Academics

Students earn 15 hours of UNC graded credit through the following four courses:

ECON 325H: Entrepreneurship: Principles, Concepts, Frameworks and Fluency

(3 credit hours, satisfies Minor requirement)

Instructor: Jed Simmons (Durham Intensive)

Econ 325H, a two-week intensive course of study offered at the beginning of the seminar, will provide a granular approach to the most important tasks required to create a new enterprise. The course will meet for more than four hours a day at American Underground in Durham.

ECON 327H: Emerging Technologies and Startup Practices

(3 credit hours, satisfies Minor track requirement)

Instructor: Silicon Valley-based faculty

ECON 327H will examine current trends in emerging technologies, and on how companies in the Silicon Valley use startup principles in practice by taking advantage of the resources of the San Francisco Bay Area to give students a unique combination of experiential learning opportunities. The content of the course will include multiple site visits to companies in the Bay Area and a series of speakers, all of whom will bring real-world expertise to the classroom. The course will meet weekly for 3.5 hours.

HNRS 350: The Silicon Valley Ecosystem & Lessons for Creating Entrepreneurial Cultures

(3 credit hours)

Instructor: Silicon Valley-based faculty

This course will explore the attributes of the Silicon Valley Entrepreneurial Ecosystem. By studying how innovation developed and spread throughout Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area, we will consider how other entrepreneurial communities can be evaluated and strengthened. In addition, we will discuss what the overused term “innovative” means and how to evaluate whether a community or organization has attributes that support real innovation. We will also look at criticisms of the Silicon Valley Entrepreneurial Ecosystem and which elements you would not want to emulate.

HNRS 393: Practicum in Entrepreneurship (Internship)

(6 credit hours, satisfies Minor Internship and Practicum requirements)

Instructor: Jed Simmons (online)

The internship is central to the curriculum of the Minor in Entrepreneurship. Students in the Burch seminar will work in their internships 30 hours per week for 12 weeks. Local coaches will assist students in networking and maximizing their internships.