KS WEL Institute Sponsored Courses

With Spring semester registration around the corner, students are once again confronted with the dilemma of crafting a schedule with courses that not only meet their degree requirements, but ideally are engaging and equip you with skills and resources. As Longhorns, we have such an abundance of resources and opportunities on the 40 acres (and beyond!) that it can be difficult to know about them all. Sometimes, it’s information overload, and other times we feel pigeonholed in our discipline and don’t even know of opportunities to branch out.

Open to all majors, these KS WEL Institute sponsored courses are not only engaging, but empowering!

Women in Entrepreneurship

Tuesdays 4pm-7pm

Women in Entrepreneurship is a course co-taught by serial entrepreneur and UT faculty member Jan Ryan and Kendra Scott. The class is structured to bring 30 students together from all across campus, from Fine Arts to Cockrell School of Engineering to McCombs, and every discipline in between. As a past student, I have found the array of backgrounds makes for a great environment where students can connect with each other, ideate, work on a dynamic team, and have candid conversations about being a female founder.

The course is unparalleled to anything I have taken during my time as an undergraduate, and remains my favorite class I’ve taken. Many students would tell you the same. It brought me out of my comfort zone, equipped me with a newfound confidence to take a chance on myself, and taught me to really embrace the trials, errors, and process that comes with being an entrepreneur and living with an entrepreneurial mindset. Past students who have completed the course echo this sentiment on learning, and advise to “Push yourself. Push yourself to go against what you’ve thought your entire life.”

With the backdrop of the Kendra Scott Headquarters where the class is hosted, students experience and learn from two experienced female entrepreneurs, being surrounded by guest speakers and experiential exercises to help you overcome common challenges that women face in business and as founders. Most uniquely, the class offers a close-up study of a “live” case study of the Kendra Scott brand, a female founder who leaned into her values, made her pillars the underpinning of her business, and developed her flourishing brand from the ground up.

The class features guest speakers and mentors at various points in their entrepreneurial journey, lectures from the course’s professors on relevant topics to students such as fixed vs. growth mindset, capital funding, prototyping, marketing, roundtable discussions on self advocacy, and so much more rich material which is then applied to a five week sprint where multidisciplinary teams bring an idea to fruition as a company.

A past student of the course shared, “This class has changed my life. I never knew that being a founder was even accessible to me. Every person in the class is extremely special and can teach you so much about the world through their experiences.”

Don’t let the idea that you’re not an “entrepreneur” stop you from taking the course. Entrepreneurship, just like leadership, isn’t standardized, and takes all types. Whether you have an idea that you’re on the fence about pursuing or you you simply enjoy being in a startup space and working on a team, the class is meant for those who are interested in the female founder’s unique perspective, are curious about starting their own company, or who simply want to pursue an understanding of the entrepreneurial mindset. The class is offered on an application basis, apply here before Oct 29th.

Entrepreneurial LeadHERship

Thursdays 2pm-5pm

LeadHERship is a new course launching in Spring 2022, and is taught by KS WEL Institute director, Lesley Robinson! The Entrepreneurial LeadHERship experience will guide student leaders on a journey during which they will discover their personal values, strengths and authentic leadership style through a gender-informed perspective.

The experience will equip the next generation of leaders with the skills they need to thrive -- and flourish -- as a leader and entrepreneur through a gender-informed perspective.

Don’t miss out on the opportunity to be a part of the inaugural class! Apply here by October 24th!