 F ROM THE D IRECTOR
 2012 L EADERSHIP L UNCHEON IN
R EVIEW
 D ELL S OCIAL I NNOVATION
C
HALLENGE
 IDEA C
OMPETITION
 N EW S TUDENT O RGANIZATION —
C
OLLEGIATE
E
NTREPRENEURS
O RGANIZATION
 A LUMNI S POTLIGHT —D UFFY O YSTER
 F ACULTY S POTLIGHT —D R .
W HITNEY P EAKE
 2013 B
OOT
C
AMP
Dr. Tony Mendes honors Jerry Jones with the 2012
Murphy Award for Lifetime Achievement in
Entrepreneurship
 T
EXAS
U
NIVERSITY NETWORK FOR
I
NNOVATION AND
E
NTREPRENEURSHIP
University of North Texas 1155 Union Circle #311160 Denton TX 76203-5017

Entrepreneurship at UNT continues to expand to all corners of our great university. Efforts to include all students in our curricular and co-curricular offerings are working exceptionally well. Enrollment in our introductory entrepreneurship course was above 570 students this year and 60% of them are non-business majors. Participation in our IDEA competition and the
New Venture Creation Contest has reached all-time highs and the quality of the business plans submitted by students has improved significantly. Our curriculum offered through the College of Business continues to expand with new courses being offered and the minor in entrepreneurship is gaining attention from students in all colleges and schools on campus.
In this issue of Mindset, you will find updates on many of our programs including the
IDEA competition, the New Venture Creation Contest, our annual Murphy Center Luncheon and the Boot Camp for Aspiring Entrepreneurs. You will also read about new initiatives including our student entrepreneurship organization, CEO, and the Texas Universities Network for
Innovation and Entrepreneurship (TUNIE) and organization I have had the privilege of leading for the past few years. We will also introduce you to outstanding UNT alum, Duffy Oyster and one of our exceptional faculty members in the Department of Management, Dr. Whitney Peake.
Unfortunately, it isn’t possible to include everyone who contributes to our entrepreneurship programs here at UNT and who make my job so enjoyable. I encourage you to keep up with our calendar at www.murphycenter.unt.edu
and follow us on Facebook and Twitter by clicking the icons below and as always, contact us at the Murphy Center for additional information or to become involved in our programs.
Sincerely,
Tony Mendes, Ph.D. MBA
Director, The Murphy Center for Entrepreneurship
University of North Texas murphycenter@unt.edu
University of North Texas 1155 Union Circle #311160 Denton TX 76203-5017

The annual Murphy Center for
Entrepreneurship Leadership Luncheon recognizes a business leader each year for his or her accomplishments. The 2012
Murphy Award for Lifetime Achievement in Entrepreneurship was received by Dallas
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, on Friday
November 9 th
at the Hilton Anatole in
Dallas.
“No doubt you have to have confidence,” Jones said. “You certainly have to have an idea you believe in.” Jones offered the audience five things to establish success in sales. “One, ask for the money,” he said. “I forgot the other four.” Jones credits his success with early discussions around the kitchen table with family and neighbors, who were entrepreneurs. There is no question it shaped his “can do” attitude, he told attendees.
Joining us again this year was our 2004 Murphy Award recipient, Ebby Halliday Acers.
Other past recipients include H. Ross Perot, Trammell Crow, Herb Kelleher, and the 2011 recipient, Craig Hall.
The keynote speaker this year was Ambassador Karen Hughes. Hughes started her career in broadcast journalism in Fort Worth. She shared stories from her time as director of former
President George W. Bush’s campaign for governor of Texas, and her time as a counselor to him during his presidency. She also served as the Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and
Public Affairs in the U.S. Department of State with the rank of ambassador.
Hughes is now the global vice chairwoman of Burson-Marsteller, a public relations and communications firm. She talked about the keys of being a leader. “What you do often is communicated with more clarity than what you say,” she said. Hughes talked about how leaders set the example, whether it’s positive or negative. “The power of example goes both ways,” she said.
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Proceeds from the luncheon are used for scholarships, student awards and other programs offered through The Murphy
Center for Entrepreneurship. The 2012
Leadership Luncheon awarded 14 scholarships totaling $17,000. Funding was also awarded to the three New
Venture Creation Contest winners:
Avant Solutions founded by Brian
Ivanchan, first place, was awarded
$20,000, Click Clack founded by
Wesley Kirk, second place, was awarded $10,000, and Growin’ Green
Second prize Venture Creation Contest Winner, Wesley
EcoFarm founded by Brian Cheatham and Cory Pung, third place, were awarded $5,000. Also awarded was a Social Venture company PCs2Prosper founded by Vijay Manohar, Roja Manohar and Karthik Manohar for the Social Enterprise Venture Contest with $5,000 in funding.
University of North Texas 1155 Union Circle #311160 Denton TX 76203-5017

