page 2 - The Behrend College Beacon - December 10,1998
by Shannon Webber
News Editor
On Tuesday, 19, 1999, The Office
of Continuing and Distance Educa
tion hosted a showcase that intro
duced the FastTrac Entrepreneurial
Education program to the commu
nity of Erie. FastTrac is a course
designed for individuals that need
immediate help with growing their
own business or developing a new
business. The FastTrac program is
able to equip the entrepreneurs and
the apsiring entrepreneurs with the
skills to develop and manage a suc
cessful business.
In 1997, the faculty and staff in
Behrend’s School of Business at
tended the Premier FastTrac program
in Denver, which was sponsored by
the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foun
dation. They came back ready to
teach the Behrend students and mem
bers of the business community how
to take control of their business. In
the following year, Behrend received
a grant from the Ewing Marion
Kauffman Foundation to help de
velop the business school’s entrepre
neurship education programs. Be
hrend was also given the exclusive
right to offer the FastTrac program
in this region
“We realized several years ago that
this trend toward self-employment
was inevitable,” said Dr. John M.
Magenau, director of Behrend’s
School of Business . "With large cor
porations downsizing and outscoring
some of their production, and with a
Housing contracts, continued from Page 1
form another line. Starting at the
table where the contracts weret o be
collected, it wrapped around the en
tire room. All students w-ere assigned
a number, and most of the them
stayed there for the night. Students did
respond thankfully to the policy
change of number distribution to
hold their place in line-as long as they
were back before six am.
Jessamy Morse, 02 Advertising,
may have captured the feelings of
those waiting it out in saying, “I feel
like I’m at the airport for a really early
flight. I’ve got my bags packed, I’ve
got my ticket, and I just want to get
out of here.”
The actions of impatient and dis
honest students affected everyone in
volved with the contract submission.
Lydia King, 02 Business Manage
ment, says, “It was like a natural di-
saster.”
Jason Allen, 02 Forestry thinks, "It
was extremely disorderly."
Jared Sunday, 08 PLET, adds, "1
think it was a total disaster and I wish
they’d find a better way of organiz-
ing it.”
Malfinger and Lombardi agree,
saying, "We need to reevaluate the
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growing service economy, there were
more and more talented ambitious
people out there without jobs. In or
der to survive, people have had to shift
to an entrepreneurial way of looking
at the world."
The program is divided into two
parts. FastTrac I is a nine-week course
that focuses on defining a business
concept and determining its feasibil
ity. This part of the program will be
gin in March and will be taught by an
Erie entrepreneur, Randy Nungester,
owner of Uncommon Ground. Donald
Smith, president of Provident Wealth
and Provident Private Capital Partners,
Inc. and a student in last fall’s FastTrac
I class at Behrend had good things to
say about the program.
"I don’t think people should be al
lowed to go into business without tak
ing this course,” said Smith. "What
they learn here can save money and
heartache.”He has also recommended
the FastTrac program to two of his pro
fessional athlete clients.
The second part is FastTrac II and
it is an eleven-week course for small
business owners who seek education
in marketing, operation, product im
provement and growth. It will be of
fered at Behrend for the first time this
spring. Entrepreneur Thomas M.
Kennedy, owner and developer of the
Palace Business Center and the Re
naissance Center at Tenth and State,
will be teaching the course. He holds
a MBA from Behrend and worked at
GE for more than ten years. He found
his future to be a business developer.
"As the Palace Business Center be
came home to small businesses, I be-
system, but we a
input....if they are
adament
about sleeping
out, then they need
to voice their con-
cerns. Residence
Hall Councils are
the voices we are
listening to. If
they have issues or
ideas, bring them
to the executives
of Residence Hall
Council.”
As for Monday
morning when the
line receded, fur
niture students had
relocated was left
strewn throughout
the lobby and the
Winlergarden.
Bag fulls of gar
bage were col
lected after stu
dents left Monday
morning.
Erie
gan to realize that many small busi
ness owners have similar prob
lems,” Kennedy said. “They all face
problems with marketing, growth,
cash How, personnel, and other busi
ness issues, and they are looking for
an efficient way to find answers.
FastTrac II can help them.”
FastTrac entrepreneurial training
programs started in 1986 by Entre
preneur Programs, Inc. offered
through the University of Southern
California’s Entrepreneur Program.
Today, FastTrac is an international
program which trains businesses
owners in more than 100 locations
in 41 states. There are also branches
of FastTrac in Sweden, Canada and
soon Australia. FastTrac is on it’s
way to educate 10,000 business
owners a year by the turn of the cen
tury. There are more than 160 busi
ness development organizations that
use the curriculum.
“Last fall we began teaching the
program to medical students at
LECOM, who will eventually de
velop practices that operate as small
businesses,” said Dr. Jeff Trailer, as
sistant professor of management and
a member of the initial team that in
troduced the program to Behrend.
This year we moved into the com
munity, offering the program
through Continuing and Distance
Education. Our plan is to offer
FastTrac I twice annually and
FastTrac II three or four times
yearly.”
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••i • •
News
1/18/99 Caller reported several people drinking on Ski Slope
1/18/99 Complainant receiving obscene phone calls
1/18/99 Complainant reported fire alarm in Almy Hall Officer dispatched, fa
toast from a toaster had set it off. System was then reset.
1/19/99 Individual has a dog in his car. Notified the individual of University 1
the dog removed immediately. He was advised that if he had any problems w
WED.
1/22/99 Complainant reported theft of equipment from vehicle
1/24/99 Complainant reported a fight in the Reed Commons area. Upon our a
>vas broken up by a staff member and the parties departed. At this time no oth
:aken.
1/25/99 Complainant requested Police and Safety to stand by in the Reed Co:
he problems that housing encountered with the housing contracts earlier.
R)lice Safety
REPORT:
How would you chang
the housing situation
campus?
“I think that seniority and GPA should
be considered on your housing contract.”
“I don’t have any beef with housing.”
“I don’t know, but something should change.”
“I would let the seniors have first choice.”
“Get social hours during the day where kids
can be out in the hall being as loud as they want.”
-Cheryl Swearingen, 04, Bio
-Trevor Specht, 02, EE
-Jen Zimmerman, 04, Eng
-Tommie Stovall, 06,EE
-Adam “Zippy” Dzuricky,o2,MlS
» m *