A Case Study of the Leadership Model of a Small Rural College in Advancing the Regional and Rural Entrepreneurship in Kansas. U.S.A

T.H.Kwa
Sterling College
125 W. Cooper
Sterling, KS 67579
620-278-4468
Email: tkwa@sterling.edu

T.H. Kwa is a Professor of Business, Thompson-Ferrari Endowed Business Chair in Sterling College, KS. His current research interests are in Entrepreneurship, Business Leadership, Real Estate and Finance.

A Case Study of the Leadership Model of a Small Rural College in Advancing the Regional and Rural Entrepreneurship in Kansas, U.S.A.

This single-case study appraises the leadership model in academic entrepreneurship of a small rural college in Kansas and its endeavors in advancing the regional and rural economic development. The study is premised on the hypothesis that weaker economic development in rural areas is due in large part to a lack of entrepreneurial activity, and that a small rural college could play a vital role in advancing the rural and regional economy. Issues of concern are raised by the active interactions of an academic institution with its community which could be of interest to researchers, educators, policy makers and business service providers.

Introduction

Regional and rural entrepreneurship is a theme that echoes in many parts of the world and perhaps more so in rural Kansas, U.S.A. In her January 2008 State of the State Address speech, the governor of Kansas, Kathleen Sebelius, expressed her appreciation to the president of Sterling College, Sterling, KS, for setting up and hosting her first Office of Rural Opportunity. This office, located in the 607-student college, concentrates on attracting investment, job growth, and business development in rural areas.
Sterling College is the first academic institution in Kansas chosen from approximately fifty community and four-year colleges (including universities) for this pioneering effort by the state government to encourage regional and rural entrepreneurship. Higher educational institutions are no longer seen simply as institutions of higher learning but are viewed as engines of economic growth and development (Chrisman, Hynes & Shelby, 1995). Drucker (2001) makes the same assessment: “Innovation and entrepreneurship are thus needed in society as much as in the economy, in public-service institutions as much as in businesses.”
Working closely with his cabinet of non-faculty administrators, and business faculty members, the president of Sterling College adopts a robust and proactive leadership role in academic entrepreneurship. He empowers and enables the college to act as the change agent in the local and regional economy in partnership with the stakeholders. These stakeholders include residents, the city council, the chamber of commerce, the school district, and the business community of the City of Sterling and the region surrounding it within Rice and Reno counties.

The Purpose and Scope

The purpose and scope of this single-case study is to explore, describe, explain, analyze and synthesize the leadership model in academic entrepreneurship of a small rural college in Kansas, and to examine the leadership’s influence in advancing the regional and rural economic development. The study is premised on the hypothesis that weaker economic development in rural areas is due in large part to a lack of entrepreneurial activity, and that a small rural college with a strong leadership in academic entrepreneurship could play a vital role in revitalizing and advancing the rural and regional economy.
This case study is not intended to be a best practice model nor an end in itself. It is hope that there will be further in-depth discussion, query, and research concerning issues that are raised by the active interactions of an academic institution with its community. The issues raised have political, economic, social and academic policy implications that could be of interest to researchers, educators, policy makers and business service providers.
The academic entrepreneurship within the scope of this paper could be viewed and “defined as the creation of an environment for (active support of) knowledge exploitation, stimulation of entrepreneurial behaviour among all the members of and institutional structures in the academic community” (Sijde, Wirsing, & Riddle, 2002). It is a brand of quasi corporate-social entrepreneurship with some semblance of the amalgamated theory and tradition of Say-Schumpter-Stevenson-Drucker. Say-Schumpter regards entrepreneurs as the catalysts and innovators behind economic progress; Stevenson believes that entrepreneurs do not allow their own initial resource endowments to limit their options. Drucker states that the “entrepreneur always searches for change, responds to it, and exploits it as an opportunity” (Dees, 1998). Drucker’s definition, perhaps, comes closer to describing the academic leadership described in this paper. It helps explain to some degree the academic entrepreneurship existing in Sterling College. The president describes his approach succinctly: “Progress=Change” (Douglas, 2006).

Research Questions

The research questions arising from the above purpose are:

1. What type of a leadership model of academic entrepreneurship could a small rural college adopt to be effective?
2. What kind of strategic entrepreneurial initiatives does the leadership exercise and in what ways do these initiatives advance the rural and regional entrepreneurship?
3. How is the college in turn being influenced by such a leadership model and by the active interaction with the regional and rural communities?

Methodology

This research is based on a single-case approach. The use of single-case study is a methodology that is well justified in the literature of case study (Yin, 1994). The literature contains abundant examples of applications of the single-case study methodology. The methodology has been refined over the years to the point where it is now acceptable as a standard scientific inquiry (Shepherd, 2004). It could be used to represent a unique or extreme case. It is also ideal for revelatory cases where an observer may have access to phenomenon that was previously inaccessible (Tellis, 1997). Indeed, this is the situation. The author plays a primary role in the leadership of the college and for the most part, was directly involved as a first-hand observer on the events described in this paper.

Background: Sterling College and the Surrounding Communities

Sterling College located in Sterling City, Rice county, was founded in 1887. Cooper Hall was the original building on the campus, and the College was known as Cooper College until 1920. The building had undergone extensive renovation, and reopened in the fall of 2003 as the focal point of the Social Entrepreneurship and Habitat for Humanity Programs. The College is governed by a self-perpetuating Board of Trustees. Sterling abandoned the tenure system in the 1980s, partially in response to financial pressures. Faculty members are currently employed under a yearly and multi-year contract system.
A distinctive aspect of Sterling College is the emphasis placed on its status as a Christian college. The college’s vision statement is to be recognized as the most innovative Christ-centered, liberal arts institution in the nation, driven by the principles of servant leadership. Its mission is to develop creative and thoughtful leaders who understand a maturing Christian faith and go forth from Sterling College to change the world.
The South Central Kansas communities of Sterling and its neighbor city, Alden, are located in Rice County. Rice County has a total population of 10,761. Sterling’s population was 2,642 and Alden’s population was 168 at the time of the 2000 Census. Other communities located in the county include Lyons (population of 3,732), Chase (490), Bushton (314), Geneseo (272), Frederick (11), Little River (536), and Raymond (95). The county’s population has declined from 14,745 in 1900 to 10,761 in 2000.
Another county within the South Central Kansas communities is the city of Hutchinson which is the largest city and the county seat of Reno County. The county population has remained about the same from 40,284 in 1980 to 40,787 in 2000.
Both counties have seen declining and stagnant growth in population for decades.

