Classes

Oberlin's Creativity & Leadership Project affords a variety of opportunities for students to build the skills, knowledge, and experience they need to launch their ideas. These curricular and co-curricular classes expose students to practical, global, and socially responsible perspectives on entrepreneurship.

Faculty interested in incorporating entrepreneurship into their courses may also apply for curriculum-development grants available through C&L (contact creativity@oberlin.edu for more information).

Entrepreneurship

ENTR 100 - Creativity & Leadership: An Introduction to Entrepreneurship
*This course is a prerequisite for application to the Creativity & Leadership Fellowship
Through a series of case studies, this course introduces students to entrepreneurship in its social and historical contexts. Students explore the role of mission and vision, pressures exerted by economic constraints, ethical issues as they relate to entrepreneurship, and factors that contribute to successful entrepreneurial endeavor. The course will also survey the resources available at Oberlin to students interested in launching their own ventures. Open to all students.

ENTR 201 - Launching Your Venture [cross listed as POLT 411]
Students will learn about the business, ethical activities, and choices of political research consultants as a model for launching their own businesses. Functioning as part of a small consultancy team, students will research and write on a topic in the policy realm that services the needs of an off-campus organization. Students will train in strategies for conducting research and presenting written and oral findings to a client or financial backer. Guest speakers on aspects of operating a new business are scheduled.

Economics

ECON 109 - Principles of Financial and Managerial Accounting
Accounting is the creation, reporting, and interpretation of financial information. The course will show how accounting data can be used by people outside an organization-for example, investors and regulators-to evaluate its financial performance. It will also show how accounting data can be used within an organization as a planning and management tool. The course will be particularly useful to those interested in careers in business, economics, arts and non-profit management, law, and government.

Rhetoric and Composition

RHET 206 - Narrative Non-Fiction
An advanced writing workshop intended for juniors and seniors with strong writing skills interested in exploring literature's 'fourth genre,' the essay. We will study the history of the essay and recent varieties of non-fiction writing, alternately labeled narrative non-fiction, literary journalism or creative non-fiction. Students will have the opportunity to write on a range of topics and experiment with different styles.

RHET 305 - Grant Proposal and Report Writing
Sooner or later many professionals find themselves applying for grants. This course covers the basics of researching funding sources, writing proposals, and setting up and writing evaluation reports for projects. Students will learn to use the Cleveland Foundation Center?s database and work on a grant proposal to fund a community-based project in their area of interest. Instruction includes individual attention to fundamental college-level writing skills. Especially useful for artists, scientists, and community activists.

Conservatory Studies

CNST 201 - Touring for Musicians
Overview of musical and business considerations in planning a tour, including repertoire selection, age-appropriate presentation techniques, audience development, contracts, travel arrangements, insurance, communication.

CNST 200 - Professional Development for the Freelance Artist
A semester-long course that will examine the many aspects of a freelance artist's career. The purpose of this course is to introduce the techniques necessary to survive in the business of the Arts. Skills such as: marketing, negotiating, entrepreneurship, writing, networking and business skills will be studied. Specialists in the various fields will be invited to the class to speak about their own professional experience. Each student will conduct an informational interview, present a press book or portfolio and set up a personal Web page.

CNST 202-Presentation Skills for Outreach
This is a second module, 1-credit course. Students will design and implement outreach components and learn how to give successful presentations to children, adults, and peers. The class incorporates reading and discussion, and offers opportunities for students to hone their presentation skills.

Many believe that outreach consists primarily of “taking the show on the road.” Increasingly, musicians are asked to re-imagine the traditional audience/performer paradigm. This one-module course offers concrete strategies for giving successful presentations, and prepares students for this important and often overlooked skill.