Distinctly Montana Magazine

EDUCATING Enterprise DEPARTMENT "I 'm going to go back to school and sharpen my tools." Cory Birken- buel started college at University of Montana Western in Dillon back in the 1990s on a football scholarship, but feeling he had lost his focus on aca- demics, he dropped out and worked various jobs, usually revolving around promoting entertainers and bands, along with indulging his passion for skiing. He began to realize what he wanted to do in life, "I want to bring people together in the name of art." He returned to UM Western and resumed working on a business degree. In one class he mentioned an idea he'd been mulling for several years—to make a documentary film about Montana's ski areas. His class- mates gave him positive feedback and when Cory asked his professor if he could use the project as an internship, the professor said, "Go for it." With that, Cory was off and running, developing a busi- ness plan for the project, "Montana's Sweet 16."In January 2012 he'll go to all of Montana's downhill ski areas, get- YOUNG ENTREPRENEURS BY PAUL F. VANG ting interviews and, of course, skiing. He plans to premier the completed documentary at upcoming Hatchfest and Cold Smoke Awards festivals. "I'm running a business with this project," Cory exudes. That's one student's story but it's just the tip of the iceberg. From Montana's flag- ship state universities to small liberal arts colleges, entrepreneurship is a hot, new trend in higher education in Big Sky Country. An entrepreneur, according to the Li- Cory Birkenbuel brary of Economics and Liberty, "is some- one who organizes, manages, and assumes the risks of a business or enterprise... Entrepreneurship is the process of discov- ering new ways of combining resources." In discovering new ways of combining resources, Montana's schools are, in a di- rect sense, developing a spirit of entrepreneurship as well. Twila Croft, Dean of Student Development at University of Great Falls, a Catholic liberal arts college, notes, "We just hired a performing arts entrepreneur. He's going to help develop entrepreneurship programs for theater and music students." TODD GOODRICH UNIVERSITY OF MONTANA – WESTERN DILLON ENROLLMENT: 1,365 UNIQUE FEATURE: Montana Western is the first and only public four-year university in the nation to offer a block scheduling system in which students take (and professors teach) one class at a time. UNIVERSITY OF MONTANA MISSOULA ENROLLMENT: 15,642, includes undergrad and grad UNIQUE ASPECT: Rolling Stone Magazine declared it had the most scenic campus in America. 78 MONTANA TECH BUTTE ENROLLMENT: 2,713 UNIQUE ASPECT: With its rich mining history and varied geography, Butte is a natural laboratory, outside the classroom. DISTINCTLY MONTANA • AUTUMN 2011

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