The New Leadership of Academic Entrepreneurship

“Small liberal-arts institutions, like Sterling College, in Kansas, face a unique set of demographic and financial challenges, with little margin for error,” according to the Higher Education Chronicle (Werf, 1999). True enough, a little over two years ago, Sterling College went through another financial crisis. The college was in the red again. The Board of Trustees began taking a hard look at the direction in which the college was headed.
Before long, the Trustees decided it was time for a leadership change in the presidency of the college. They announced through the Kansas Independent College Association’s August 2005 News Bulletin that: “Dr. Bruce Douglas of Toledo, Ohio, has accepted the presidency of Sterling College. He will assume his duties in mid-September, 2005.” According to the bulletin, Dr. Douglas's previous experience included the interim presidency and board chair of the University of Toledo; founder of a public policy institute; creator of construction, engineering and development companies engaged in urban redevelopment using leading edge design concepts; and organizer, fundraiser and chairman of Toledo Regional Growth Partnership, a multi-county economic development entity.
Dr. Douglas also ran in Ohio's gubernatorial race in 1998. He received his Ph.D. in history in 2004 from University of Toledo; his Masters of Public Administration in 1995 from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government; and bachelor's degrees in Civil Engineering and Physics from the University of Michigan and Kalamazoo College respectively.
The new leadership that emerges has a strong component of corporate leadership style. This could be attributed largely to Dr. Douglas’s decades of corporate background in several businesses including real estate construction, development, and Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT). Another contributing factor to the strong component of the corporate leadership style could also be largely attributed to the corporate background of many of the board members of the college. In assuming the presidency, Dr. Douglas tapped on the expertise of his partner in business for 30 years, Phil Levine, who helps to oversee the financial business of the college. Levine is also a board member. The president also has a close working relationship with the former chairman of the board, Tony Thompson, who continues to be an influential member of the board. Tony was an alumni of the college who himself is a successful real estate businessman; he was the former chairman of the national real estate firm, Grubb and Ellis and is the founder of the newly created company, Thompson National Properties.
The new leadership launched its academic entrepreneurship endeavor through several strategic initiatives. The action on these initiatives began to make significant strides in academic excellence and financial stability for Sterling College. These initiatives also exerted a good degree of social and economic influence over the community and the surrounding counties. A sampling of these initiatives are listed below and most of these initiatives were undertaken during the tenure of the new president from August 2005 to the current time.

Strategic Academic Entrepreneurship Initiatives
College’s Bond Refinancing, Record Enrollment, and Gifts

The college went through immediate changes, and within the first year of the new leadership, the college budget was in the surplus after a deficit of $1.6 million in the previous year. This financial turnaround and surplus came about through several strategic initiatives in creative bond refinancing for the debt secured to Cooper Hall, through higher student enrollment and gifts to the college. The 2006 freshman student enrollment was a record in the history of the college. The total student body count of 607 was the third highest in the school history. The increase in enrollment was given a huge boost by the $250,000 contributions from the president himself and two of his business partners. Gifts to the college reached $6.7 million, a record (Douglas, 2006). Two endowed chairs for the Business Department (one and one half million dollars for each endowment) were created: one in the field of Social Entrepreneurship and the other in Real Estate. Both chairs are instrumental, working closely with the president and his cabinet, in helping the college to take an active role in academic entrepreneurship in advancing the regional and rural entrepreneurship in the City of Sterling and its surrounding regions.
Where local economic development and industrial growth were concerned, Sterling College’s posture, prior to the new leadership, appeared to be almost entirely passive—taking part in specific tasks when requested, but never assuming a leadership role. The new presidency sets a different tone and assumes proactive leadership role.
The new leadership in academic entrepreneurship spurred several other original and innovative initiatives that were altogether new in the college history. They have short and long term impacts on the college, community and the region around it. However, some of the longer term consequences can only be measured over time resulting in future opportunities for further research. Some of the initiatives taken, if successfully implemented, could also have positive impact on the state of Kansas as a whole. A good example is The Office of Rural Opportunity (ORO).

The Office of Rural Opportunity (ORO).

The Kansas Department of Commerce Secretary Dave Kerr applauded the college’s president for his influence in the state’s decision to house ORO on college campuses across Kansas. The Sterling ORO is staffed by Renee Lippincott, a Sterling resident who formerly worked on the Main Street Sterling Program. The charter for her office is to concentrate on attracting investment, job growth, and business development to the rural areas in the region.
Students from Sterling College immediately were involved and benefited through learning from ORO as to how such an office could function to spur entrepreneurship in rural community. They helped Lippincott in researching and gathering basic demographic information for about 300 small cities (below 5000 in population) she serves.
Vice President of Advancement Stephen Higgins, a newly added member of the cabinet, said that the office could also help in a future plan to make Sterling the first “green” eco-friendly college in Kansas. “In terms of relational networking, this [office] is going to be essential. We couldn’t go green without it. As we help other communities, we earn trust and the right to be heard.” .
The college is looking forward into the near future to work with ORO to organize conferences to attract community leaders, researchers, educators, policy makers and business service providers to share their knowledge and best practices in any businesses that could help to promote regional and rural entrepreneurship. The success of ORO will then be scaled and duplicated in other regions of Kansas.
The college leadership believes that regional and rural development must extend beyond the Sterling City limit and its traditional economy into the county and greater region beyond. This belief is based on the hypothesis that rural and regional development will promote creative alliances, partnerships, and networking that will enlarge the pool of limited resources and enhance the use of human capital, assets, knowledge and entrepreneurship. The goal is to advance a sustainable and innovative regional economy that will create quality jobs and a better standard of living.
The opportunity for Sterling College to house and work with ORO could not have happened at a better time. The U.S. Department of Commerce reported in June 2004 that six out of ten rural areas are falling behind the national economy in terms of creating new jobs; rural areas have economically underperformed compared to the urban area; nearly a third of rural counties encountered population decrease, declining local tax base, reduced services, and weakened ability to hold on to businesses and skilled workers.
To align the college resources with ORO, the author was commissioned by the president to work closely with ORO representative, Lippincott. Her immediate task was to build her network with local communities in Central Kansas, a task she had been pursuing in the beginning few months of her job. In partnership with ORO, Sterling College will provide faculty’s intellectual capital and expertise, and voluntary student support to organize social and economic activities that help to tap into that community network aimed at spurring entrepreneurial activities. A close semblance of such possibility in grass-root promotion of community entrepreneurial activities is the example of The Sterling/Alden E-Communities Program.

