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Intro To Entrepreneurship Class

The Sheedy Family Program curriculum consists of three required courses. Students accepted into the program are required to complete all three. The series is designed to help students connect their interests in business and the liberal arts and to discern their visions of a meaningful life or career.

Sheedy students may opt to enroll in additional courses, exclusive to the program, that are focused on professional development. Please consult ND Class Search or talk with the program directors to learn about optional courses offered any given semester.

Required course sequence

1. ALSF 30126: Business in Context (3 credits)

For their first course, Sheedy students take a program-specific gateway seminar designed to introduce them to some of the biggest questions and most important debates in business. "Business in Context" focuses on scholarship in the humanities, with an eye toward application in the contemporary practice of business.

Unless studying abroad, students admitted to the Sheedy Family Program take this course during their first (fall) semester in the program.

Students taking "Business in Context" also enroll concurrently in ALSF 33126: Sheedy Program Enrichment Experiences, a 1-credit course that covers or marks their participation in all required Sheedy programming, including the monthly Sheedy Dinners and annual fall retreat.

2. ALSF 20255: Work, Meaning, and Happiness (3 credits)

For their second Sheedy course, students take The Working Life, a course aimed at asking practical, real-life questions about doing meaningful work. This course fulfills the University's 2nd Philosophy requirement and is taught by the SFP's director Paul Blaschko. Unless studying abroad, Sheedy students should plan to take this course the spring semester immediately after they finish "Business in Context."

If a student enters the Sheedy Program having already fulfilled their 2nd Philosophy requirement, they may petition to take Theology, Ethics, and Business, a 2nd Theology course that introduces Catholic moral theology as a framework for those discerning a career as a business professional.

3. Business and the Liberal Arts Elective (3 credits)

For their third required course, Sheedy students get to select an upper-level course that takes up a "big question" about business, work, or the economy within a specialized discipline. Students may choose from a list of recommended courses, taught by Sheedy-affiliated faculty, or propose a course for consideration. They may take this course any time during their time in the Sheedy Family Program, or even before. (Students can count courses retroactively.)

Some sample recommended courses include:

  • Business in America from East India Company to Google (Joshua Specht, History)
  • Christianity, Commerce, and Consumerism (Brad Gregory, History)
  • Consuming America (Emily Remus, History)
  • The End of Work (Joshua Lund, Romance Languages and Literatures)
  • Gender @ Work in US History (Dan Graff, Higgins Labor Program)
  • The History of American Capitalism (Korey Garibaldi, American Studies)
  • Home/Homelessness in US Cinema (Pam Wojcik, FTT)
  • Philanthropy and the Common Good (Jon Hannah, Political Science)
  • Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation (Melissa Paulsen, Pulte Institute)
  • Sociology of Economic Life (Lynette Spillman, Sociology)

To propose a course to count for the third SFP requirement, please contact the SFP directors, Paul Blaschko (pblascko@nd.edu) and Chris Hedlin (chedlin3@nd.edu). Please include the course title, catalog description, and a syllabus, if possible, in your proposal. To be considered, a course must firmly satisfy all three of the following criteria:

  1. Relates to the economy, business, enterprise, labor and/or work.
  2. Draws upon readings and methodologies (e.g., dialogue, textual analysis) from the humanities or social sciences 
  3. Engages one or more “big questions” or complex social issues.