Page 54 - Innovation Delaware 2019

‘REWIRING THE
ENGINE:’ PH.D.
PROGRAMS
FINE-TUNE
EXPERIENCED
ENTREPRENEURS
Both Wilmington University and Goldey-Beacom College now offer a Doctor of Business Administration degree for more experienced entrepreneurs.
The typical Goldey-Beacom DBA student is about 47 years old and has 10 or more years of management
DAN YOUNG
experience, says Dan Young,
who taught
at Wilmington University before being hired to launch Goldey-Beacom’s program last year. While
the venerable MBA programs put their emphasis on
best practices within business, the DBA focuses more on strengthening businesses by solving problems,
he says. “The MBA is like putting a rocket booster on the back of a car, while the DBA is like rewiring the engine so it goes faster all the time.”
While Goldey-Beacom’s doctoral program enrolled 33 students in its first year, its 11-year-old counterpart at Wilmington
University
already
has 147
graduates
and 135
active
students,
according to
its director,
Carrie W.
Gray, who
counts herself among those graduates.
Its demographics parallel those at Goldey-Beacom, enrolling ambitious mid-career executives who see the degree as a pathway to promotion or career change, she says. “We’re growing critical thinking skills. When our students look at and examine issues, we want them to consider, what is the broader impact of the decisions that we make?”
CARRIE W. GRAY
Things are changing in the world of education, and they’re changing fast.
A half-dozen years ago, “entrepreneurship was not even in the
language” of educators in the elementa- ry and secondary school universe, says Rachel Strauss, program coordinator for the University of Delaware’s Horn Entrepreneurship program.
Today, a growing numbers of teach- ers and administrators talk about agility, adaptability, flexibility, teamwork, ana- lytics and problem-solving — buzzwords in a society that is becoming increasingly
RACHEL STRAUSS
innovative and entrepreneurial. As a result, Delaware’s high schools, colleges and universities are turning out graduates with the nimble, analytical, change- focused mindset that sets them up to succeed in this environment.
From her seat at Horn, Strauss has
not only seen the change, she has helped drive it. That’s because her primary as- signment is to coordinate one of the most prominent examples of entrepreneurial education in Delaware: the Diamond Challenge. It’s a UD-based international program that awards up to $100,000 a year in scholarships or venture capital
THE DIAMOND CHALLENGE AWARDS UP TO $100,000 TO HIGH-SCHOOL STUDENTS WITH ENTREPRENEURIAL PROJECTS.
52 DelawareBusinessTimes.com