The Dell Social Innovation Challenge supports promising young social innovators who dedicate themselves to solving the world’s most pressing problems with their transformative ideas. In 2008, the Dell Corporation announced a $5 million gift to the RGK Center for
Philanthropy and Community Service in the LBJ School of Public Affairs at The University of
Texas at Austin.
The competition is offered to more than 60,000 students a year. Since 2008, more than
15,000 students from 105 countries have proposed more than 4,500 ideas and Dell has awarded more than $450,000 to 50 student teams around the world.
The Dell Social Innovation Challenge 2012 First Place award of $10,000 went to
Forward Tutoring a team of UNT TAMS students who also won first place in the 2011 Murphy
Center New Venture Creation Contest. Forward Tutoring is an innovative social venture that provides free tutoring to high school students in the North Texas community. In exchange for the free tutoring, high school students volunteer with non–profit organizations in local communities.
We are proud of our UNT students and appreciate support they receive from this prestigious award program.
University of North Texas 1155 Union Circle #311160 Denton TX 76203-5017

The Murphy Center for Entrepreneurship has had IDEA Competitions since 2010. With over 36,000 students on the UNT campus there are thousands of ideas that can change the world, and we want to hear them. The Murphy Center offers the IDEA competition to provide an opportunity for students to express their creative ideas and hopefully convert them to real-life applications.
Each semester, approximately 100 ideas are submitted. The contestants are narrowed down to twelve finalists, who each give “three minute pitches” to a panel of North Texas
Entrepreneurs. Each presentation has its own unique and innovative idea and each finalist is challenged by the panel of entrepreneurs; making the students expand on their thoughts to consider real-world application. All twelve finalists benefit by getting the chance to see where their idea could be expanded, how it could be integrated into real world applications and to hear the thoughts of professionals who have already succeeded with their own ideas.
For the Fall 2012 IDEA Competition, the final four winners were Antwon Spears presenting his idea of a gym that personalizes fitness and also dietary habits. Combining a gym with a healthy menu that one could enjoy on site or have a convenient pick-up order after working out. William Bowles presented a
Smartphone application used to detect pollution levels and pollen count in the surrounding area.
Tracy Drake won with her idea of wanting to help transport students, while enjoying Denton’s nightlife; instead of having to decide to go to the square or Fry Street, or having to deal with a taxi. She proposes Eagle Ride—a GEM e6 electric car offering affordability and safe transportation. Eagle Ride would allow someone to easily get from the square, fry street and back to your car or apartment.
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Sarah Forester presented a camera lense that can easily be made for several different light angles and shades, its affordable and easy to make with very low overhead. This allows photography students, or just those who enjoy the hobby, to do so without having to buy a separate lense piece for every light, color, and shading angle.
The Spring 2013 IDEA Competition winners were, Jonathon Gathy presenting his idea of Flashbotz, an action figure with a unique computer interface, allowing users to unlock that character to engage a browser based video game website. Kelly Mason presenting Rentable Bicycles; she envisions rentable bicycle stations set up at main areas around UNT, allowing a student to rent a bike for an hour or two or even the whole day if needed. Kinnari Rulkar, a TAMS student, won with her idea of wanting to discover and protect the stories of war veterans; Preserving History: One Story at a Time. Derrick Wright presented a way to solve university marketing with an online tool called, “Notify,” this tool would be available to UNT students and faculty and would provide an effective way to connect marketer’s advertisements to the people they are relevant to.
All twelve finalists, in both the Fall and Spring competitions, provided excellent presentations but only four could be chosen. Each winner received $250 and dinner with the judges on the night of the event. The Murphy Center would love to hear all of our UNT students’ ideas’ first hand. Stay posted to The Murphy Center homepage, http://www.murphycenter.unt.edu/ , for the Fall 2013 IDEA Competition opening dates!
University of North Texas 1155 Union Circle #311160 Denton TX 76203-5017

UNT’s Collegiate Entrepreneurs Organization was chartered Fall of 2012 by President
Kyle Dickens, Vice President Clarissa Redwine and Chief Financial Officer Meredith Little with support and direction from faculty advisor, Director of The Murphy Center for Entrepreneurship,
Dr. Tony Mendes. The National Organization of Collegiate Entrepreneurs Organization believe it is more important than ever to provide students the opportunities to network not only with their student peers, but with fellow entrepreneurs in the business world to promote entrepreneurship at all levels and in all environments.
The students who chartered the UNT Chapter of CEO believe this is exactly what will empower innovative thinking within our university. CEO establishes a platform at the university level by introducing students of all disciplines to the fundamentals of entrepreneurship and connecting them to the resources they need to grow a thriving business. The National Collegiate
Entrepreneurs Organization has 245+ University Chapters and now the University of North
Texas is included in this network. CEO informs, supports, and inspires students to be entrepreneurial and to seek opportunity through venture formation.
The UNT Chapter’s goal is to show our students the inherent value of being entrepreneurial. The founding students of the CEO-UNT Chapter believe that “divergent thinking and the entrepreneurial mindset strengthens our students’ potential and builds the universities future as a whole.”
CEO membership benefits include:

