The Rohrer College of Business, within Rowan University, has launched the School of Innovation & Entrepreneurship, according to a Thursday announcement from the Glassboro-based university.
The school, which was approved in December 2021, is the first of its kind in New Jersey and one of just a few university-based schools of innovation and entrepreneurship in the country, RCB leaders said.
Including the new School of Innovation & Entrepreneurship, Rowan will soon have eight colleges and eight schools, including the forthcoming Rowan University School of Veterinary Medicine, which was announced Dec. 29.
Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Tony Lowman said the school will help students pursue creative career paths to forge their own future, no matter their course of study.
“We created the school to bring an entrepreneurial mindset to all disciplines,” said Lowman, the university’s chief academic officer. “Rowan is building a university of the future, and doing so demands that we encourage students of all majors to think creatively and entrepreneurially.”
An entity designed to further opportunities for professional startups and a cross-campus entrepreneurial mindset, the school will build upon a successful entrepreneurship program that for 2022 earned recognition by the Princeton Review and Entrepreneur Magazine as a Top 50 in the U.S.
“Dr. Eric Liguori, the longtime head of Rowan’s Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship, will lead the new school, which will house both the RCIE and a wide range of academic offerings, including the Bachelor of Science in entrepreneurship, the entrepreneurship minor, MBA concentrations in entrepreneurship and cannabis commercialization and related certificates and programs,” RCB Dean Dr. Sue Lehrman said.
In addition to formal curricula, the RCB offers a variety of non-degree-focused entrepreneurship programming, including the annual Idea Challenge and New Venture Competition, which provide cash incentives for developing new business ideas, and a popular high school program, the Think Like an Entrepreneur Summer Academy, which, in 2021, drew students from across the country.
“Entrepreneurial thinking is a fundamental skill, and we are committed to ensuring that all students have the opportunity to cultivate it,” Liguori said.