Joining a global celebration of entrepreneurship

Lehigh will buzz with entrepreneurial activity this week as students and faculty celebrate the Kauffman Foundation’s Global Entrepreneurship Week, an international event tailored to the Millennial Generation and its growing legion of aspiring entrepreneurs.

The celebration is sponsored by Lehigh’s Baker Institute for Entrepreneurship, Creativity and Innovation.

Two students will give presentations on Thursday, Nov. 17, as part of an workshop titled “iDex—“Social Innovation and Enterprise Development.” The event begins at 4:15 p.m. in STEPS 101.

Jullie Patterson, who earned a master’s in political science last spring and is a member of the Community Fellows Program, will talk about her work with Habitat for Humanity.

International relations major Kate McCarthy ‘12 will discuss the organization she co-founded, Sustainable Empowerment through Agricultural Development (SEAD).

Thomas Dean, professor of entrepreneurship and sustainable enterprise at Colorado State University, will also give a talk.

The event is co-sponsored by the department of management in the College of Business and Economics.

Lehigh kicked off the week with a special TEDxLehighU event co-sponsored by Alpha Chi Omega, Delta Upsilon and the Multicultural Greek Council, which packed Perella Auditorium last weekend.

Other upcoming events include a “Career in Entrepreneurship” workshop co-sponsored by the Lehigh Valley Association of Independent Colleges (LVAIC) and the university’s office of career services. That event will begin at 6 p.m. Thursday at the conference center at DeSales University.

Also, entries for the popular Eureka! Ventures Series Competition are due by midnight Thursday. The three contests, which have gained in popularity over the years, award finalists up to $5,000 to develop their business and nonprofit ideas. All of the grand prize winners of the Joan F. and John M. Thalheimer Student Entrepreneur Competition from the years 2005 through 2010 have successfully taken their business ideas to market.

Now in its third year, Global Entrepreneurship Week is celebrated in 123 countries by 25,000 organizations. More than 3,500 events are being hosted in the United States alone.

In a national study, the Kauffman Foundation reports that 54 percent of young people either want to start their own business or have already done so. But their enthusiasm is tempered by an unstable economy; nearly 40 percent of respondents said they were delaying their plans until the American economy improves.