Access to a network of global and national collegiate entrepreneurs

The Collegiate Entrepreneurs newsletter, published quarterly and online

Interaction with successful entrepreneurs who speak on various topics

A chance to intern with North Texas entrepreneurs

A chance to attend the National CEO Conference in Chicago

Communication on entrepreneurial challenges through the CEO online Social
Networking Community
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The Collegiate Entrepreneurs Organization—UNT Chapter provides valuable experience in realizing your full potential. If you are interested in finding out more about UNT’s CEO Chapter please contact President Kyle Dickens at ceo.northtexas@gmail.com
and don’t forget to check out their Facebook page!
University of North Texas students remember:
Y OUR I DEA C AN C HANGE THE W ORLD !
University of North Texas 1155 Union Circle #311160 Denton TX 76203-5017

Alumni Duffy Oyster graduated from the University of North Texas, class of 1969, with a degree in Business
Management. While attending UNT,
Oyster achieved Senior Class President and was Vice President of Sigma Phi Epsilon
Fraternity.
Currently MR. Oyster is the Chairmen/Owner of Oyster Investment Corporation; a privately held corporation with ownership of 25 businesses including commercial real estate, restaurants, marina, insurance companies, antiques and fine art.
He was a partner/owner in Foodmaker Inc., now known as Jack-in-the-Box in San Diego where he engineered a leveraged buyout in 1984. He held the office of Executive Vice President for Foodmaker and President for Foodmaker Realty Corporation, a company he took public in
1986. Mr. Oyster then moved on to several other ventures including: Director of Dunkin’ Donuts in Boston and Director of Marketing for M & M/ Mars Corporation in Chicago.
In 1988 he came back to Texas forming Oyster Investment Corporation in Austin, which primarily purchased, operated and developed over two million square feet of commercial and residential real estate and restaurants. He then went on to develop Oyster Landing Marina, Hula
Hut Restaurant, and Mozarts along with various shopping centers and office buildings in Austin.
In 2001 he acquired Panchos Mexican Buffet Inc., a regional chain of 46 Mexican restaurants that were taken private and the following year 13 Tony Roma’s Restaurants were purchased.
University of North Texas 1155 Union Circle #311160 Denton TX 76203-5017

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On Tuesday March 26, 2013 Mr. Duffy Oyster was interviewed by our staff at The
Murphy Center and we asked him a few questions for up and coming UNT entrepreneurs:
1. Students know that entrepreneurship involves a lot of hard work but can it be fun? Where do you find fun in entrepreneurship?
The fun for me is in doing “deals”—I love buying and selling things—it is always fun when you make money from the fruits of your work.
2. The world is constantly changing and opportunities are everywhere, but are there certain areas or industries our students should explore for opportunity?
I feel the best opportunity today for entrepreneurs is in the real estate arena. It is a broad field that is easy to understand, has low overhead and a high potential for adding value and making profit.
3. If you had three things to tell students about the reality of entrepreneurship, what would they be?

You are going to work harder and longer than if you work for someone else.

You will succeed if you have the tenacity and ability to take calculated risks.
The buck stops here—your success or failure depends solely on you.

The government and its bureaucracies, taxes, rules and regulations are impairing success and the proliferation of entrepreneurship, be prepared.
Duffy Oyster and his wife, Tina, have been married for 44 years. They have two daughters and five grandchildren. Tina Oyster attended UNT and their youngest daughter graduated from TAMS before entering Stanford University. On April 18 th
, Duffy Oyster received
The 2013 Outstanding Alumnus Award from The Department of Management in The College of
Business.
University of North Texas 1155 Union Circle #311160 Denton TX 76203-5017

