To see Kyle Bove explain his story on Reporter Trax, click here.Select University students may soon have more in common with Todd Graves than just having dined at one of his Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers restaurants. A department within the E.J. Ourso College of Business is implementing a year-long work/study program focused on entrepreneurship — a risky concept Graves put to use when he opened the first Cane’s in Baton Rouge in 1996. Applications for the Entrepreneurship Fellows Program will be available to students of all disciplinary backgrounds this fall. The program’s kickoff event will be held Sept. 23 between 4:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. in the Cox Communications Academic Center for Student Athletes. Graves will be the keynote speaker that evening, and students can register for the program there.The program, which starts next spring, includes a course sequence in entrepreneurship and innovation, paid summer internships, a formal mentorship program, a speaker series, site visits to regional companies and networking events with industry and community leaders.”We needed something that really blended the business community and the students and gave those students a great opportunity to differentiate themselves coming out of college,” said Jill Roshto, director of development and marketing for the Stephenson Entrepreneurship Institute. “It’s a certification program.” The Stephenson Entrepreneurship Institute is part of the College of Business and is focused on helping students and members of the Baton Rouge community gain skills needed to start their own businesses or succeed within an established business, said Roshto, who is also the development director of the Entrepreneurship Fellows Program. Students selected for the program — after a lengthy application process — will take a three-hour entrepreneurship course in the spring, have a paid internship opportunity in the summer and take a three-hour entrepreneurship course in the fall. Guest speakers and networking opportunities are also included in the program. Roshto said she expects the program to have only about 25 undergraduate students, mainly juniors. A graduate student element will eventually be added to the program as well, she said. “The Stephenson Entrepreneurship Institute’s Fellows Program provides a great opportunity for business leaders to interact with and mentor LSU students to become both entrepreneurial and intrapreneurial,” said College of Business Dean Eli Jones in an e-mail to The Daily Reveille. “[We’re] committed to developing programs that help our students to grow both personally and professionally,” he said. “I believe that the Fellows Program will provide this opportunity while also increasing the interaction of the business community and LSU.” The Entrepreneurship Fellows Program will not be affected by budget cuts because it is funded completely by donations from local businesses, Roshto said. “[Business owners] are very excited about the program,” Roshto said. “They want quality interns as a pool for employees in the future.” —-Kyle Bove at [email protected]