The Sterling/Alden E-Communities Program.

The college works as a team, not only with the Office of Rural Opportunity, but also with local and other community stakeholders. A great example of such a cooperative effort is the Sterling/Alden E-Communities Program.
The Sterling/Alden E-Communities Program, created through the Kansas Center for Entrepreneurship tax credit pilot program in late 2007, is the result of such a team effort involving Sterling College, the City, the School District, the Chamber of Commerce, Rice County Economic Development, and the City of Alden. The purpose of the program is to encourage entrepreneurial activity in the Sterling and Alden areas with a focus on job creation. A $300,000 entrepreneurial fund was successfully created through the Sterling/Alden E-Communities Program using creative tax credit incentive. In order to secure the fund, the team members made great efforts to publicize the purpose of the Sterling/Alden E-Communities Program to the ordinary citizens and businesspeople of the community. These community members were encouraged to contribute to the fund knowing they could receive the bulk of the money back through tax credits when they file their income tax return. The response from the community was expeditious and overwhelming. The $300,000 fund for community economic development became available shortly within four months of the commencement of the application process through the Kansas Center for Entrepreneurship.
Qualifying entrepreneurial projects including startup businesses, existing business purchases and existing businesses desiring to invest in expansion may apply for funding of up to a maximum of $45,000. Two types of funding will be offered from the fund: grants and low-interest loans.
Currently, a local budding entrepreneur has already taken advantage of the fund by applying for the maximum loan of $45,000 to be used as part of larger investment to rehabilitate a vacant downtown historic building into a hotel and restaurant facilities creating new jobs for the local community. The program expects more applications from other up-and-coming entrepreneurs as they become aware of the availability and purpose of the fund for rural and regional development.

Some members of the Sterling/Alden E-Communities Program are already looking forward to form another network team with other regional cities within Rice County to seek and apply for more seed money from the state for the idea of rural business incubators under the Rural Business Opportunity Grants (maximum of $50,000). This idea would involve Rice County Economic Development with some community partners such as the City of Sterling, City of Alden, City of Lyons, City of

Little River, City of Bushton, and the City of Chase. Sterling College could facilitate by providing professional expertise in a rural setting for this project. The college could use these incubators as a field for applied educational experience for students in the college and for up-and-coming entrepreneurs from Rice County. Even before this idea of business incubator came up, the college’s leadership is already proactive in this direction as seen in the following example on a student-led franchise project.

Social Entrepreneurship Endowment and Sterling College’s Franchise

Under the new leadership, two endowed business chairs were created. One of the major charters for both chairs was to bring real-world business experience into the classroom. Dr. Kevin Hill, the endowed chair (Social Entrepreneurship) worked with Dr. Mark Sarver, the former vice-president of Institutional Advancement, to help bring a franchise to Sterling.
The franchise initiative began as a challenge from Jack DeBoer. He is a highly successful entrepreneur from Wichita, KS. In 1988, DeBoer co-founded Summerfield Hotel Corporation, a second-generation upscale all-suite hotel chain which developed over thirty hotels. In 1995, he founded Candlewood Hotel Company, a public company, and served as Chairman and CEO until the company was purchased by InterContinental Hotels Group in December, 2003. In June, 2002, he founded Value Place, a short-term residential lodging concept, which continues to enjoy rapid expansion.
DeBoer challenged the college to start a franchise and committed a fund for the project with the condition that it must be entirely researched, planned, presented, and run by students. The end goal of the project is to create a “living laboratory” experience for business students and added amenity for the community.
Two teams of five business students began to research franchise opportunities with the objective of providing two franchise options for Jack DeBoer. Junior Noah Breeden, leader of one of the two teams expressed his excitement. “The value of this type of program is immeasurable. Good business students realize that. It will benefit the students and make Sterling a place where we want to spend our money in the community.” Junior Christy Carter, leader of the other group, said they did some preliminary research. “We surveyed community members and students at Homecoming, and will be sending out an online survey to students this week,” she said. The possibilities are numerous for which type of franchise the students will choose. Said Carter, “We’re definitely thinking about fast food, but there are other possibilities as well.” Carter hopes for a large response for the surveys being sent out. “We already have some good information from a marketing study done in Sterling, but we really want other people to respond, especially students.” (Renflo, 2006).
About three months later, the two project teams brought the two franchise options, namely Anytime Fitness and Subway to DeBoer.
Breeden said, “He [DeBoer] expressed an extreme amount of satisfaction with our reports. We found out that he approved the [original Subway restaurant] idea, but it might not be Subway ... it could be another sandwich franchise.” (Renflo, 2007)
The sandwich franchise idea was followed by another different group of five business students but this time with Quiznos as the franchise proposal to which Jack DeBoer agreed to fund $250,000 start-up cost. “This project isn’t to make more money for Sterling College. The reason I want to help [the business team] do this is because it takes really good young adults and helps them prepare for the rest of the world. If you really understand what you do in this project, you can run any business. This is an incredible education,” DeBoer said. (Renflo, 2008)
This is just one of many enormous educational benefits that faculty and students in Sterling College experienced as a direct consequence of academic entrepreneurship, benefits which could easily be translated into real-world corporate experiences. For example, the Quiznos franchise will be run by the students not as a non-profit organization but as a for-profit entity. The business is organized as a LLC (Limited Liability Corporate). Whatever real world-experiences learned by the students running the franchise, will be documented and be channeled into the classroom for other students who might be interested in franchise businesses.
Now that the sponsorship is secured, the next step is to find a location and place to house the Quiznos franchise. That is one of the many areas where the Real Estate Endowment reaps its many benefits for the college as well as the community around it.
Real Estate Endowment and Concentration Initiatives

