How Iowa State became an entrepreneurial powerhouse under Wendy Wintersteen's leadership

When she became Iowa State’s president in 2017, Wendy Wintersteen was determined to elevate the university’s focus on entrepreneurship.

With an emphasis at all seven colleges, ISU has received national and international recognition for excellence in entrepreneurship education.

The most recent award was received this summer in Barcelona, Spain, where Iowa State earned the status of Entrepreneurial University of the Year for the Americas, outlasting a field of 33 countries.

Entrepreneurship has been offered at Iowa State's seven colleges for a quarter-century, said Judi Eyles, director for the Pappajohn Center for Entrepreneurship at Iowa State. However, Wintersteen’s guidance has elevated entrepreneurship to a university brand and a strategic priority.

“A lot of people are talking about innovation and entrepreneurship now, but at Iowa State University, it really is an authentic message,” Wintersteen said.

Iowa State’s flagship entrepreneurial programs include CyBIZ Lab, CYstarters, Startup Factory and Start Something.

More:Iowa State University named Entrepreneurial University of the Year

Iowa State's additional awards include the 2022 Nasdaq Center for Entrepreneurial Excellence Award.

In 2021, Iowa State received the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship Model Program Award, the organization's highest of four annual Excellence in Entrepreneurship Education awards.

Iowa State currently ranks fourth in the Midwest and 11th nationally in The Princeton Review’s annual survey of undergraduate schools for entrepreneurship studies.

“These awards are validation, and I think it’s important to have that measure,” Wintersteen told the Ames Tribune. “We’ve always been about innovation and research, but to have this kind of success and this kind of buy-in across the university for entrepreneurship is unique.”

Iowa State students embrace problem-solving, Eyles said.

“That culture is everywhere on campus,” she said. “Students like it and have embraced it. All this programming just really nurtures them.”

Growing up on a farm family, Wintersteen saw her parents’ entrepreneurship

Wintersteen first encountered entrepreneurship on her family's farm in Kansas. Both her parents were heavily involved in the agricultural business, sharing lessons with their daughter along the way.

“If you are engaged in agriculture as a farmer or livestock producer, you absolutely have to be an entrepreneur,” Wintersteen said.

Farmers are prepared to respond to the unexpected, she said.

“In agriculture, you’re on your own. You’re out there, and everything is up to you,” Wintersteen said.

That notion is true of any small businessperson, she said, and probably true of occupations worldwide.

Winterseteen's experience on the farm was foundational, but her real impetus for Iowa State's entrepreneurship push came from Roger and Connie Underwood, both ISU grads. The “really extraordinary entrepreneurs” donated $1.6 million to Iowa State’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences in 2004.

“They said they wanted us to work with students and help them see what it meant to be an entrepreneur,” said Wintersteen, who was senior associate dean of that college at the time.

She worked closely with Roger Underwood and saw his vision for the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences to provide an opportunity for young men and women to be given experiences in the college classroom and outside of the classroom to grow as entrepreneurs.

“For me, that was the difference maker,” Wintersteen said.

Hiring Kevin Kimle, who teaches entrepreneurship in the economics department, was also a key inspiration for Wintersteen.

“His ability to connect with undergraduate students to help them live out their dreams in becoming entrepreneurs” was something Wintersteen watched happen firsthand until she left her position to become the university’s president in 2017.

“Clusters of students would follow Kevin Kimle around like he was the Pied Piper,” Wintersteen said. “And I would watch their enthusiasm and their thirst for knowledge and understanding. It was just incredible.”

'Innovate at Iowa State' is a big part of Wintersteen's philosophy

When Dr. Wintersteen applied to become university president, her platform was based largely on the concept of “Innovate at Iowa State.”

Taking what she had seen in the college of agriculture and at the Pappajohn center, “I knew that really had to be bigger across the university as a whole,” she said.

Winterseteen discussed her vision for entrepreneurship in her application and later in her installation speech.

“This idea of entrepreneurship had to be lifted up, and we had to stand out from the pack,” she said. “We had to make a difference.”

She saw the difference it could make for students in the ag college.

“I had seen young men and women use their creativity to innovate and to start a business while they were at Iowa State University, a business that changed their life and changed their community in Iowa," Wintersteen said. "I was seeing it happen over and over again."

The Pappajohn Center for Entrepreneurship, which was funded by John Pappajohn, “has been an incredible and enduring gift for Iowa State University and for the other four centers that were established in Iowa,” Wintersteen said. “We celebrated the 25th anniversary of the center just a few years ago.”

The Pappajohn Centers changed Iowa, she said.

“While we’ve lost John Pappajohn, his legacy is ensured in the area of entrepreneurship,” Wintersteen said.

The deans at ISU's seven colleges created a “Start Something” program for their undergraduate students. Iowa State's commitment to teach entrepreneurship across the board, from undergrads to doctoral students, also sets the school apart, where programs are often available only at high levels.

Student Innovation Center creates 'playing field' for students

Iowa State's Student Innovation Center, which opened in 2020, was a game-changer for the local entrepreneurship program as well. The 146,000-square-foot facility is a technology-rich hub for students, classes and clubs to create projects, hold pitch competitions and create new businesses.

The $84 million building was funded by the state of Iowa and through donations, Wintersteen said.

“As Provost Jonathan Wickert has said, it’s the playing field for students,” Wintersteen said. “Just like we have Jack Trice Stadium for athletics, we have a playing field for innovation and entrepreneurship at the Student Innovation Center.”

The Student Innovation Center is used by all of ISU's different departments, increasing collaboration opportunities between students in both graduate and undergraduate fields.

Even other schools are impressed with Iowa State's Student Innovation Center.

Representatives from a “very powerful university” came to Ames and were surprised how it's also available to undergrads, Wintersteen said. The reps thought working with younger students was “kind of messy” and only taught entrepreneurship to their grad students.

“We said, ‘That’s great. You can send your undergraduates to us,’” Wintersteen said.

Iowa State's entrepeneurship is about more than lab research, more than patents and licenses. The university's emphasis has led to more than 400 student-created businesses.

Though Wintersteen said she doesn’t expect every student at Iowa State to start a business, she believes learning about entrepreneurship has many benefits.

“It’s really to have the experience of thinking differently, to develop an entrepreneurial mindset, to realize that there is a way of thinking like an entrepreneur that brings you to the table in a different way that is very beneficial to wherever you end up,” Wintersteen said. “Regardless of the work that you do, you will think about things differently.”

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Ronna Faaborg is a reporter for the Ames Tribune. Reach her at rlawless@gannett.com.