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This article originally was published in The Journal Record. Click here to read the original article.

TULSA – Oklahoma State University is gearing up to put budding entrepreneurs through a mental workout. Organizers of the first OSU Cowboys Bootcamp for Entrepreneurs said it will build an entrepreneurial culture and increase success rates. The OSU boot camp is designed for Oklahomans interested in launching their own ventures and those in the early stages of start-ups.

“This gives them a good foundation for being successful in venture creation and growth,” said Nola Miyasaki, the director of the Riata Center for Entrepreneurship in the Spears School of Business at OSU.

Beginning Oct. 10, the $650 boot camp will be held every Saturday morning for six weeks.

The Spears School of Business will celebrate the grand opening of the Riata Center for Entrepreneurship on Sept. 25, 2009, at 11 a.m. The Riata Center was made possible by a transformational $28.6 million gift from OSU alumni Amy and Malone Mitchell 3rd in 2008. The Mitchell’s gift was the largest donation ever to a university entrepreneurship program, and it created both the Riata Center and the OSU Department of Entrepreneurship in the Spears School of Business.

The Riata Center offers a diverse portfolio of experiential programs to immerse students in entrepreneurship, as well as outreach programs for entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs across the state. Together with the OSU Department of Entrepreneurship, the Riata Center seeks to support the development of a vibrant culture of entrepreneurship in Oklahoma, and to create a nationally visible program that also impacts the field of entrepreneurship internationally. Core programs of the Riata Center will support student entrepreneurs, women entrepreneurs, a cross campus business plan competition, technology based entrepreneurship and commercialization, entrepreneurial interns, entrepreneurs’ bootcamps, a bootcamp for disabled veterans and related initiatives.

At the grand opening, Malone and Amy Mitchell will be on hand to help dedicate the newly finished Center, which was transformed from a classroom in the lobby of the Spears School of Business.

STILLWATER, Okla. - A special version of OSU’s Experiential Classroom was presented to 22 Russian university faculty members and administrators at the Moscow Academy for Industry and Finance in April 2009.

This customized three-day seminar was sponsored by the U.S.-Russia Center for Entrepreneurship and presented by the Spears School of Business at Oklahoma State University in collaboration with Syracuse University and the Beyster Institute at the University of California, San Diego Rady School of Management.

The participants represented the top institutions of higher learning throughout Russia and included professors as well as department heads, deans and directors. The seminar was presented by Mike Morris of OSU and Minet Schindehutte of Syracuse University with Ray Smilor of the Beyster Institute.