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Entrepreneurship (A.A. Degree)
Do you want to run your own business? With Dordt’s two-year entrepreneurship emphasis, you will develop skills to help start, run, and grow a business—no matter what industry it is in. Learn alongside fellow students who are seeking to pursue their creative ideas or establish their own start-up.
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Program Overview
An entrepreneurship emphasis helps you not only develop foundational business skills, but it pushes you to grow in creative thinking and small business management. Become an innovator in your field—whatever your idea or business may be.
What you’ll learn
You will take core business courses, establishing a strong foundation for managing a business. You’ll also take entrepreneurship-focused classes and have the opportunity to learn from staff and others in the Dooyema Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.
What you can do with an Entrepreneurship degree
A business degree with an entrepreneurship emphasis prepares you to go into a variety of industries. That could mean being self-employed as a photographer, launching a new out-of-the-box idea, running your own coffee shop or bakery, or launching a new app idea.
Construction Company Owner
Perhaps you’ve grown up working construction in the summer and want to put your skills to work, running your own business renovating homes. This degree will you give the business skills needed to accompany your handiwork.
Wedding photographer
Maybe you’ve been taking family or engagement photos for friends and are ready to launch a full-time photography business. Dordt’s entrepreneurship program can help you establish the skills you need for this type of work.
Career Preparation
Dordt University's 2023 Career Outcome Rate was 99.4%! “This data point tells us that Dordt graduates are prepared for the careers of their choosing,” said Amy Westra, director of Career Development. “A Dordt education provides students with industry-relevant courses and connections that make a difference.”
In this two-year program, you will take six core business courses, an additional four in the entrepreneurship track, and a business elective.
If you decide you want to continue your studies and pursue the four-year degree, the courses you have taken will satisfy many of the requirements for the four-year program, so you can seamlessly transition from one to the other.
Computer Literacy for Business
This course teaches important computer skills used in today’s world of business. Areas of study include beginning and intermediate Excel and Word, advanced PowerPoint, an introduction to Access, and Windows and file management basics.
Introduction to Business
This course will prepare you to understand your calling in the business industry. This course will help develop your understanding of God’s plan for business and how you can become an effective Kingdom citizen in this area of work. This course will also help you gain a better understanding of the different roles people play within a business and the ways these roles work together for the effectiveness of the business. Finally, this course will provide students with advice on how to be successful within the business major.
Introduction to Accounting
This course provides exposure to basic accounting information concerning the recording of daily business transactions and the preparation, use, and interpretation of accounting records and reports. Business Administration 100 is strongly recommended.
Principles of Accounting
Introduces the concepts and terminology of accounting and financial reporting for modern business enterprises. The course is centered around analyzing and interpreting accounting information for use in making decisions about organizations. There is a special emphasis on analyzing the balance sheet, the statement of income and expense, the statement of cash flows, and the statement of stockholders’ equity. Additional emphasis is placed on problem-solving, critical thinking, and communication skills that are necessary for forming conclusions about business activities and communicating these conclusions to others.
Principles of Management
An introductory course in management theory and practice. Major topics covered include planning and strategic management, organizational design, leadership and motivation theory, and control mechanisms.
Principles of Marketing
A study of marketing institutions, product development, channels of distribution, price determination, promotion methods, government influences, and ethical problems facing marketing personnel. Includes a foundational study and discussion of business from a Christian perspective.
Professional Practices: Career Preparation and Etiquette
Students will learn the purpose and process of preparing for a career and will learn formal etiquette useful in many areas of life. We will use hands-on learning to ascertain knowledge about finding and applying for jobs, workplace professionalism, professional interviewing, applying for graduate school, and other topics related to career preparation.
Entrepreneurship & Small Business Mgmt.
A study of the importance of entrepreneurship in both the for-profit and not-for-profit sectors to the development of a society, emphasizing the different paths to business concepts, interactions with entrepreneurs, and the development of a business plan. Prerequisite: junior or senior standing; or permission of instructor.
Innovation & Creative Thinking
Innovation and creativity are essential for organizations to thrive. Innovative thinking has become central to problem solving in our organizations and our communities. This course provides an overview of the processes that leads to innovative outcomes. Emphasis is on developing a systematic approach to problem solving and explores a variety of design-based methodologies. You will explore and expand your own innovation and creativity through concrete exercises and tools to reignite imagination, develop creative routines, encourage creative problem solving and spark innovative thinking. You will learn to recognize, analyze and support individual and group creativity.
Human Resource Mgmt.
Introduces students to the role that Human Resource Management (HRM) plays in organizational settings. Course content is geared towards developing the foundational body of knowledge required of entry-level HRM practitioners and is organized around the four foundation areas of HRM expertise: staffing and recruitment, employee and organizational development, compensation and benefits administration, and labor relations. Prerequisite: Business Administration 205
Payroll & Employee Benefits
In this course, students will explore payroll accounting and employee benefits as one of the most critical elements between accounting and human resources and one of the touch points between managerial and financial accounting. This class will explore payroll processing, legal and government regulations for payroll and benefits, record keeping rules, and employee benefit and compensation program design
Ready to take the next step?
Faculty
With experience in a variety of fields, our faculty members are equipped and ready to help you succeed.
Student Stories
Resources to Achieve
Erika PostWith Dordt's help in figuring out her strengths and weaknesses, Erika was able to narrow down the business career paths that were right for her and find the perfect opportunity for her after graduating.
Erika Post
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