Dr. Whitney Peake (M.S., Ph.D. Agricultural Economics, Purdue University; B.S.,
Agribusiness Economics, Murray State University) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Management. Her research interests include legitimacy, agency, and social issues in small and family businesses, as well as legitimacy loss in times of firm crisis. Dr. Peake serves on the editorial board of the Small Business
Institute Journal, and currently serves as the Preconference Workshop Chair for the United States Association for
Small Business and Entrepreneurship
(USASBE) conference. She has previously served as the Small and
Family Business track chair and Workshop
Chair for the USASBE conference.
Dr. Peake teaches courses in entrepreneurship, small business development, and international management (undergraduate and graduate), and helped to judge the New Venture
Creation Contest hosted by the Murphy Center this past year. She has assisted with leading two study abroad programs to Europe and South America while at UNT, and previously assisted in leading programs to Hungary and the Netherlands.
Dr. Peake is involved with many exciting projects, three she is most enthusiastic about are:
(1) Family Business, an area in which education, research and outreach opportunities will benefit small businesses in the Metroplex and beyond. Last year, UNT had a visit from a well-known family business scholar, Dr. Kim Eddleston, and UNT is hoping to bring in other mentors this year to ramp up our involvement in this area.
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(2) Entrepreneurship Education for students. Students have the opportunity to participate in courses and programs through the Murphy Center, such as competitions, CEO, and hands-on workshops. Entrepreneurship is such an exciting major, and provides students with so many transferable skills, even if they decide to “get a job” versus “create a job” after college.
(3) Study abroad! We offer programs each year applicable to any COB major, which allows students to visit both entrepreneurs and more established corporations across the globe!
Every business student should check into taking advantage of these wonderful opportunities to learn more about other countries and how business is conducted across the globe.
Come by and see what else the College of Business Entrepreneurship program has coming up and give a big thank you to our excellent faculty!
The Murphy Center for Entrepreneurship is positioned to be a global leader in entrepreneurship through academic programs that lead to the formation of new and innovative enterprises and creative solutions for social problems. At the Murphy Center we want to make it possible for all University of North Texas students to form and launch companies through our
Summer Boot Camp for Young Entrepreneurs.
University of North Texas 1155 Union Circle #311160 Denton TX 76203-5017

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The Entrepreneurs Boot Camp introduces important concepts such as:

Legal Issues in Venture Formation,

Feasibility Analysis,

Capitalization Strategies,

Accounting Essentials,

Commercial Lending,

Growth Strategies and

Presenting the Business Opportunity
The Murphy Center will be starting The
Entrepreneurs Boot Camp on June 6 th
and it will run until July 2 nd
. Boot Camp participants will be given the opportunity to work with teams of UNT Graduate
Students, who will assist them in all aspects of business plan development.
The Murphy Center Entrepreneurs Boot Camp is limited to 12 companies, allowing each participant the extra one-on-one time needed for a comprehensive and involved business development process. To be considered for the Entrepreneurs Boot Camp, all participants must be committed to attending all workshops, completing the business plan with assistance from the student teams, have serious consideration for filing for business status in the state of Texas upon
Boot Camp completion, and be prepared to present the final business plan to a panel of investors, mentors and entrepreneurial experts.
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Serious young UNT Entrepreneurs could apply for the few remaining slots. Cost of the Boot
Camp is $250 for students. Cost of registration covers up to two individuals from each company.
If your application is accepted, you will be notified by May 24 th
. If you want to achieve the best you possibly can as a young entrepreneur while here at the University of North Texas keep an eye on the Murphy Center’s Boot Camp registration page: www.murphycenter.unt.edu/outreach/bootcamp.php
The Texas University Network for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, TUNIE, is an association of Texas colleges, universities and health science centers with academic programs focused on innovation, entrepreneurship and research commercialization. The purpose of TUNIE is to encourage, promote and enhance entrepreneurship and new venture creation in Texas by providing entrepreneurship education, community outreach and support for innovation, entrepreneurship and economic development.
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The Texas University Network was established May 2009 by the founding
Board of Directors, including representatives from Rice University, the University of Texas at
Austin, the University of Texas at Dallas, the University of Texas at San Antonio, the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and West Texas A&M University. Now in its 5 th
year
TUNIE has a membership of 26 colleges and universities throughout the state.
The 5 th
annual meeting of TUNIE will be held on the UNT Campus May 23 rd
and 24 th
.
The Executive Director of TUNIE, Dr. Tony Mendes, will facilitate a panel of experts who will address, “The State of Entrepreneurship in the United States and the State of Texas.” Panel members represent perspectives from the Venture Capital Community, Angel Investors,
Technology Transfer, incubators and The Kauffman Foundation of Kansas City. TUNIE members will also present “best practices” on a wide range of topics relevant to student, faculty and administrators in higher education.
Texas is one of the few states where a network exists to provide shared learning experiences with Entrepreneurship Center Directors across a wide range of public and private institutions. TUNIE members have a common purpose—to expand entrepreneurship opportunities for all students in The Great State of Texas.
University of North Texas 1155 Union Circle #311160 Denton TX 76203-5017