For the first time in its history, Sterling College through the real estate endowment, offers a concentration in Real Estate for Business Majors. The author planned and initiated the Real Estate program in the beginning of 2007 when he arrived on campus to serve as a business professor and the Thompson-Ferrari Endowed Business Chair. He envisioned the program to be one of the catalysts to develop Sterling College into a center of excellence in undergraduate business education and the Real Estate will be a major part of this development. The author presented his 3-year strategic plan to the board (see appendix A) which propelled several of the strategic initiatives in academic entrepreneurship listed in this paper.
The goal of the real estate concentration program is not to prepare engineers and architects for the real estate business, but rather to train students to be risk-informed businesspeople in the real estate and development business.
Students in the program are given opportunities for hands-on experience working as interns with professionals involved in the real estate field. They too are contributing toward rural development and entrepreneurship. Two students were given summer internships to work with the city manager in the City of Sterling on their long-term comprehensive plan, which when fully completed would have great economic impact on the city. Two others will be working with the developer who will build the strip mall to house the Quiznos franchise.
Quite conceivably, the most important contribution that the real estate endowment and concentration initiatives could make in the foreseeable future, is the possibility that a good number of students would graduate with a business degree in Real Estate Concentration. In any case, students would attain adequate knowledge to obtain a real estate professional license, and would be real estate businesspeople and developers who change the rural economic landscape in Kansas since many of the students do come from this state.
The author had taught at Texas A&M University as an adjunct professor, and co-owned and co-managed his real estate firms simultaneously since 1998. When drawn by the opportunity to serve in an endowed chair and to do groundbreaking work in Sterling College, he sold his business to his partners and came to be a full-time professor beginning 2007.
Prior to 1998, the author was in management working internationally for 15 years in the semiconductor industry. The small business, corporate and academic experiences proved extremely useful and ultimately served to be added value toward academic entrepreneurship. The author led the college in several of the strategic initiatives. One of which was the Sterling /Alden E-Communities Program mentioned above. Two other initiatives were the development of strip mall, where the Quiznos franchise business will be located, and the Sterling College Outreach Education (SCOE).

Sterling College Outreach Education(SCOE) Initiative.

Under the 3-year strategic plan of the Real Estate Endowment that was presented to the college’s board, one of the goals was to “create a Business Training/Certificate Program for the community and region so as to establish linkage and presence in the area. Alumni will be given 50% concession on fees charged.” It is envisioned that such a program will create opportunities for the community to take advantage of the business training that will provide added values to employees and also to facilitate rural and regional entrepreneurship. Personal enrichment and development courses will also be in the offering. It is also hoped that the concession given to alumni in the community will encourage them to stay connected and involved with the college and that they will participate actively when the time comes for capital campaign to invest further in the college’s future, which in turn will create added economic values to the community.
The program was created with the following objectives:
1. To enable the college to stay engaged with the community and region.
2. To provide an accessible bridge for the community and region to reach into the various fields of expertise that the faculty as a whole has.
3. To enrich lives of people who want to be involved in lifelong learning.
4. To use the program as an excellent amenity to help make Sterling City a better place to live in.
5. To provide an opportunity for alumni of Sterling College to return to their alma mater for continuing education with minimal expense.
6. And over the long haul, to enhance Sterling College's reputation as a special center for continuing learning and lifelong education.
7. Finally, to build partnerships with the entire community, student community, and citizen community.
The author presented SCOE to the Sterling Rotary Club consisting of members of the business community and it was received with resounding enthusiasm. SCOE is seen as one of several alternatives that could be used effectively to advance rural and regional entrepreneurship.
Another initiative that the business community and residents received with enthusiasm is the strip mall.

The Strip Mall Initiative.

When the students were doing the market research on the franchise business, other business opportunities began to surface as well. The market research showed that start-up businesses like an Anytime Fitness franchise and a café would be a great fit for the college town community. The idea of a strip mall began to take root. The author and the president discussed and did a back-of-the-envelope feasibility plan for an approximately 10,000 square feet strip mall to be built in the vicinity of the college. The return on equity investment was targeted at 10%. The author with the help of his real estate students began to make cold calls looking for potential tenants. The final tenant list included retail space for Quiznos, Sterling College Bookstore and Anytime Fitness, which all three businesses will be owned and run by the college; Tami’s Hair Salon, and Showcase Café are outside tenants whom the author secured from them Letter of Intent to lease the space in the strip mall.
Meanwhile, the president had invited a local landowner and a local bank owner and their spouses to his home for dinner with the possibility of encouraging their participation in the strip mall project. Both endowed chairs were also invited to the dinner. The outcome of the meeting was a tentative agreement from the landowner that he would be willing to sell to the college approximately five acres of land for the strip mall project at very reasonable price. The author prepared the purchase order land contract whereby the college would buy the land. Unfortunately, the deal fell through. The landowner did not want to consummate the land sale transaction because he found out that the some businesspeople in the community was against the idea of a direct competition from Quiznos that will be located in the strip mall. The president graciously acceded with great understanding to the landowner’s withdrawal.

