Minor in Entrepreneurship and Design

The Entrepreneurship and Design minor is where W&L students learn to make things people actually use — products, ventures, tools, campaigns — and to reason honestly about whether they should exist at all. Courses run from research and design thinking through prototyping, funding, and launch, and the capstone ends in a fully realized product that students pitch at the Entrepreneurship Summit.

The minor pairs with any major, from Engineering to English. Business Administration and Accounting majors can now declare it too. Most of the electives already sit inside popular majors in computer science, engineering, chemistry, sociology, environmental studies, poverty studies, finance, and more, so for most students the minor is not a stack of extra classes.

Students in the minor are strongly encouraged to take part in the Connolly Entrepreneurship Society, the Student Pitch Competition, and other Connolly Center events, and to attend two or more Entrepreneurship Summits.

Requirements at a Glance

The minor requires at least 18 credits:

• 3 required courses (9 credits)
• Electives from three groups — Research, Materialize, and Explore — with one or two courses from each group

The three groups match the minor’s learning outcomes: Research (analyze markets with quantitative and qualitative methods), Materialize (build products and business models), and Explore (apply the process in a domain you care about).

Required Courses

Complete all three (9 credits). These courses carry the new ENT designation starting in 2026–27.

Research Electives (1–2 courses)

Students considering the minor are encouraged to take BUS 2002 Fundamentals of Business Analytics. Any of these statistics courses may be substituted for BUS 2002: BIOL 2001, CBSC 2500, ECON 2002, MATH 2002, POL 2002, or SOAN 2002.

• BUS 2002 — Fundamentals of Business Analytics
• BUS 3340 — Design Thinking
• BUS 3341 — Creative Strategic Planning
• BUS 3345 — Marketing Research
• CBSC 1850 — Introduction to Data Science: Trends Over Time
• CSCI 3704 — Human-Computer Interaction
• MATH 1610 — Preparation for Statistics in Korean Music (MUS 1610)
• MATH 3610 — Mathematical Statistics
• SOAN 2003 — Qualitative Methods
• SOAN 2009 — Data Science Tools for Social Policy
• SOAN 3201 — Senior Seminar in Quantitative Analysis
• SOAN 3202 — Senior Seminar in Qualitative Analysis

Materialize Electives (1–2 courses)

• BUS 2300 — Marketing Management
• BUS 3320 — Integrated Marketing Communications
• BUS 3325 — Rogue Marketing
• BUS 3360 — Multimedia Design and Development
• CSCI 1100 — Introduction to Computer Science
• CSCI 1200 — Data Structures
• CSCI 2100 — Software Development
• CSCI 2654 — Introduction to Robotics
• CSCI 3600 — Artificial Intelligence
• ENGN 1710 — Introduction to Engineering
• ENGN 2310 — Electrical Circuits (PHYS 2007)
• ENGN 2550 — Electronics (PHYS 2008)
• ENT 3500 — Makers’ Workshop
• ENT 3800 — Alchemy of Innovation: From Concept to Incubator Gold

Explore Electives (1–2 courses)

Choose from any of the five areas below. Explore electives are subject to advisor consent.

Entrepreneurship

• ENT 1090 — Entrepreneurship Field Consulting Experience
• ENT 2905 — Special Topics in Entrepreneurship

Food

• BIOL 2750 — Food for Thought
• CHEM 1133 — The Chemistry of Cooking
• CHEM 1135 — Bitter Grapes: The Chemistry and Culture of Wine in South Africa
• ENV 3510 — Food, Place, and Power
• SOAN 2546 — Food, Culture, and Society in Ireland
• SOAN 2547 — Food Diplomacy in Israel

Acquisition

• ACCT 3010 — Financial Statement Analysis
• BUS 3240 — Negotiation and Dispute Resolution in a Business Environment
• BUS 3480 — Foundations in Business Law
• BUS 3481 — Intellectual Property
• FIN 3010 — Multinational Business Finance
• FIN 3011 — Cases in Corporate Finance
• FIN 3310 — Building Financial Models

Technology

• BIOL 1185 — Data Science: Visualizing and Exploring Big Data
• BUS 3010 — Introduction to Data Science for Business
• BUS 3015 — AI and Machine Learning for Business Decisions
• BUS 3040 — Database Management for Business
• BUS 3080 — Data Visualization: Dashboards and Storytelling Techniques
• BUS 3360 — Multimedia Design and Development
• BUS 3840 — The Business of Tech
• BUS 3900 — Seminar in Management Information Systems
• CSCI 3450 — Video Game Design

Impact Ventures

• BUS 3440 — Social Entrepreneurship
• ENV 1100 — Introduction to Environmental Studies
• ENV 2001 — Applied Environmental Science
• ENV 2002 — Society and Natural Resources
• POV 2401 — Poverty, Ethics, and Religion
• POV 2507 — Anthropology of Public Policy
• POV 2508 — Ethnographies of Global Poverty
• POV 4503 — Shepherd Summer Internship

Policies

• Open to all majors, including Business Administration and Accounting.
• BUS courses: the three required courses are ENT courses. No more than two BUS courses may count toward the minor.
• Double-counting: no more than nine credits (three courses) from the minor may also count toward another major or minor.
• Transfer credit: up to two courses from other colleges or universities may count toward the minor, with approval from the relevant department.
• Prerequisites: several electives have prerequisites. Most students take them as part of their major; check the course catalog.
• Explore electives require advisor consent.

Declare the Minor

Major/Minor Declaration form (Registrar)

Questions? Contact Jayson Margalus, Johnson Professor of Entrepreneurship and Leadership and Director, Connolly Center for Entrepreneurship.