Erin Clark

Ain Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation - University of Rochester

At the University of Rochester, we focus on a broad definition of entrepreneurship: the generation and transformation of ideas into enterprises that create value—and that value can be economic or social. More than a discrete set of business skills or practices, entrepreneurship is a calling that can be pursued in many realms of experience and achievement. A core value of American culture, entrepreneurship uniquely combines the visionary and the pragmatic. It requires both individual initiative and knowledge and, through awareness of markets, attention to the needs of others. Entrepreneurship is a way of thinking, an approach to problems, an attribute of mind, and even a trait of character. It is a science and an art; entrepreneurship is a primary way in which a free society grows and improves not only its economy, but its cultural and social life as well. The Center for Entrepreneurship was launched by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation grant awarded to the University in 2003. It was renamed the Ain Center for Entrepreneurship in 2015 in recognition of Mark S. Ain '67S (MBA) and his wife Carolyn Ain for their visionary leadership and support of entrepreneurial students University-wide.