Experience Entrepreneurship

This fall, the C. T. Bauer College of Business is expanding its entrepreneurial offerings with two one-of-a-kind electives, continuing a tradition of giving students an early edge in adaptability, creativity and leadership.

Professor of Practice Kelly McCormick has spent more than a decade teaching in the No. 1 ranked Cyvia and Melvyn Wolff Center for Entrepreneurship, taking a creative approach to business education through courses like “The Entrepreneurial Genius of Taylor Swift” and “Content Creation.”

Ahead of the Fall 2026 semester, McCormick discussed some upcoming entrepreneurship classes that push boundaries and perspectives.

Books an Entrepreneur Should Read (ENTR 3390)

This beloved asynchronous course is structured more like a book club than a traditional class.

Designed to use reading as a way to broaden business expertise, the course is broken down into three modules: methodology, marketing and mindset. During each module, students have the choice to select from books that focus on the respective entrepreneurial discipline. Popular picks in the past have been “Atomic Habits” and “How to Win Friends and Influence People.”

After reading the books, McCormick said students become better at synthesizing texts and applying the concepts.

“We are used to consuming short-form content, so I think that reading comprehension is becoming increasingly important,” she said. “Someone can watch a 10-minute video, but if they take the time to read a book, there is a lot more that is contained to increase understanding.”

As students read the books in the first two modules, they discuss the content in small groups. Afterwards, students make a video creating a business and marketing plan based on what they learned in one of the books. During the third module, students create discussion questions and compare answers as if they were in a book club.

“The assignments come up with different ways for students to digest the information through application, summaries and discussion,” McCormick said.

You as a Startup (ENTR 4397)

When teaching entrepreneurship, McCormick said the lessons are an accumulation of the various disciplines of business.

Launching for the first time this fall, students take entrepreneurial methodologies and apply them to their own lives in ENTR 4397. The course will challenge students to consider their life ambitions, define what success means to them and how to accomplish goals with entrepreneurial tools.

“It's unique to think about yourself as a business,” McCormick said. “We will consider how you can run well, how you create value, how you can position your brand and how to think in terms of a business model while remaining a human being.”

Whether a student is an entrepreneur or not, McCormick said there’s something they can take away from the class.

“If you’re an accounting major, and you are trying to figure out what you want to do with your degree, this class can be very helpful,” she said. “These are very important concepts that anyone can utilize.”

Both courses are open to non-business students. Learn more about Bauer College entrepreneurship offerings here.