Diversified Bliss
Everyday millions of people begin their working day at their computers with Microsofts' opening screen, named "Bliss", an award-winning iconic picture of a smooth green hillside and blue sky. Not at Grinnell College, Grinnell Iowa, where the college has adopted an opening screen on its computers depicting local native prairie and, more importantly, biodiversity. more.

"Entrepreneurship isn't about making money - it is about making a difference," says Douglas Caulkins, newly named Donald L. Wilson Professor of Enterprise and Leadership. "Entrepreneurs are innovators, and the business, government, and nonprofit sectors all need innovations to address important local and global problems. "Grinnell graduates have both the foundation and the passion for making those contributions."

The Wilson Program in Enterprise and Leadership aims to expand students' ideas of successful career possibilities. "Often students assume that the only way to address these issues is through the nonprofit sector," Caulkins says. "All of these issues should be addressed by the business and governmental sectors as well, and many Grinnell alumni have devoted their careers to making a difference in those sectors."

Caulkins is inviting alumni to participate in two of his courses, Organizational Cultures: Working in Businesses and NGOs, and Enterprise and Innovation, which uses Leslie Berlin's new biography of Grinnell's Robert Noyce '49, The Man Behind the Microchip, to be featured in the upcoming Winter issue of The Grinnell Magazine, as one of several case studies. Noyce's innovations, both technological and organizational, helped create Silicon Valley. "Many of our alumni are out there doing other great things in a variety of fields, and I would like to add their ideas to our courses, either through class visits or through videoconferencing," Caulkins says.

The Wilson Program is also recruiting alumni to teach short courses. "Kirsten Tretbar '89 has taught a successful documentary film course for our Enterprise in the Arts program and returns again this semester," Caulkins says. "Kirsten acquaints students with the entire process of filmmaking, from concept through marketing -- all the steps required to transform a great idea into a reality for an audience" During spring semester of 2006 Jim Diers '75 will teach a short course on Community Empowerment, dealing with grassroots organizing to influence local government. "We welcome ideas for short courses from alumni and hope to offer one such course each semester, "Caulkins explains.

Donald Wilson, a longtime College trustee, established a fund in 1981 to help students imagine socially responsible career options in the public and private sectors. Each summer the program funds 10 student internships.

Caulkins, who joined the Department of Anthropology in 1970, was named the Earl D. Strong Professor of Social Studies in 2000. Interested alumni can contact Caulkins at caulkins@grinnell.

The Grinnell College Board of Trustees have approved the appointment of Douglas Caulkins as the Donald L. Wilson Professor of Enterprise and Leadership at Grinnell College.

Professor Caulkins, presently the Earl D. Strong Professor of Social Science and professor of anthropology, will teach in the Wilson Program for the next five years. Professor Caulkins has published extensively on the role of small business entrepreneurs in regional development as well as on non-profit, voluntary, non-governmental organizations. He also served in 1983 as a faculty intern with a federal agency, the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment. Professor Caulkins, who began his academic career in anthropology at Grinnell College in 1970, earned his Ph.D. from Cornell University and has received several research grants from the National Science Foundation. For Professor Caulkins' research interests in enterprise and leadership, Click Here. Professor Caulkins' complete CV can be found on the Anthropology website.

The Donald L. Wilson Program promotes the theory and practice of socially responsible innovation, enterprise, and leadership in the business, government, and non-profit sectors, with the goal of empowering students to explore diverse career options. "While I am proud of my students who have become academics," Caulkins said, "I am also enthusiastic about helping students to envision careers in business, government, and non-profit agencies as an expression of their liberal arts education.

The program funds student summer internships in each of these sectors and brings alumni back to campus to teach short courses and participate in classes. "We will be asking alumni and Iowa leaders to help communicate their excitement and wisdom to students about the opportunities available in those fields."

The Wilson Program is named in honor of Donald Wilson, a 1925 graduate of Grinnell College and vice-president of Lionel D. Edie and Company, Investment Counselors and Economics Consultants. A College trustee from 1953 to 1975, Wilson was named a life trustee in 1979. Wilson passed away in 1986.