Some effort was made over the years by the city’s civic leaders to attract Dollar General business to Sterling, but to no avail. However, the author received a call on September 2007 from a Dollar General regional manager who came to live in Sterling. She was totally in support of having a Dollar General in Sterling. That call was the beginning of a process whereby Dollar General finally looked at Sterling as a potential site. That changed the scale of the strip mall project. A Dollar General facility averages about 10,000 square feet which means that the strip mall would have to be about 20,000 square feet in size. The author advised the president to look for a commercial developer to assume the liability of owning and building the strip mall and the college will be the tenants for the space it needs. (An initial architectural concept site plan and rendering of the strip mall could be seen in appendix B and C.) The commercial development firm was found to take on the strip mall project and also a new piece of land was also located for the project. The developer agreed to the project and the location and went on to process the site plan for approval by the City Planning and Zoning Committee, and then, to the City Commission, for approval. The plan was unanimously approved. The local government was pleased that finally a Dollar General store might be built. It will not only generate more jobs but it is an added amenity for the residents and the college students who now would not have to travel to the

nearest city, Lyon, about 8 miles away or Hutchinson, 23 miles, simply to buy some routine items.
The project is currently waiting for the Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) to provide approval for an access from the main highway into the strip mall and for the developer to find a contractor to build the project within his cost budget. While waiting for KDOT’s approval and finding a contractor, the developer decided to size the project down due to the high cost of construction. The café and hair salon space could not be built for that reason. Another space that could not be built was due to local politics. And that was the Anytime Fitness franchise. The City already has an existing fitness gymnasium and building the Anytime Fitness, a highly touted franchise, could literally put the existing gymnasium out of business. The author and the president had several meetings with the chamber of commerce of the city and for the best interest of everyone concerned, the Anytime Fitness franchise idea was discontinued but everybody involved agreed to the idea that Sterling College could build its own fitness gymnasium within the college compound and strictly for the college use. It will not be opened to the public to avoid competition.
For the college to build its own fitness center on her own land is a very different process compared to that of the strip mall to be built by the developer. The college has total control on the project in terms of design, quality, and timing of the build. The president held two meetings involving the author, the principal of an architectural firm, and faculty members and student leaders, to design an architectural program for the fitness center. A few days thereafter, the architectural blueprint for elevation and renderings were ready for the project to be built. The president would like the project of 5000 square feet to be built for about half a million dollars and by September 1, 2008 and currently the architect and the college are looking for contractors who could get the job done according to cost, quality standard, and timing. The fitness center will also be an attractive feature to be used by the college for attracting prospective students to the college who ultimately will help to advance the local economy. A rendering of the fitness center could be seen in appendix D.
The strip mall initiative will benefit Sterling for many years to come. The city has not built a project of this scale in decades. The college worked with the developer to make it happened. The college helped the developer to research information on traffic count, demographics, site pictures, and other information that the developer needed in its due diligence to make the case to Dollar General that it is profitable for them to locate in Sterling. This is a classic hands-on learning experience for faculty and students that academic entrepreneurship provides, working alongside with corporate entrepreneurship of the development firm.
As mentioned earlier, the leadership model of academic entrepreneurship in advancing the rural and regional economy is a brand of quasi corporate-social entrepreneurship. The next initiative encouraged by the new leadership is one of social entrepreneurship: Habitat for Humanity.

The Habitat for Humanity Initiative.

Sterling College distinguishes itself as the college that offers the nation’s first undergraduate program in Social Entrepreneurship. A major feature of this program is the development of leadership programs for non-profit ministries such as Habitat for Humanity International.
This initiative is led completely by the student leadership. This is exactly what Sijde, Wirsing, and Riddle (2002). purported to when they said, “stimulation of entrepreneurial behaviour among ALL the members of and institutional structures in the academic community”. The Student Chapter consists of student leaders, most of them were encouraged to spend their college life in Sterling because of their passions in doing good Christian works through the Habitat for Humanity. In so doing, these students may graduate with a business degree in Social Entrepreneurship and if they should choose to, with a minor in Christian Ministry. The student chapter works closely with the Habitat for Humanity Affiliate in another city, Lyon, 8 miles away from Sterling. The Affiliate consists of adult members of the community in Lyon, who volunteered their time to work for the non-profit organization.
The Habitat for Humanity International has grown to be the world’s leading housing non-profit entity with more than 2000 affiliate organizations in over 100 countries worldwide. The work at the community level is accomplished by the local affiliate. Each affiliate is an independent nonprofit organization, operated and governed at the local level. The affiliate coordinates all aspects of Habitat home building in its local area and is responsible for everything from fund-raising, building, site selection, partner family selection and support, house construction, and mortgage servicing.
These Affiliate members came from all kinds of background. The author is the Faculty Advisor for the Student Chapter, and together with the Student Chapter President, he met with the Affiliate once a month. He saw first-hand how the Student Chapter and the Affiliate work together.
Many of the Affiliate members have substantial experiences in building houses from the ground up. Some of them have banking experiences with much financial sophistication. Some of them are housewives who have great empathy in seeking for people who qualify for such a Habitat house. Some of them are entrepreneurs themselves who had run businesses. Some of them are retired people and some are still very active in their community. Together working with the Student chapter, the Affiliate worked and completed several houses for the needy. The funds for these houses were all from donations.
How does Habitat for Humanity contribute to the rural and regional entrepreneurship? It contributes through social entrepreneurship.
A blighted area or a vacant lot sitting unused for a long time could be turned into a viable community of people who now have a very decent place to live and who could contribute socially and economically to the community.
A case in point. The author with the Student Chapter went over to participate in a Habitat for Humanity project in a run-down area on the 34th Street on the outskirt of Wichita, the largest city in Kansas. There were ten houses being built by volunteers associated with the Habitat for Humanity. These houses were built with solidly with 2-door garage, 3 bedrooms, and with all household facilities including dishwasher, microwave oven, storage spaces and walk-in closets. The new owners do not have to put in any cash other than some very affordable monthly payment to pay the mortgage, which a large portion was already paid by donations. However, the new owners would have to put in hundreds of hours of volunteer work into their new homes. And being new owners of properties, they have a great sense of pride in taking care of the properties and in being caring and contributing citizens to the social and economic fabric of the community. The former vacant lot is now turned into a little vibrant neighborhood. No doubt, this is in an urban blighted area but several houses had been built by the Affiliate in the rural city of Lyon. The same social and economic forces for the betterment of neighborhood should apply in rural setting as well.
The leadership in academic entrepreneurship of the college is not confining itself to building houses only through Habitat for Humanity as can be seen in the next workforce housing initiative.

