Who We Are For

The Shuford Program in Entrepreneurship was created in 2004 to encourage arts and sciences students from diverse backgrounds and with different interests to learn to view the world through an entrepreneurial lens. Our program is a perfect complement for all majors because we provide practical business knowledge that can be applied to any industry. We are one of the only undergraduate entrepreneurship programs in the country that is housed within a College of Arts and Sciences, which allows a diversity of thought and perspectives from many different majors across the College. Our focus is on teaching the Entrepreneurial Mindset, which is a way to identify opportunities. We then give them the tools to help them craft their ideas and bring them to fruition.

In our program students will get the chance to explore different track courses that will dictate their focus, such as Entrepreneurship in Music, Sports, Biology, and more. We have study abroad opportunities through Shuford Away in London, Silicon Valley, and Shanghai.

Part of our program’s core requirements is an internship. We have funding available in order to subsidize housing and other expenses for unpaid internships, and we will help students find opportunities that match their goals. During the summer of 2020 when COVID threw everyone’s plans into disarray, we were able to find internships for almost all the students that reached out to us for assistance.

Common Process

Our program was founded on the understanding that there is a common process for the realization of new ventures, ideas, and concepts. Regardless of whether those ventures are startups, social enterprises, artistic endeavors, or even growth within existing companies.

Encouragement

As an interdisciplinary program in UNC’s College of Arts and Sciences, we encourage students to think and act entrepreneurially in product-design, tech creations, and intrapreneurship. Students who are a part of our community and complete the academic course requirements will have a unique skill set that will make them competitive in the 21st-century job market.