Graduate Programs
Graduate Course Descriptions
Core Courses
EIN 6934 Technology Venture Strategies
3 Credit Hours
An overview of the new venture creation process, this course is intended to provide
new MS EAT and MBA students with a basic understanding of the entrepreneurial process
of venture creation and innovation. Lectures and selected case studies are combined
with experienced guest speakers to give students a rich understanding of the challenges
facing entrepreneurs.
ENT 6116 Business Plan Development
3 Credit Hours
Business plan development is one of two summary or 'capstone' courses in the program.
The first part of the course focuses on developing the effective written and oral
communication skills students will need in preparing and presenting their business
plans to investors. The second part of the course is focused on how to develop an
effective business plan. Student teams will develop a business plan for either an
opportunity developed by students or one by an entrepreneur in the local community.
Business plans developed by student teams will be presented before a panel of local
entrepreneurs for evaluation and critique in a business plan competition format.
Additional Required Courses:
EIN 6935 Strategic Market Assessment for New Technologies
3 Credit Hours
This course focuses on development of techniques for assessing technology merit of
new innovations (including development of an appreciation and understanding of intellectual
property) and development of strategic frameworks to commercialize new products. It
uses classroom discussions, field projects, and technology assessment tools to evaluate
investigators' intellectual property portfolios of client entrepreneurs and technology
organizations to help create high value licensing opportunities and new venture creations.
ENT 6415 Venture Capital and Private Equity in Entrepreneurship
3 Credit Hours
The course focuses on critical skills necessary to develop appropriate financing
strategies for new venture creation and growth. Students will use case studies and
team projects in course studies. Three primary topics are covered: first, an overview
of the entrepreneurial finance process and involved players; second, performing business
valuations; and third, securities law with emphasis on developing term sheets and
private placement memorandums. Student teams will complete a valuation and mock securities
offering for an existing small to mid size business. Financial valuations and terms
sheets developed by student teams will be presented to a panel of venture capital
professionals for evaluation and critique.
ENT 6126 Strategic Entrepreneurship
3 Credit Hours
The strategy course is the second 'capstone' course together with business planning
for MS EAT students. Students acquire an in depth understanding of the strategic planning
process and theories of competitive advantage and opportunity recognition. The course
is taught from a 'corporate entrepreneurship' perspective: how existing business ventures
grow and transform themselves through identifying and pursuing new opportunities outside
of their core business.
Electives
ENT 6606 New Product Development
3 Credit Hours
This course focuses on new product development process from invention to commercialization
of technology products. Topics include intellectual property, product design, manufacturing
process patent process, licensing, market assessment, and commercialization. Students
will use case studies and team projects in the course of study.
GEB 6457 Ethics, Law & Sustainable Business Practices
3 Credit Hours
Examines ethical and legal responsibilities of business for triple bottom line performance
of prosperity, social justice, and concern for the natural environment.
ENT 6119 Fundamentals of Mergers and Acquisitions
3 Credit Hours
The primary objective is to build awareness concerning the steps necessary to deliver
successful mergers, acquisitions, joint-ventures and corporate alliances by managing
the challenges associates with them. The course will utilize team-based projects to
introduce students to the serious professional art and science of doing successful
deals. Students will gain and understanding of the global industry trends, players,
and motivations for mergers and acquisitions and how those drive economic growth and
change.
ENT 6706 Global Entrepreneurship
3 Credit Hours
Entrepreneurship is constantly changing on a global scale with entrepreneurship experiencing
radical changes in technology, communications, capital markets and geopolitical frameworks.
Today's globally-focused startups are building successful ventures to compete around
the globe. In this class students will gain an understating and appreciation for the
challenges of conducting business outside the United States gaining knowledge in investor
strategies, global supply chains, addressing international customers, and managing
employees located around the globe. The challenges these entrepreneurs face, particularly
in emerging markets, are some of the most complex and sophisticated for their businesses
and the governments under which they operate.
ENT 6619 Creativity & Design
3 Credit Hours
Creativity and design techniques have become increasingly popular amongst business
leaders focus on innovation as a source of competitive advantage in the global economy.
Both creativity and design rely on reframing problems to discover novel solutions.
The creative process uses developing as many divergent ideas as possible to come up
with outside of the box solutions. Design is employing extensive focus and study to
see a problem at a greater level of depth, objectivity, and clarity to develop novel
solutions. Students increase their creativity and design skills by learning and applying
several methods, processes, and techniques in a client company in the Tampa Bay area.
The majority of course time will be spent on applying creativity and design processes
in exercises and field studies.