Workforce Housing Initiative

The president is setting a program in motion involving one of his current business partners to explore workforce housing opportunities. He had met with the Kansas’ housing and finance representative as well as the Rice County Economic Development officer. The plan is to build an initial team consisting of a manager, Sterling College’s faculty and students (in order to incorporate the program and its lessons into the real estate curriculum), equity supplier, and construction people. The project will be financed using tax credits and other affordable means and the intent of the initial program is to build a number of projects (20 to 30 housing units) in several small rural cities including Lyons, McPherson, Hutchinson, Chase and elsewhere in the region. Such a program undoubtedly will add economic and social values to these cities in terms of making them a more attractive place to live with affordable housing and to do business. And consequently, more jobs are expected to be created with this program.
Last but certainly not the least in the sampling of strategic initiatives in academic entrepreneurship is the wind energy initiative.

Wind Energy Initiative.

Concerning the Office of Rural Opportunity, the new Vice President of Advancement Stephen Higgins said that the office could help in a future plan to make Sterling the first “green” eco-friendly college in Kansas. That future plan is currently being put into motion by the leadership of the college. .
The price per barrel of oil at $123.53 on May 7, 2008 was at a record high. Consequently, the price of utility has also increased immensely. The college is paying a large amount of money just to keep the lights on. That amount had increased sharply by sixteen percent, which is over five times the average inflation rate for the last many years. The leadership had met with contractors who would do a turn key project to provide wind energy for the college. The college is looking at erecting six wind turbines to provide sufficient energy use for the college. During the summer months, when the college is closed for the summer vacations, there is the possibility of selling the energy back to the City.
The college is checking with people associated with the ORO to look into the possibility of funding the project. The state is encouraging alternative wind energy. Kansas’ Governor in her state address mentioned that Kansas is one of the best states in the nation for wind power. She commissioned her lieutenant governor “to aggressively pursue our opportunities and incentives for wind power, as well as to encourage Kansas communities to invest in wind projects.”
There is the possibility of attractive funding for this project for ten years at zero interest rate.
The economics is easily understood and there is large amount of money that the college could save by using wind energy. But the local politics may not be easily understood. The project may be looked upon as a zero sum game. The college benefits from large amount of savings at the expense of the city. However, such a project could also be perceived in the long run to be very beneficial to the city and community. More supply of energy in the economic equation would also mean cheaper rates for business and residents in the community which in turn could make Sterling an attractive place to live and to do business. It is important for the college to work with the City and vice versa. Communication on this issue is of the essence and failure and success of such an endeavor may have economic and political ripple effects down the road.

Findings to Research Questions

1. What type of a leadership model of academic entrepreneurship could a small rural college adopt to be effective?

Among the many representative strategic framework models that could possibly be used to explain the leadership model in academic entrepreneurship in Sterling College, the social entrepreneurship model of the PCDO Framework could help to some degree. The essential elements of the framework are depicted by the acronym, PCDO: People, Context, Deal and Opportunity. People are those who actively participate in the venture or bring resources to the venture. Context refers to the external environmental elements that are outside the control of the entrepreneur and that could determine the success or failure of the venture. Deal is the negotiations and bargains of the venture. Opportunity describes the investment of scarce resources for future returns (Wei-Skillern, 2007). Several of the strategic initiatives undertaken by the leadership could be characterized as social entrepreneurship endeavors which clearly involved all the four elements in the PCDO Framework. The Office of Rural Opportunity (ORO) and the Sterling/Alden E-Communities Program initiatives are good illustrations. They both involve stakeholders and the contexts of both endeavors refer to the external local, regional and state environments to which the academic leadership in the college have no control. The deals are economic and intellectual capitals that the academic leadership hopes to reap for the college as well as for economic wellbeing of the community. The opportunity is the alignment, leveraging and investing of the college’s resources with the goals of enhancing the influence and reputation of the college, increasing the college’s enrollment, improving the quality and standard

