Innovation and Entrepreneurship, M.S.

Master of Science in Innovation and Entrepreneurship (M.S.)

The M.S. in Innovation and Entrepreneurship provides an option for students from all academic backgrounds and disciplines who want to pursue a more extensive degree in entrepreneurship.

This program is designed to enable students to develop an entrepreneurial mindset and learn how to deploy that mindset within current organizations, or in starting their own business. Students will begin their degree with a boot camp where they will identify and begin working on an entrepreneurial/innovative project. This could be a startup idea, or an intrapreneurial project within their current organization or the industry in which they desire to work. They will continue to work on this project through the rest of the curriculum. With a strong focus on experiential learning and in-depth historical and real-time case studies around current issues, this program will explore all areas of innovation and entrepreneurship, including:

• Creative Thinking

• Design Thinking

• Ethics & Social Responsibility

• Idea Generation

• Customer Interviewing

• Problem Validation

• Business Modeling

• Prototyping

• Financial Projections

• Leadership

Admission Requirements

The MS program is open to individuals who have earned a bachelor’s degree from an accredited university and who show high promise of success in graduate business study.  New students may enter the program at the beginning of the fall semester.  Completed applications and all supporting documentation must be received at least thirty (30) days (domestic students) and sixty (60) days (international students) before the beginning of the intended semester.

Admission decisions are based on an evaluation of:

• Official transcripts from all colleges previously attended.

• Official scores on the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) or the Graduate Record Examination (GRE). These may be waived for admission. However, they may be required for consideration for fellowships, graduate assistantships, and GMAT-based scholarships.

• At least one letter of recommendation.

• An essay entitled “Graduate Business Education: Enabling Me to Achieve My Personal Goals and Become an Innovator and Entrepreneurship”

• A detailed resume indicating employment and educational background.

Students accepted into this program will have completed a Bachelor’s degree. To be admitted, students must also submit an application form and a letter of recommendation, and may complete an interview process.

International students must also provide evaluation of foreign credentials by an independent evaluation service, Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), and a certified statement of financial ability.

Program Curriculum

With the overall learning goal of the program for students to learn how to apply entrepreneurial principles to start a new business or scale an existing business, the following topics, as applied in an entrepreneurial setting, emerged as critical for the program:

• Creative Problem Solving: Identify problems, redefine problems, develop new responses and solutions to problems, take action to implement solutions

• Failure: personal and professional reflection, resilience

• Financial Management: Financial forecasting, primary and secondary market research, revenue and expense models, cash flow management analysis, bootstrapping techniques, external sources of debt and equity financing

• Strategy: integrative thinking, resource allocation, problem solving

• Business Modeling: creation, delivery and capture of value, business purpose and process, key partners, activities and resources, value proposition

• Leadership: building culture, diversity, conflict management, inspiring team internal and external stakeholders

• Communications: pitching ideas, persuasive writing and verbal skills interviewing customers

• Ethics: Conflicts of interest, ethical experimentation.

Program Learning Goals

• Students will learn how to recognize how entrepreneurs and innovators develop and exploit an opportunity

• Students will learn how to identify and develop business concepts and business models, and assess their viability and feasibility

• Students will learn how to to analyze and evaluate the financial requirements of exploiting a venture opportunity

• Students will learn how to assemble human and financial resources and apply them to build and further their entrepreneurial or innovation idea

Students will learn how to apply these outcomes to start a new business or innovate an existing business. More specifically, students will demonstrate functional knowledge of, and be able to apply their knowledge of, the following entrepreneurship and innovation principles and practices:

• Opportunity recognition and idea development,

• Design thinking,

• Customer interviewing and other methods of market research,

• Prototyping and experimentation,

• Financial planning and analysis processes for starting and growing a small business,

• Group dynamics and conflict resolution in entrepreneurial teams,

In addition, students will exhibit the development of leadership capabilities through:

• Written and oral communication techniques for entrepreneurs and innovators

• Creative problem solving and innovation for entrepreneurial settings

• Critical thinking and analysis for entrepreneurial settings

• Ethical awareness and reasoning with respect to entrepreneurship and innovation.

Program Requirements

The Master of Science in Innovation and Entrepreneurship (MSIE) program is made up of foundation courses, core courses, electives, and a capstone course. The minimum number of credit hours for the degree (beyond the Foundation Courses) is 30 credits. Students are encouraged to consult with the Office of Graduate Business Programs for more information on program requirements and sequencing.

Foundation Courses

Core Courses

It is recommended that students take the core courses in the sequence listed below. 

Two Elective Courses (6 credits total)

Internship

Program Faculty