This course provides an intensive, hands-on experience regarding impact (social) entrepreneurship - to develop a sustainable solution to a global environmental and social problem identified by the student. The target audience is students and student teams who have identified and/or worked on a specific solution and wish to further develop their ideas. This course is offered during the January term as a one-week, full-time (9:00am - 5:30pm) course.
Students must apply to the course (to Fred Rose (rosex122@umn.edu) with a clearly defined problem statement identifying the challenge they aim to address, a target location or community, and a proposed solution that they wish to develop. This idea does not need to be fully developed (see syllabus for more information). We welcome and encourage student teams working on a project to enroll in this class together. Student solutions should address a problem that is about the broadly defined "environment"; examples of applicable areas include clean water, sanitation, energy, air pollution, public health (e.g., malaria), food and agriculture (includes food security and safety), ecosystem services, and aspects of the built environment (e.g., housing). Students do not need to have any specific pre-requisites nor do they need to have any previous business or entrepreneurship courses. Students come from across all majors and degree programs. Students may enter the Acara Challenge, which occurs in March 2016, which will give them a chance to win funding to pilot their idea. More information is at acara.umn.edu and here - http://environment.umn.edu/leadership/acara/courses-programs/courses/ce5572-acara-social-venture-launchpad/
Note: This "extended-term" course does not count towards credits required for financial aid eligibility. For further information, please contact Stacey Grimes (grime004@umn.edu).