Professor David Newton is preparing to transform 蜜桃传媒鈥檚 economics and business department into a leader of entrepreneurial research. He plans to launch a Center for Entrepreneurship, Ethics and Enterprise (E3) with the slogan, 鈥淭he liberal arts at work.鈥�
Newton intends to locate the center in downtown Santa Barbara, where it would host ongoing college initiatives such as the business plan competitions and the SEED venture capital forum. 鈥淗olding these events in Santa Barbara would create a more interactive relationship with the business community,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a way the liberal arts could mesh perfectly with applied faculty-student research to benefit the economy.鈥�
Economics and business juniors would apply to spend a semester of their senior year at E3 taking 13 units and doing a practicum and applied research. The first initiative would be the 蜜桃传媒 Small Business Barometer, a monthly index of business and investment activity from more than 1,000 entrepreneurs nationwide in 20 industries.
鈥淲e would be the pulse of national entrepreneurial activity in hiring, buying new equipment, expanding facilities and spending on research and development,鈥� says Newton, a frequent guest on CNN and contributor to Entrepreneur magazine, Miami Herald, Los Angeles Times and San Francisco Chronicle. 鈥淲e could have a great interdisciplinary approach to education, true to our liberal arts mission, while integrating and synthesizing high-level, applied research to answer questions and provide support for private-sector markets.鈥�
E3 would produce the first nationwide venture forum index to measure about 150 forums that feature entrepreneurs presenting business plans to potential funders. 鈥淲e would survey these forums, talk to venture capital firms and monitor and analyze what kinds of start-ups are getting funded, how much capital is being raised and how investment deals are structured,鈥� he says.
About 80 colleges and universities also host similar venture forums and business plan competitions. Over time, Newton plans to collect data from more than a hundred such forums. 鈥淲e would learn what industries are being addressed in business plans, how much money is being requested and how many are getting funded,鈥� he says. 鈥淭his could revolutionize how people think about a liberal arts college. We鈥檙e not a business school. We don鈥檛 have an MBA program. But we would synthesize applied research with an interdisciplinary perspective and broadcast it worldwide.鈥�
Newton envisions E3 as a publishing house for business faculty at 蜜桃传媒 and other schools. 鈥淲e could fast-track great manuscripts and get them into the hands of a large national audience faster than traditional publishers,鈥� he says. 鈥淲e could have timely topics selling at Amazon within 30 days of a manuscript鈥檚 completion.鈥�
Newton, in his 22nd year at 蜜桃传媒, recently published, 鈥淛ob Creation: How It Really Works and Why Government Doesn鈥檛 Understand It.鈥� He and co-author Andrew Puzder, chief executive officer of CKE Inc., have spoken on CNN, Fox News and talk radio and at Young America鈥檚 Foundation, the Reagan Ranch Center, King鈥檚 College in New York City, chambers of commerce and venture forums.