PROGRAM REVIEW FOR CENTERS AND INSTITUTES
Center/Institute: Center for Entrepreneurship
Director/Administrator: John Bradley Jackson
College/Academic unit: College of Business and Economics
Contact Information: SGMH-4210E ext 3464
http://business.fullerton.edu/centers/cfe
Date: April 9, 2010
Name of primary authors if different
From Director/Administrator:
Self-Study
1. Mission
The mission of the Center for Entrepreneurship (center) is to provide support to entrepreneurs
throughout Orange County. The center strives to provide students and entrepreneurs with
knowledge and skills to create, launch and grow new ventures. The center also provides students
majoring in Entrepreneurship a real life experience utilizing field case consulting to compliment
their academic experience. Also, the center assists businesses to improve their operations and
increase their profits.
2. Goals and Activities
The center endeavors to build an “entrepreneurial culture” within the Mihaylo College of
Business and Economics. It supports entrepreneurial education, outreach programs such as the
Small Business Institute and research. Students develop products and service concepts for new
ventures. The field case program has provided for over 500 students the opportunity to learn first
hand about successful small business operation. The Center contributed to the development of an
Entrepreneurship minor. This past year the Center’s website was redesigned and launched three
social media websites including Facebook, Linkedln and Twitter.
3. Resources and Sustainability
The self-study reports that the Center is a self-sustaining entity through its program fees,
individual donations and corporate sponsors. (See financial report attached)
4. Organizational Structure and Governance
The Center has a director and an associate director. An Advisory Board assists in fund raising
and strategic planning. In addition, the Center has a sponsorship - Daniel Struve (an alumnus)
and family.
5. Highlights and Accomplishments
Since 1995 and as recently as 2008 the center has repeatedly received the National Graduate
Small Business Case of the Year Award from the Small Business Institute Director’s
Association. Success in the undergraduate competition has also been noted. The Center
maintains a contact database with over 20,000 names of Orange County business owners,
professional advisors, alumni and other key decisions makers who support small business.
Recently the Center acquired the publication of the Orange County Directory of Networking
Organizations. This will allow the Small Business Institute (working under the Center) to reach
out to many professional and trade organizations to enhance networking in the business
community.
6. Planning and Strategic Outlook
The Center conducts an annual strategic plan which is reviewed by the Advisory Board. A
monthly operational and financial review is conducted with the staff to insure that the Center
complies with the goals. Also the staff meets weekly to share results of weekly activities. Goals
have been identified which include: support research in entrepreneurship, information archiving,
contact data base development and information dissemination via the Internet, facilitate and
organize speaker series, open forums, workshops and structured networking opportunities to
inform and promote entrepreneurial education.
7. Viability
The Center is financially stable and relies on the revenue received from client projects and
donations for its operations. A challenge for the Center is to gain new sources of revenue which
has been identified as a goal. The launch of the Orange County Networking Directory is viewed
as a step in that direction.
8. Appendices
Financial Report
Summary and Recommendation(s)
The Center for Entrepreneurship has developed a mission and related goals that are aligned with
its operations. The formal study of entrepreneurship as an academic concentration is ten years
old in the College of Business. The CSUF entrepreneurship has a thirty year track record
beginning with the establishment of the Small Business Institute in 1974. The Center has
received numerous national awards including in 2008 the National Graduate Small Business
Institute Case of the Year Award. Small Business Institute students over the years have served
over 1,700 businesses. In 2009 over 100 clients were served through consulting services. The
Center has a governance structure that includes a director and associate director along with an
Advisory Board that assists in fund raising. The Center’s resources are garnered from program
fees, individual donations and corporate sponsors. One of the goals of the Center is to increase
funding from external sources. The Center has developed a track record of success see examples
above. And through its planning process is preparing to meet challenges of a “tough economic
climate”.
Reviewed by Council of Deans
May 5, 2010
Action taken: Continuation
Gerald W. Patton
Director of Assessment and Educational Effectiveness