Rowan University formally unveiled its School of Innovation and Entrepreneurship on Jan. 1 with the goal of boosting professional startups, as well as a “cross-campus entrepreneurial mindset.”
Announced Jan. 27, the entity was approved by the Rowan board of trustees during its bi-monthly meeting in December, and will include two undergraduate degree programs, several certificate programs and concentrates, and a minor program.
The new school will also house the Rowan Innovation Venture Fund, a $5 million private-equity fund founded in 2014 to provide early-stage financing for students, faculty, alumni and other startups in South Jersey “that have developed and tested projects and products that are ready to compete in the marketplace.”
“We created the school to bring an entrepreneurial mindset to all disciplines,” reads a Jan. 27 statement from Rowan’s chief academic officer Tony Lowman.
“Rowan is building a university of the future, and doing so demands that we encourage students of all majors to think creatively and entrepreneurially,” he said.
The university has a similar startup operation known as the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, which has a learning lab and makerspace called Studio 231; competitions for students to earn seed funding and other mentorship; the StartupRU summer accelerator program; and the summer academy for high school students to learn how to “conceive, develop, prototype, and sell ideas.”
Eric Liguori, the longtime head of Rowan’s CIE, will head the new school.
“Entrepreneurial thinking is a fundamental skill and we are committed to ensuring that all students have the opportunity to cultivate it,” Liguori said Thursday.