of living and building partnerships with and advancing entrepreneurships in the rural and regional communities,. However, this general framework is still lacking in clarifying the leadership model in Sterling College.
The strategic framework from a corporate entrepreneurship perspective that could help further to illuminate the leadership in academic entrepreneurship could be the Strategic Framework Model used by Lasserre and Schutte (1999). The essential elements in this model consisted of the Ambition, Positioning, Investment, and Organization. Ambition refers to the vision, mission and objective; Positioning refers to way to compete; Investment refers to resource development, asset building, and competence creation; and finally, Organization, which has to do with the structure, systems, and processes within the corporation. In the context of the leadership model in the college, this general framework identifies the corporate elements of the existing leadership. The new leadership under Dr. Douglas exhibits strong ambition with the president himself taking the vision of the college to heart. The president from the very beginning of his leadership empowers the college to stay engaged with stakeholders of the rural and regional community; he also aligns and positions the college’s “products and services” (resources) to meet the needs and challenges of the “market” (the rural and regional community). The investment component in this corporate perspective is seen especially through the heavy involvement of the two endowed business chairs in many of the strategic initiatives. Lastly, the organization structure of the leadership is clearly one of corporate structure.
However, from a primary observational perspective, the author is of the opinion that the leadership model could be better explained by the synthesis of both models as depicted in figure 1. The existing college’s leadership is clearly a combination of corporate-social entrepreneurship which is due to several factors. Firstly, the board’s leadership leans heavily in corporate style leadership. Major players on the board are still very active in the corporate world. Secondly, the new president himself as evidenced from his resume have many more years of corporate experience than academic. Thirdly, faculty and students from the business department were the ones most involved with the major strategic initiatives. This could be largely due to the responsibilities and expectations that come with the two endowments in social entrepreneurship and real estate. And lastly, most of the initiatives explained were non-profit activities in nature.
How much of the social and corporate entrepreneurship styles influence the vision, mission and strategic plan? It toggles between the two (represented by dotted lines) and it depends on the strategic initiatives. For example regarding the Office of Rural Opportunity (ORO) and the Sterling/Alden E-Communities Program initiatives, the leadership is dealing with the community leaders and the citizens at large; hence, the social entrepreneurship style, consciously or unconsciously is used to leverage goodwill and social impact. In contrast, with the developer in the strip mall project, the president was hard-nosed and dealt with him corporate style. He even walked out of a meeting with the developer when the latter could not deliver the project at the leasing rates and timeframe previously conveyed to him. Or the entrepreneurship style could be a balance of both styles as expected in the case of the workforce housing initiative whereby a large amount of private and public capital is expected to be invested and also private and public manpower will be involved as well in the program.
Such a model would also explain why a small college with very limited resources could accomplish much and extend its influence within the city, and the region beyond. The eight key factors in the academic leadership are at the heart of this model: vision, strategic plan, capital, network, focus, execution, flexibility and experience. They are controllable factors within the internal environment of the college. These key factors do not depend on the size of the college. A large college may have larger capital. A small college for example, if the leadership has good connection in networking, could leverage its influence in expanding its resources. For example, when the president went out of his way to invite the landowner to his home for dinner, among many other things being discussed, the idea of a strip mall to house the Quiznos franchise was brought up. The latter was willing to support the college and to sell his land at very minimal price for the strip mall project. Also, the president’s connection with the Kansas Governor’s office led to the establishment of the ORO and even possibly the building of workforce housing units in several rural cities.
The absence of any one of these factors could diminish the accomplishment and influence of the leadership in academic entrepreneurship. For example: strategic plan and execution. The leadership is extremely focused on its strategic plan. Execution is paramount. All the examples of the above strategic initiatives would not have any impact in advancing the rural and regional entrepreneurship unless they are duly and properly executed.
Flexibility, the ability to adapt to achieve a given goal, is also critical. For example, when the leadership met with opposition from the community concerning the land for the Quiznos, and the owner changed his mind because of his discomfort from community pressure, another land was found to achieve the same goal. When the community was unhappy for the college to build the Anytime Fitness franchise, the leadership shifted gear by discontinuing the franchise idea but instead to build the fitness center within the college only for student use.
Experience too played a crucial role. The president and both the endowed chairs have acquired decades of entrepreneurial experiences before they joined the college.
Perhaps the most important of all these factors is vision, which leads and organizes all the other elements. All the initiatives taken by the college leadership so far could be crystallized in a few words from the president: “Our goal is to be the most innovative Christ-centered institution in the United States…”

2. What kind of strategic entrepreneurial initiatives does the leadership exercise and in what ways do these initiatives advance the rural and regional entrepreneurship?

The initiatives were a combination of social and corporate entrepreneurial activities. The strip mall and franchise initiatives would be a good example of corporate initiatives. These business outfits will be developed and run strictly with monetary profit in mind. They will provide great amenities for the city. The Dollar General in the mall would add jobs to the community and there is the possibility that as an anchor, with Quiznos and the bookstore, the strip mall could generate sufficient traffic and economic activities to cause the developer to extend the building to the north and accommodate more retail businesses and more jobs could be generated. Several businesses within the city are already looking at expanding. Potential future businesses include a possible bed and breakfast facility utilizing the historic Shay Hotel, which is being renovated with some funds from the Sterling/Alden E-Community initiative; a new chemical plant, expansion of a local company dealing with specialized mail processing with personalized handwritten features for various companies across the country; the building of an ethanol plant north of Sterling and northeast of Alden. All these combination of economic activities together with the strip mall and its amenities could attract more basic-industry businesses to come into rural Sterling and Alden and generate more jobs.
Most of the other initiatives would fall under the social entrepreneurship sector in advancing the rural and regional entrepreneurship.The College’s bond refinancing and record enrollment initiatives played a major role in stabilizing the financial situation of the college. The wind energy initiative will cut energy cost for the college and help further strengthen its financial health. The impact of the college is far-reaching besides being a major contributor to the local rural economy. The intellectual capital of the college is leveraged in many ways in advancing the rural and regional entrepreneurship. Examples can be seen in the hands-on training of students in corporate and social entrepreneurship propelled through the Social Entrepreneurship and Real Estate Endowments; the Sterling College Outreach Education (SCOE) which provides continuing business and personal enrichment education. The Office of Rural Opportunity initiative involves activities in advancing rural and regional entrepreneurhip that could be scaled to affect the whole state of Kansas. The Sterling/Alden E-community initiative, on the hand, is meant to advance the rural entrepreneurship within the two cities. This project is one of ten commissioned by the state of Kansas. And agin, if proven successful, the project in Sterling/Alden could be dulpicated in other parts of the state. The Habitat for Humanity with student leaders being involved with the Affiliates in Lyons and city of Wichita, over time could turn blighted rural and regional neighborhood into vibrant community that would attract economic activities into those communities.
Perhaps the most important factor and influence in advancing the rural and regional entrepreneurship is the new leadership itself and the model of academic entrepreneurship it uses to accomplish its many strategic initiatives in spite of the small size of the college. The tough and bold leadership of the new president is a great contributing factor. In the author’s opinion, he is a paragon of academic entrepreneurship!

3. How is the college in turn being influenced by such a leadership model and by the active interaction with the regional and rural communities?

