A new program at the University will help take veterans from the battlefield to the business sector.
The University recently received funding to become the seventh institution in Syracuse University’s Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities.
The program, which will be run through the E.J. Ourso College of Business Stephenson Entrepreneurship Institute, gives physically and mentally wounded veterans of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan and Operation Iraqi Freedom a free crash course on entering the business world.
“It’s a 14-month program,” said Jill Roshto, Stephenson Entrepreneurship Institute director of development. “They do a month-long online education component before they will come to LSU for a nine-day, very intensive program.”
Once the program is complete, staff and instructors stay in contact with veterans for an additional 12 months, although Roshto said she has heard the relationship usually lasts much longer.
Instructors donate their time to the “100-percent privately funded” program, Roshto said.
Other universities participating in the program are Syracuse University, Purdue University, the University of California – Los Angeles, Florida State University, Texas A&M University and the University of Connecticut, according to the program’s website.
“It’s a great match for LSU because we have a very strong military tradition,” Roshto said.
According to the website, The EBVD is designed around two central elements: a “focused, practical training in the tools and skills of new venture creation and growth, reflecting issues unique to disability and public benefits programs” and “the establishment of a support structure for graduates of the program.”
The program is slated to begin at LSU in February 2012.
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Contact Frederick Holl at [email protected]