L&S Entrepreneurship Initiative

Entrepreneurship Opportunities in the College of Letters & Science

In a joint venture with the Berkeley-Haas Entrepreneurship Program at UC Berkeley, the College of Letters & Science has launched an initiative to promote entrepreneurial activity among its students as a means of offering them key tools they need to turn ideas into practical enterprise. The initiative provides students and faculty in L&S with convenient access to the Berkeley-Haas Entrepreneurship Program's programs and resources. 

L&S has decided to embark in this new direction in light of a significant shift in the research, cultural and technological environments in which knowledge is now being acquired, both here on campus and around the world. Three major factors contribute to this shift: L&S is making research opportunities a reality for an exceptionally large number of undergraduates; the boundaries between academic disciplines are rapidly disappearing; and students have access to enormous amounts of information and are highly connected with one another — factors that are bound to encourage the spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship.

L&S now sponsors two entrepreneurship courses especially designed for liberal arts majors.

L&S 5 Course Overview

L&S 5: Introduction to Entrepreneurship is designed for freshmen and sophomore non-business majors who wish to learn about entrepreneurship, its importance to our society, and its role in bringing new ideas to the market. The course is a collaboration between the College of Letters & Science and the Berkeley-Haas Entrepreneurship Program. Students learn about the entrepreneurial business process and how they might become involved in this processes in their future careers.

L&S 5 is highly interactive and dynamic. Almost every class features a guest speaker who has structured conversations with the instructor and the students. The format is conversational and interactive rather than lecture-oriented. The guest participants are entrepreneurs: founders and leaders of business and non-business enterprises, and backers and investors in those enterprises.
 
The goal of L&S 5 is to disrupt your day, and with any luck, maybe your life!  Through this course, we want you to reflect on what entrepreneurship may mean towards your college and post-collegiate aspirations.  In order to get there, we want you to create your own personalized view of entrepreneurship, by engaging with invited speakers, by interviewing an entrepreneur of your choosing, and by creating a novel idea for a product or service. 
 
L&S 5 is cross-listed with UGBA C5. It is a two-unit, letter-graded course. Download the Fall 2014 syllabus.

L&S 105 Course Overview 

L&S 105: Arts Entrepreneurship provides students interested in the arts and/or business with an opportunity to develop an idea for an arts organization and turn it into a functioning, sustainable enterprise. Building on each student’s own connection to the arts, the course teaches how to invent an arts organization and define its mission, locate the organization within a community, develop its offerings via products, services and public programs, and manage the organization’s numerous operational features.
 
The course uses the development of student projects to explore the intersections between art and business. Along with encouraging innovation and creative/critical thinking about the role of arts organizations in society, the course examines theories and practical techniques for professional arts managers, including:
 
  • Building an arts community
  • Strategic planning for arts organizations
  • Mission and program development
  • Fundraising
  • Financial management
  • Marketing
 The course combines readings, in-class discussions and exercises with site visits, case studies and guest speakers from the local arts community.
 
L&S 105 is a three-unit, letter-graded course. Download the Spring 2015 syllabus.

The Berkeley-Haas Entrepreneurship Program

The Berkeley-Haas Entrepreneurship Program is the focal point at UC Berkeley for the study and promotion of entrepreneurship and innovation in management and new enterprise development. It serves everyone in the campus community with entrepreneurial interests. The program's location at the Haas School of Business allows undergraduate and graduate students from all departments on campus to connect with business leaders and to network and collaborate with each other.

Programs of special interest to L&S students include:

  • Berkeley Entrepreneurs Forum: a stimulating and informative setting for students and the public to meet with and hear from seasoned professional entrepreneurs and network with them and with each other.
  • Mentoring Opportunities: a chance for students to meet with experienced entrepreneurs for mentoring and networking.
  • Business Plan Competitions: business plan competitions, including competitions with special interests in social ventures, technology, or venture capital.

Please visit the Berkeley-Haas Entrepreneurship Program's website for more information.

 

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