129 th NEASC Annual Meeting and Conference December 10, 2014 Boston, MA Entrepreneurial Thinking: Its Role and Impact in Different Educational Settings Alfred J Nanni, Jr (Fred) Provost Professor of Management Accounting Babson College 1

Some Background 1974 Babson College “declares” entrepreneurship can be taught Babson establishes the Academy of Distinguished Entrepreneurs First Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at Babson College is established Undergraduate program establishes the first entrepreneurship major The first endowed entrepreneurship professorship is established Annual Babson Entrepreneurship Research Conference is established First US News specialty ranking in Entrepreneurship is named – Babson is #1. The Arthur M. Blank Center for Entrepreneurship. Dedicated in Summer Venture Showcase,

Babson’s Mission Drives 3 Goals: Be the preeminent institution in the world for Entrepreneurial Thought and Action ®. Expand the notion of entrepreneurship to embrace and celebrate Entrepreneurs of All Kinds™. Put the power of entrepreneurship as a force for the creation of social, economic, environmentally responsible and sustainable value in as many hands in the world as we can. 13 Easy, right?

Difficulty #1: Selling “ET&A” across the faculty ET&A is not entrepreneurship Where is ET&A in economics? …in accounting? …in philosophy? ET&A is being creative and looking at things in new ways, not “seeing a problem as the absence of pre-conceived solution.” It is not stopping at critique, but finding ways to improve. 4

Difficulty #2: Meaningful measurement Science tends to produce square pegs, but life provides not just round, but misshapen holes. We infused the curriculum with ET&A, including micro, mini, term-long and multi-term projects. Students have launched parallel co-curricular activities. So, do we measure – what we do? what they do? or how their approach to life changes? 5