ENT 6506 Social Entrepreneurship
3 Credit Hours
This course is based on the belief that entrepreneurs are powerful agents of social
and economic change who, if properly harnessed, can drive our movement to a sustainable
economy and environment. The course focuses on the ideas, processes, steps, and strategies
required for creating new social ventures. You will learn about the critical factors
associated with successful new venture initiation as well as the preparation of a
business plan that can be used to begin operations in a new social enterprise. The
teaching style of this course will mix theory and academic concepts with practical
applications. In some classes, we will hear from “real life” social entrepreneurs.
This will give you a chance to customize the course by asking questions you care about.
ENT 6312 Intellectual Property
3 Credit Hours
This course provides students with an opportunity to explore trademarks, trade secrets,
patents and copyrights as they relate to entrepreneurship and technology development.
Through a series of engaging and challenging projects, students will gain a comprehensive
understanding of the fundamentals of intellectual property, exercise executive decision-making
skills, and perform technology planning and asset management. By the end of the course,
participants will be better equipped to make business decisions related to intellectual
property and identify common intellectual property pitfalls that frustrate entrepreneurs
and technology developers.
This course focuses on aspects of intellectual property law and related concepts that are relevant to aspiring entrepreneurs and technology development. This is NOT an intellectual property law course - legal cases are incorporated to the extent necessary to provide students a useful understanding of the relevant principles.
ENT6930 Exit Strategies (In summer only)
3 Credit Hours
This course is designed to enable the student to gain an in-depth understanding of
the options which entrepreneurs and established business leaders may use to exit their
business enterprises. It is also designed to explore the various options which may
be used by entrepreneurs at various stages of their company’s development. Emphasis
will be placed on the exit from the founder/owner’s prospective. Examination will
be made of the legal and financial consequences of the various business exits available
to the business owner. The course will utilize external knowledge experts, engaged
team activities and detailed business case analyses. The course is designed to prepare
the student for the inevitability of transitioning ownership and exiting their company.
We will explore family owned businesses, private business sales, public offerings
and bankruptcy (restructuring and liquidation).
EIN 6430 Overview of Regulated Industries
3 Credit Hours
This course examines the environment landscape of conducting business operations
in industries requiring regulatory oversight from governmental agencies and /or industry
oversight groups. The course examines the role these entities play in the development,
manufacturing, marketing, and distribution of consumer products.
ENT6930 International Entrepreneurship I (in Summer only)
3 Credit Hours
This course focuses on the skillset and mindset required to increase the chances of
the successful launch of an entrepreneurial venture or expansion with an intentional
global focus. Students will learn about developing a product/service concept, a business
model, and a go-to-market strategy that is successful in the local domestic market
and can be adapted to expand into foreign markets. In addition the course will cover,
from an international perspective, entrepreneurial opportunity identification and
evaluation; market analysis and intelligence; foreign market entry modes; regulations,
laws and customs; regional and cultural issues; financing foreign ventures; and choice
of domestic and international legal entities. The objective of this course is to provide
students with an understanding of the complexities faced by entrepreneurs doing business
in a global environment and with knowledge to successfully cope with that environment.
ENT6930 International Entrepreneurship II (in Summer only)
3 Credit Hours
Since entrepreneurship is an extremely context-dependent phenomenon, there are limitations
to learning about it solely in a classroom setting. The International Entrepreneurship
II – Experiential Learning course is designed to experience first-hand some of the
challenges that entrepreneurs are confronted with while searching for entrepreneurial
opportunities or solving problems related to critical issues in today’s operating
environment in Italy. This course is the follow-up experiential complement to any
entrepreneurship-related course that focuses on a specific area. Students are required
to work in teams to work on issues of strategic importance to an assigned venture.
Projects vary widely, but typically involve assessment of the current internationalization
strategy or future market entry in another foreign market. This is a hands-on course,
so be prepared to spend a lot of time with your assigned venture and their employees.
ENT 6947 Applied Topics in Entrepreneurship ( by permit only)
3 Credit Hours
The Advanced Topics course is intended to provide students the opportunity to apply
acquired knowledge into practice. This is achieved either through an individual, faculty
directed project or through a field study/internship. Students elect either option
depending on their individual needs and goals. Individual projects typically involve
developing a business plan for a business the student intends to launch. Internships
involve working directly with senior business leaders in an entrepreneurial environment.
Students will be expected to participate in open classroom discussion of their on-going
experiences during their projects/internships, with a presentation of their project
before peers and faculty. (A limited number of fellowships may also be applied)
BSC 6436 Introduction to Biotechnology
3 Credit Hours
The course focuses on biotechnology, the integration of biology and technology and
its applications in genomics, forensics, agriculture, engineering and medicine that
have resulted in new products and services and solved biological/biomedical problems
Other electives as approved by the director in association with dual degree programs in medicine, engineering, business, and global sustainability.