That's what UND students Brent Heid and Chad Miller asked themselves while studying in the College of Business and Public Administration. Until the start of this school year, however, there was no program to show them how to strike out on their own. The school has been more of a training ground for corporate salarymen, not entrepreneurs. The entrepreneurship initiative focuses on new and emerging businesses. In the fall semester, Heid, a business major, and Miller, a theater arts major, signed on to a new five-course entrepreneurship track in the business school.
Classes teach the basics of small business ownership such as accounting and customer service.
Both have found real- life uses for what they've learned. Heid, for example, learned to deal better with inventory in his business, which distributes office accessories. Miller, who also manages UND's Burtness Theater, improved his customer service skills. But a track, unlike a major, is not a formal degree program. Recently the state Board of Higher Education granted UND permission to start the first entrepreneurship major in the state.