Help Students to Think Outside the Box
On November 11th, Dr. Kathleen Liang came to Georgia Southern University for a research seminar to share her unique story about the creation and implementation of the Community Entrepreneurship program in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at The University of Vermont.
Dr. Liang was hired by The University of Vermont in 1998, working for the Department of Community Development and Applied Economics. She started her presentation by addressing the issues of teaching entrepreneurship. She explained that the focus of education has developed from a single discipline to a multiple discipline, there is lack of incentive and motivation to promote entrepreneurship education and professors need to innovate. She asked, “Why should we care?” and explained that if we teach entrepreneurship effectively, we will build a stronger labor force, develop more creative and innovative employees and employers and break down the barriers in learning by sharing knowledge across disciplines.
Dr. Liang implemented the REAL program, Rural Entrepreneurship through Action Learning at The University of Vermont where students actively participate in exercises and apply it to real life. The idea is to “do it” while having fun. Dr. Liang created a $1 dollar enterprise venture, where students are given $1 and have to start running their own businesses on campus. The tasks are chosen by the students and vary from arts and crafts production, to food sales, artist performance, etc. Students connect with communities and work with people outside the classroom enhancing opportunities for service learning and social responsibility. It is the most popular program at the university with 350 students each year. The students, who come from a variety of majors across campus, evaluate themselves along the semester.
The value created through her program, based on students that have taken her class, is that 25% of graduates from out-of-state end up staying in Vermont and 10%
of the students start running their own businesses. 90% of the people attending her major in the past were transfers from other majors, now 50% are 1st year students and 50% are transfers. She keeps a strong relationship with her students via Facebook. She finished the presentation with the quote “Give me a fish, teach me how to fish and feed a whole village”.
About Kathleen Liang
Dr. Kathleen Liang is an award winning educator who has committed her research, teaching, and outreach to Community Entrepreneurship. Dr. Liang received her M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Agricultural Economics from Purdue University. She had taught at the Krannert Graduate School of Management and School of Management at Purdue University, and worked as an Extension Economist in the Panhandle Research and Extension Center at the University of Nebraska. Since 1998, Dr. Liang joined the faculty of the Department of Community Development and Applied Economics at the University of Vermont, and has published and presented over 70 peer reviewed articles related to Community Entrepreneurship and innovative enterprise development strategies. Dr. Liang has received numerous teaching and research awards, including the 2011 University Kroepsch-Maurice Excellence in Teaching Award, and the prestigious USDA AFRI grant (2011 to 2014, $472,669) to study multifunctional farm operations among small and medium sized farms in the US.
Posted in Guest Speakers