Governance and Post-Retirement Benefits.

Bryan School of Business and Economics

  • The concentration in Entrepreneurship is one of the fastest growing programs in the Bryan School of Business since being implemented in 2007.
  • A new minor in Entrepreneurship for majors outside the Bryan School of Business as well as for majors in the Bryan School of Business was offered for the first time in the fall of 2008.
  • A major in Entrepreneurship for those in the Bryan School of Business and a crosscampus joint entrepreneurship major with the other colleges and professional schools is being developed in accordance with the goals of UNC Tomorrow, a progressive systemwide initiative to address the economic needs of North Carolinians for the 21st Century and beyond.

BELL-Building Entrepreneurial Learning for Life

  • The purpose and mission of this initiative is to weave entrepreneurship into the fabric of the university by fueling the entrepreneurial spirit, thinking and actions of students and faculty across the campus by fostering a culture of creative confidence, competence, and courage.
  • BELL is a campus-wide, interdisciplinary effort, coordinated by an Executive Committee comprising the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, the Associate Provost for Research and Public / Private Sector Partnerships and the Dean of the Bryan School of Business and Economics. A faculty Advisory Committee meets periodically with the Executive Committee to provide input and suggest new directions.
  • BELL offers a range of educational, research and outreach opportunities, including an undergraduate minor in entrepreneurship (Bryan School of Business and Economics); undergraduate and graduate courses in entrepreneurship in various disciplines; development grants to faculty wishing to create new courses; support for student and faculty research on entrepreneurship; entrepreneurship education for students and faculty; extra-curricular entrepreneurial opportunities including student internships; course projects and incubator start-up experiences; public forums to educate the campus and community about entrepreneurship; lectures by visiting experts in various types of entrepreneurship; and workshops, symposia, and panels.
  • Since its official inception in the Fall of 2007, BELL has hosted a series of programs to better educate students, faculty, staff and the community at large on the topic of entrepreneurship. Additional programs and events are planned for the 2008-09 academic year.
    • Race, Gender and Ethnicity. This six-part series was aimed at helping minorities, women, and people of different ethnicities understand what it takes to be an entrepreneur or small business owner.
    • Entrepreneurship Summer Bootcamp Course. This course offers the student body at-large the opportunity to learn the language of business and entrepreneurship, experience the passions, pitfalls and successes of local entrepreneurs and participate in a simulation of starting and growing a basic business. It has been offered in 2007 and 2008.
    • Entrepreneurial Innovation in the Arts. The goal of the EIA is to facilitate open dialogue and the exchange of creative ideas among faculty, staff, students and artists.
    • Entrepreneurship Course Development Grants. The BELL Program awarded a total of eight entrepreneurship course development grants to faculty in nine departments and programs across the University.
    • Special Guest Speaker, Sarah Chayes. Ms. Chayes launched a cooperative in the former Taliban stronghold of Kandahar, producing fine skin-care products from local fruits, nuts, and botanicals.
    • Social Entrepreneurship. In an effort to better educate the faculty community at large about social entrepreneurship, a faculty workshop was held in May 2008 to assist faculty with incorporating the concepts and values of social entrepreneurship into the courses in their field, and ultimately establish social entrepreneurship as a mainstay within the UNCG community.

Advancing Entrepreneurship and Economic Development

  • The Bryan School of Business has sponsored major economic initiatives in the Triad region.
    • Economic Development Summit for North Carolina, the first summit held outside the Research Triangle.
    • Entrepreneur Action Team of the Greater Triad Summit.
    • Partnered on many community programs, including the Women’s Entrepreneur Conference with the Nussbaum Center for Entrepreneurship.

Faculty

Regular and practitioner faculty involved in entrepreneurship span the UNCG campus and are housed in departments and administrative units across the Bryan School of Business and Economics and the UNCG campus.

For More Information

Dianne H.B. Welsh, SPHR, Ph.D.
Hayes Distinguished Professor of Entrepreneurship
Bryan School of Business and Economics
The University of North Carolina Greensboro
P.O. Box 26165
Greensboro, NC 27402-6165
336-256-8507
dhwelsh@uncg.edu