Program Seeks to Train Entrepreneurs
July 25, 2008
Brock School of Business Contact: Kara Kennedy, Director of External Affairs, 205-726-4070, kkennedy@samford.edu
Roy Williams of the Birmingham News interviews Dr. Franz Lohrke about Entrepreneurship Program
Samford University this fall will begin offering degrees in entrepreneurship, fulfilling a desire by Compass Bancshares co-founder Harry Brock Jr., a benefactor of the school.
The program will be headed by Franz Lohrke, chairman of the Brock School of Business' department of marketing department, management and entrepreneurship. Lohrke helped set up a similar program at the University of Alabama, where he was a professor before joining Samford in 2005. Auburn University also offers a degree in entrepreneurship.
Brock set a goal to establish a world-class entrepreneurship program at Samford last December when he announced a personal commitment to help the university build a $100 million endowment. The private university named its business school after Brock, who helped transform Compass from a spunky start-up to a regional banking powerhouse.
On Wednesday, Brock credited Samford Business Dean Beck Taylor and his staff for taking necessary steps to make the entrepreneurship major a reality. A Samford trustee since the early 1960s, Brock said he unsuccessfully sought to get the university to take such a step 15 years ago.
"This program will help prepare students for what it takes to successfully run a small business," Brock said. "It won't be easy and we'll have to raise a lot of money, but I predict it will be successful because Dr. Taylor is dedicated enough to make it work."
The entrepreneurship major requires 24 hours, or eight three-hour junior- and senior-level courses, in addition to core courses, Lohrke said. Samford in August will announce details for a social entrepreneurship minor - requiring 22 hours - focused on students interested in careers heading nonprofits, Lohrke said.
The university also has entrepreneurship classes that freshmen and seniors can take that don't count toward the degree. Taylor, Samford's business dean, said he believes the new entrepreneurship program has great potential.
"This new program will elevate the Brock School of Business and Samford University to new prominence in business higher education," he said.
Paving the way:
Lohrke said Brock and Marlene Reed, the former Samford interim business dean who taught entrepreneurship classes, deserve credit for laying groundwork for the program.
"Harry Brock could have focused his money on banking since that is how he built his career, but he knows entrepreneurship touches all areas of the economy and wanted to give back," Lohrke said. "All I've done is build on entrepreneurial classes we already had in place under Marlene Reed."
The University of Alabama at Birmingham does not offer a degree in entrepreneurship but has a course on the subject required for all marketing majors, said Bob Robicheaux, chair of UAB's marketing and industrial distribution department.
Samford already has a strong entrepreneurial history, Lohrke said, citing several Samford graduates who have forged successful careers as business leaders. They include Mickey Newsome, chief executive of Hibbett Sports; Greg Powell, president of Fi-plan Partners; and Ted Alling, one of three recent Samford graduates who own Access America Transport, a Chattanoogatrucking company.
The president of Chick-fil-A, Dan Cathy, and his sister, Trudy, are also graduates of Samford.