In general, academic institutions are often seen as providers of research, teaching, and community services. Faculty in large research institutions thrive in research. And it is through research where the reputation of the faculty and institutions are established. And reputation is a tremendous force to draw intellectual and economic capital that drives the academic institutions. Teaching and community services are often spelled out in faculty contract as equally important to research but in practice they may not appear to be so.
On the other hand, small academic institutions, generally place more emphasis in teaching. They may not have the clout of reputation nor the scale in size for capital attraction. Student enrollment contributes a large proportion to the capital needed to run the institution. Small class and faculty’s personal attention to and interaction with students are emphasized. And faculty review for career advancement could depend directly on students’ assessments of faculty performances. Active community service by the faculty may not be called for in the faculty contract.
The idea of academic entrepreneurship involving the whole academic institution is still not a common idea and very much less so in practice. As such, faculty as a whole may be uncomfortable and bewildered especially when the leadership in academic entrepreneurship is exercised; and more so when the leadership leans toward the corporate model, as it is in Sterling College.
For instance, four months after the new leadership came into effect, the college’s newspaper announced a faculty shake-up. The contracts of eleven faculty making twenty percent of the total faculty were not renewed. Not long thereafter, the new vice president for academic affairs was replaced; and that was followed by the replacement of the vice president for institutional advancement. This was corporate leadership in academic entrepreneurship at work. It is not the norm in academic institutions.
Faculty high turnover ratio for whatever reasons in such circumstances could put additional burden on existing faculty. It takes months and much of institutional resources to find replacements. The demand of teaching load is a function of student count and course schedule. And that demand would not go away. Remaining faculty usually would have to carry additional loads, leaving them with little time or motivation to engage in any activities outside the curriculum. Let alone community involvement. Or involvement in academic entrepreneurship.
In analyzing the ten strategic initiatives above, most of them involve working with the community and time is needed to spend outside the classroom. And they are also somewhat business-oriented in nature. That will automatically shift the emphasis and responsibility to the faculty business department and the cabinet staff to be more involved in these initiatives.
The combination of factors, among other things, relating to the corporate-style leadership, the president-cabinet-faculty hierarchy, the academic entrepreneurship drive in business-like initiatives, appear to drive a growing wedge between the administration and the faculty in general. Hence, within the internal environment, the leadership model in academic entrepreneurship needs to be more broadly and properly understood. But first, the leadership must make it known formally that the rural and regional economic development is a part of the mission and a major role of the college to impact the community around it. Faculty need to buy into it. It should be on their employment contract and accomplishment should be duly honored and rewarded. Faculty should also treat the community as an excellent laboratory for learning. And for faculty to buy into it, they need to see the value of their involvement and be encouraged and recognized for their efforts. For instance, a former biology professor always had a special interest in this innovative idea about cultivating a garden of herbs that were grown thousands of years ago in biblical times. In a Christian-based college, this would be a very clever and appropriate idea. This could possibly be turn into a student-faculty academic entrepreneurship project that could attract people from the rural and regional community to visit the college and the city. The college has land. Seeds should not be too expensive. Students and faculty could provide sweat equity. But a great idea did not have a chance - it was a mind-set setback. The professor was constrained by his lack of business knowledge and fund. Both constraints could easily be overcome. The constraints became greater than the idea.
The findings on the second part of the question showed that by interacting with the external environment, in general, the college created much benefit for itself. The college generates much goodwill and networking relationship with the community, which is an intangible capital that could reap future benefits. The faculty could tap on businesspeople or people with diverse expertise to come and speak in the class. The students could intern and even find employments with businesspeople in the community. In essence, the community becomes a living laboratory for the college.
In more specific way, the college also benefited for instance from the ORO initiative, whereby the students learned first-hand about how a small state entity organizes to advance economic development in three hundred cities. The Quiznos franchise taught the students invaluable business skills about how to look for a good franchise, prepare a business plan, start and run the business. The Habitat for Humanity projects and operations taught the students the social values of volunteerism, how non-profit organizations work and how houses are built. They also show the students that they do not have to wait till they graduate to impact lives. And all these activities were very much in sync with the mission of the college “to develop creative and thoughtful leaders who understand a maturing Christian faith and go forth from Sterling College to change the world.”
Lastly, the rural and regional community began to view the new leadership in academic entrepreneurship with respect as equal partner for the economic and social welfare of the region. A small rural college is not only a major and permanent anchor in the community but it could exert great positive influence much beyond its size and limited resources.

Research Implications

The case study demonstrates the imperative implication of an effective leadership model in academic entrepreneurship. It involves both the corporate and social entrepreneurship characteristics but the crucial factors are vision, strategic plan, capital, network, focus, execution, flexibility and experience. Perhaps, the most important of these is vision, which must be bought by the leadership and which helps bring all these factors together..
Another academic implication could be seen in the college having two endowed chairs in the business department whereby both chairs were selected largely because of their academic background and entrepreneurial experiences. Both chairs play important roles in the academic leadership of the college. Should higher educational institutions be investing in business chairs with entrepreneurial background or purely research background in entrepreneurship, if they should want to promote academic entrepreneurship. This is still a debatable question (Mehta, 1994).

This case study illustrates that it is possible for small colleges to leverage and to extend its influence and impact by partnering with the various sectors in the community. Also, policy makers and business service providers should understand that the colleges are could be

established community catalysts, anchors and economic generators that could help to spur and advance an innovative economy (Henderson, 2004; Fisher, 2008).
The paper endeavors to explain how interactions with the rural and regional community produce different types of knowledge and experiences for the faculty and students who are involved. The paper also highlights that academic entrepreneurs have trade-off relationships between academics and community involvement. The paper investigates a little-understood phenomenon and one that is increasingly important for university administrators and academic policy-makers in general. The academic entrepreneurship framework and model exercised by the leadership in Sterling College is an original and valuable contribution to the study of this phenomenon.
The single-case setting limits the applicability of the research to other institutions. However, the framework and model that are developed and the overall approach are valuable contributions to an important, emerging research area in academic entrepreneurship (Brennan and McGowan, 2006). It presents an interesting case study for other researchers, educators, policy makers and business service providers to examine further and a leadership model in academic entrepreneurship that could be studied, duplicated and improved upon. Would a larger college make a bigger impact? Or does it depend to a great extent on the leadership of the college? These questions beg for more research.

References

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Wei-Skillern, J., Austin, E., Leonard, H., & Stevenson, H. (2007). Entrepreneurship in the Social Sector. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

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FIGURE 1

A Leadership Model in Academic Entrepreneurship

APPENDIX A