1. Campus Venture
Competitions and
Student Engagement
W. Trexler Proffitt Jr., Muhlenberg College
Stephanie Kessler, Franklin & Marshall College
Presented at NCIIA Open 2013
Washington, DC
March 22, 2013

2. Venture Competitions
 Common at universities, business and engineering schools,
undergrad and grad programs
 Uncommon in liberal arts colleges (LACs)
 Recent energy, particularly those with business programs
(great instance of mimetic isomorphism)
 Sample Programs
 Babson Muller/Charm Prize 1985 (first LAC)
 Muhlenberg Innovation Challenge 2010
 F&M Innovation Challenge 2011
 Amherst Big Ideas Challenge 2012

3. Motivation for LACs
 Blending liberal arts and business
 Rethinking Undergraduate Business Education: Liberal
Learning for the Profession (Colby et al., Carnegie, 2011)
 Business Majors, but with a Twist (Light, WSJ, 2011)
 Business students need more liberal arts
 Teaching content in classrooms is not enough
 Wealth or Waste? Rethinking the Value of a Business
Major (Korn, WSJ, 2012)
 Liberal arts students need more business

4. Liberal Arts and Business
 Business often viewed as isolated from other fields
 Moving beyond technical content and into talent
development
 What are the talents we want to develop?
 Collaboration
 Problem-solving
 Leadership
 Creativity
 Resourcefulness

5. Potential Metrics
Measure Meaning
# of Unique Entries Participation
# of Majors Represented Diversity
# of Mentor Contact Hours Engagement with alumni
Faculty/Student Attendance at Popularity/Awareness
Presentations
Prize Money ($$$!) Institutional Commitment
Faculty Incentives to Students Academic Integration
New Ventures Created/Jobs Economic Development

6. Overall LAC Benefits
 Engagement with alumni
 Breaking down silos on LAC campuses
 Gateway to wider community, other competitions
 Bona fide resume enhancer
 Student confidence through application
 Learning by doing
 Rapid pace of learning
 Collaborative success
 New venture creation (perhaps this is actually last?)

7. Case Studies for 2013
Muhlenberg F&M (3rd year)
(4th year)
Official Start/End Dates 2/1-4/25/13 2/1-4/12/13
Typical Top Prize $1000 $1250
Fall Information Sessions 3 3
# of Categories 3 2
Approximate Initial Entries 20 25
Alumni/Parent Mentoring 90% 100%
Faculty Involved (100% business) 3 2
Funding from College $4000 $0
Alumni Contribution 0% 100%
Total prizes to be awarded 6 6
Staffing Model Faculty (PT) Staff (PT)

8. Innovation Challenges
 Spring Semester, with publicity in Fall
 Modest prize money of $5,000-8,000 per year
 Multiple categories attempted
 Open
 Sustainability
 Social Impact
 Tech
 Improve Campus
 Mentoring and judging by alums, staff, faculty, local
entrepreneurs and business development folks

9. Positives
 Multiple categories produces reasonable diversity
 4 categories led to 89 submissions by 150 students in 20
majors in F&M ’11
 Students tend to produce interesting ideas and refine
them well over time
 Fundraising, career services, PR, alumni affairs staff
enthusiastic (perhaps related to above?)
 Alumni/parents enjoy engagement
 Awards event is an acclaimed positive

10. Negatives
 Unclear what should happen before or after for
participants--pipeline uncertain (0 startups so far)
 Campus awareness low—constant publicity and peer
outreach required
 Few faculty involved, no integration w/coursework
 Alumni/parents have not donated in large #s
 Academic administrators appear indifferent
 Staffing model uncertain

11. Ongoing Challenges
 Diversify participation and awareness on campus
 Support multiple categories of entry
 Convert alumni engagement into long-term support
 Attract support from administration and faculty
 Develop pipeline of activity pre/post competition
 Get some ventures going!