So here’s an amazing story.
It’s 2018. Brett Smith, a scholar of entrepreneurship at Miami University (OH), who’s spent a career teaching social entrepreneurship asks a question: “I see this movement on faith and entrepreneurship growing everywhere. Why is it almost completely absent in higher education?”
The reason? The absence of research. For a conversation about faith and entrepreneurship to take root in higher ed, it had to be built on academic research, which is how knowledge gains legitimacy in the academy.
So, in 2018 Brett starts the L.I.F.E. (Leading the Integration of Faith and Entrepreneurship) Research Lab. And it starts to take off…
He creates the L.I.F.E. Research Conference, an event convening hundreds of scholars around faith and entrepreneurship. He pours into doctoral students and invites visiting scholars. And he creates a community…and things start to change.
Fast forward only five years:
- Across a network, dozens of academic articles have been published on faith and entrepreneurship in the world’s most prestigious business and entrepreneurship journals, and…
- In the last 5 years, publication volume on the topic has increased 472%, creating a new academic subfield
- A class on faith and entrepreneurship for undergraduates has been running now for 3 years at Miami University, and it’s starting to spread to other universities
- The endowment grew from humble beginnings of a $100,000 gift to now over $11 million
- And new resources, connections, and communities for teachers, researchers and students are multiplying across universities.
AND, today we launch a new website for the Center for L.I.F.E. And it’s loaded with great resources:
- For Researchers: Download the free Faith and Entrepreneurship Research Starter Kit: [Free Download] Faith and Entrepreneurship Research Starter Kit – LIFE (lifemiamioh.com)
- For Teachers: Get access to syllabi on faith and entrepreneurship from over 20 universities: Teachers – LIFE (lifemiamioh.com)
- More for Researchers: Fast forward your research and request access to a bibliography of over 250 academic articles on faith and entrepreneurship: Research – LIFE (lifemiamioh.com)
- For Entrepreneurs: Sign up to get quarterly updates highlights from L.I.F.E. and what the best research on faith and entrepreneurship means for your startup: LIFE – Leading the Integration of Faith & Entrepreneurship (lifemiamioh.com)
A reflection: higher ed matters. Our centers of knowledge production shape our culture. And institutions like the Center for L.I.F.E. that aim to “Transform Higher Education Through Faith and Entrepreneurship” are well worth following, supporting, and cheering for.
Sometimes dreams fizzle. But sometimes, with hard work, persistence, and grace, a small seed grows into a beautiful tree that gives LIFE to many.