Skip to main content Skip to navigation
Dividend The official online magazine of the Carson College of Business

A Message from Interim Dean Debbie Compeau – August 2024

Dear friends,

As the fall semester gets underway, campus is coming to life with the energy and excitement of a new academic year. Incoming freshmen are embarking on a significant new chapter. Meanwhile, seniors are preparing to take the final steps in their academic journey, poised to launch their careers with a freshly minted business degree from Carson College.

In this issue of eDividend, we highlight how our programs and initiatives are cultivating the next generation of entrepreneurs, equipped with the skills and vision needed to navigate and shape the future of business. The entrepreneurship program is a cornerstone of the Carson College, offering benefits to students from across the university system as it continues to grow in enrollment. The number of undergraduate minors and majors in entrepreneurship has risen from 103 in 2019, to 157 this past academic year. Nearly 600 students from across all majors were enrolled to take entrepreneurship classes.

Our feature on AgRooted, a Coug-founded agritourism business, shows how Carson classes and programs designed to support student entrepreneurs can inspire innovative business ideas and provide a launch pad to get them off the ground. In the past 10 years alone, more than 20 businesses have been launched with the help of Carson programs.

At WSU Tri-Cities, our three-course entrepreneurship series demonstrates our dedication to leveraging industry partnerships. These collaborations are essential in offering a progressive business education that empowers our students to address the most pressing challenges of the 21st century and beyond.

With the appointment of Paul Warner as the executive director of WSU’s Center for Entrepreneurship, we are further solidifying our investment in programs that produce career-ready entrepreneurs. His leadership will undoubtedly enhance our capacity to support and launch new ventures.

The 2024 Business Plan Competition showcased the incredible talent and ambition within our community. Altogether, the top teams earned more than $50,000 in seed money, providing crucial funding to bring their ideas to life. Second-place winner team PicsGenie took part in the Jones Milestones Accelerator this summer, securing additional money to propel their new business that allows people to use generative AI to design and purchase clothing.

We also feature graduates from our online MBA programs who are successful entrepreneurs. MBA alum John Howerton is the cofounder of Cord Analytics, an investing platform simplifying stock analysis for everyday users. His story illustrates how our graduates are leveraging cutting-edge tools like generative AI to revolutionize and expand their industries. Our feature on executive MBA alum and entrepreneur Bobby Wiese reveals how he has used his degree training to improve his business that creates high-end metal products for architectural purposes.

The Carson College is proud to be a catalyst for entrepreneurial growth and a leader in contemporary business education. I encourage you to join us in celebrating the achievements of our remarkable students, faculty, and alumni.

Together, we will continue to build a community that inspires innovation, drives change, and prepares future-ready entrepreneurs.

Go Cougs!


Debbie Compeau, Interim Dean

WSU Alumni Found AgRooted to Support Family Farms

Small family farms face significant challenges, including escalating production costs and fierce competition from large agribusinesses. Growing up on an 80-acre farm in southwest Washington, WSU alums and siblings Jessica and Sean Murray were acutely aware of the challenges facing small family operations like theirs and wanted to be part of the solution.

» More ...

Entrepreneurship Course Series Prepares Future Innovators

A series of three entrepreneurship classes offered at WSU Tri-Cities is pairing students with industry professionals to develop and launch new ventures in clean energy.

Paul Carlisle (’06 Busi. Admin., ’07 MBA), an adjunct professor with the Carson College who runs the program, says the classes are meant to be taken in succession. Students team up with a researcher who holds a freshly patented technology, often from nearby Pacific Northwest National Laboratories (PNNL), help create a business plan, and secure venture financing to create a viable business.

» More ...

A Matter of Trust: Maintaining Investor Confidence After a Product Failure

In the high-stakes world of venture-backed startups, nothing is more crucial than investor trust, especially when facing product development setbacks. New research from WSU's Carson College of Business offers fresh perspectives on how technology-based startup companies can secure funding even when their product development hits roadblocks.

» More ...

PhD Corner – Director’s Message – August 2024

Dear friends:

University faculty need to develop an entrepreneurial mindset and skill set to thrive in their careers. While the WSU PhD program does not directly provide entrepreneurial training to its students, their four- to five-year journey forces them to develop and hone their entrepreneurial skills that will be useful in future faculty careers. These skills include enhanced problem-solving abilities, leadership and team collaboration, adaptability and resilience, opportunity recognition and innovation, and networking and resource management.

College graduates entering PhD programs encounter a number of challenges. They must learn to navigate graduate school coursework and research problems with unclear solutions. Tackling these challenges improves their problem-solving skills significantly.

Graduate students typically collaborate on research assignments, frequently leading such endeavors. In their roles as teaching assistants and instructors, they are often solely responsible for delivering course content in an engaging way. As they go, students pick up excellent leadership and team collaboration experiences.

Learning from failure is an important part of students’ PhD journey and will be a part of their professional careers. From difficulties in coursework, to teaching efforts that don’t “click,” to research project restarts, students must remain resilient and adapt for the next try.

The core of research involves identifying “gaps” in the literature, i.e., opportunities to explore unexplained phenomena. Successful researchers find those and follow up with innovative solutions.

Beginning with their first-year cohort and extending to senior students, faculty, and beyond, PhD students build their professional networks from day one. A huge component of that is attending professional conferences and meeting students and faculty from all around the world. These networks become vital as faculty careers blossom.

Some university faculty provide consulting services, and others even start their own successful companies (e.g., Ed Schweitzer III right here in Pullman). But even faculty who focus only on their professor positions essentially have an entrepreneurial job. The most successful professors create truly unique courses and learning experiences for their students. They produce cutting-edge research that pushes the boundaries of knowledge. And they work behind the scenes to improve the educational experience and create extra-curricular opportunities for their students. Faculty have the freedom to shape their work output to follow their priorities and passions. The PhD journey helps them prepare well by developing a plethora of entrepreneurial skills.

Chuck Munson,
PhD Program Director