Newswise — KENNESAW, Ga. (Aug. 10, 2016) — The Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia on Wednesday approved establishing a Bachelor of Business Administration with a major in Entrepreneurship at Kennesaw State University.
The new undergraduate degree program in the Michael J. Coles College of Business will begin in fall 2017. It is the first entrepreneurship B.B.A. program in Georgia.
“Offering the state’s first comprehensive degree in entrepreneurship illustrates Kennesaw State’s commitment to producing innovative graduates who are well equipped with theoretical and practical knowledge,” said Ken Harmon, the University’s provost and vice president for academic affairs. “College graduates who start new businesses have become the largest producers of private sector jobs in recent years, and this new degree is another avenue for KSU to be a leader in that trend.”
The goal of the new program is to help students develop the necessary knowledge, skills and mindset to become successful entrepreneurs. While the Coles College’s Department of Management and Entrepreneurship will house the program, the B.B.A. in Entrepreneurship will operate in multiple disciplines across other units and schools on campus and within the business community.
Through the Robin and Doug Shore Entrepreneurship Center at KSU, local entrepreneurs will serve as guest speakers and provide other opportunities to engage with students in the B.B.A. program. Also, the Cox Family Enterprise Center and Kennesaw State University Small Business Development Center will partner with the Coles College of Business to help promote entrepreneurship with students.
“We are so excited to offer Georgia’s only major in entrepreneurship at a time when the state and the region are keenly focused on economic development and creating new businesses,” said Kathy Schwaig, dean of the Michael J. Coles College of Business. “Our program will be a key focal point of those efforts as it provides education and support to aspiring entrepreneurs.”
The B.B.A. in Entrepreneurship is Kennesaw State’s latest step as part of the Board of Regents’ directive for all University System of Georgia institutions to focus on economic development and world-class research. Kennesaw State also established IgniteHQ — a business incubator, accelerator and education partnership with the Cobb Chamber of Commerce — which identifies, develops and provides the resources that start-ups and new and early-stage businesses need to succeed.
Along with Kennesaw State’s resources on campus, the University also is located in an ideal market for entrepreneurship. CNN Money ranked Atlanta as the sixth-best city to launch a start-up, and the Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity identified Georgia has having the nation’s second-largest increase in entrepreneurial activity over the past decade.
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Kennesaw State University is the third-largest university in Georgia, offering nearly 150 undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degrees. A member of the University System of Georgia, Kennesaw State is a comprehensive university with more than 33,000 students from over 130 countries. In January 2015, Kennesaw State and Southern Polytechnic State University consolidated to create one of the 50 largest public universities in the country.
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