FIN4530 Investments
4 General CreditsThis course is designed for students interested in investment or portfolio management. Students explore the simultaneous management of multiple securities, using statistical and other mathematical tools. Topics covered include: risk and return, allocation of risky assets, setting portfolio objectives and strategy, portfolio optimization, risk crafting, and portfolio performance evaluation. Through case studies, investment tools, projects, and readings, students will explore investment and portfolio theory and practice.

Prerequisites: SME2021 or FIN2000

MOB3540 Israel Start-Up Strategy

4 (Elective Abroad) CreditsProgram fee is paid to Glavin Office - program fee includes: accommodations, breakfast, bus transportation in Israel, program planned meals, and cultural excursions. Not included: tuition, international flight, visa costs, additional meals and personal expenses.

The purpose of this course is to provide students with an opportunity to understand the entrepreneurial ecosystem (EE) of Israel - a country of about seven million people with the highest rate of NASDAQ listings per capita of any nation.

Through direct interaction with entrepreneurs, capital providers, educators, and government officials in Israel, the students should come away with a new perspective on startup's opportunities and challenges and get experience consulting to local startups while applying concepts from two books - Capital Rising: How Capital Flows Are Changing Business Systems All Over the World, co-authored by Peter S. Cohan with Srini Rangan, and Hungry Startup Strategy: Creating New Ventures with Limited Resources and Unlimited Vision (November 2012), by Peter S. Cohan.

Israel's ability to spur entrepreneurial innovation vastly exceeds its size. Israel has 7.1 million people but the number of Israeli companies listed on the NASDAQ far exceeds its relative population. For example, India has three companies listed. Japan has six, Canada has 48, while Israel has 63. Israel has received as much foreign venture capital as the much larger Britain -- $2 billion in foreign venture capital invested there in 2008 alone. And Israel has the highest density of startups in the world 3,850 - the equivalent of one startup for every 1,844 Israelis. Moreover, during the last few decades, Israel's high-tech innovations have spread around the world.[i]

How did Israel accomplish this feat? Israel has historically been geo-politically isolated from its direct neighbors, limiting trade and cooperation. An Arab nation boycott made regional trade impossible and it has very few natural resources. In addition, it has borne the impact of multiple military conflicts, putting pressure on its economy. As a consequence, Israel looks to the spirit of its people to overcome its many limitations. The way Israel has managed its human capital - a critical element of its EE - has allowed Israel to become an innovation hub.

Israel's entrepreneurial success depends on the people it attracts and how it harnesses their skills. Since Israel remains under constant political threat, all its citizens serve in the military which creates social networks and leadership training. Furthermore, Israel's culture of critique, fostered by centuries of Jewish tradition, encourages a spirit of relentless improvement. Moreover, the Right of Return immigration policy for Jews augments Israel's population with people motivated to build new lives and livelihoods. The result is a business climate that embraces risk and spurs the growth of good ideas.

Many examples of Israel's most successful start-ups spring from the application of its human capital to the gap between demand and supply. For example, drip irrigation was invented when a farmer in the Negev desert noticed one of his trees flourishing despite drought conditions. When he discovered a leaky underwater pipe, he had a moment of creative inspiration, developing a technology that spread around the world.

Many of Israel's greatest innovations were in the area of information technology. They include PC anti-virus software, to AOL Instant Messenger, and the Intel Pentium microprocessor chip. Israelis also created medical devices such as radiation-free breast cancer diagnostics and the "Gut Cam," an ingestible pill video camera that diagnoses abnormalities.

Hence one of the goals of the course is to explore how Israel has created such a vital EE and to give students a first-hand look at the Israelis who put the concept of entrepreneurship into practice.

The Israel Startup Strategy Elective Abroad is intended to provide students with the following benefits: to understand how Israel spurs startups, to get a deeper understanding of Israel's business culture, to meet entrepreneurs, business educators, government officials, and capital providers in Israel.

JPN2200 Japanese I
4 CreditsAn introduction to a practical and functional knowledge of Japanese as it is used in contemporary society. Students will learn the fundamental use of the Japanese language by exercising all four language skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Two basic writing systems, hiragana and katakana and some kanji, are taught to promote literacy in Japanese environments. An introduction to Japanese culture, which is inseparable from learning the language, is provided through demonstrations, videos, and films. Students are required to do at least two projects which introduce some aspect of Japanese culture.

Prerequisites: None

JPN4610 Elementary Japanese II
4 Advanced Liberal Arts CreditsA continuation of the Fall semester, this course develops more advanced language skills as well as explores social and culture aspect of Japanese society. The course includes visits to local places, such as Japan Society of Boston, where students try their language skills in real-world settings. Students will engage in hands-on participation in Japanese cultural activities. They will also explore some Japanese business protocol. In addition, they will learn approximately 150 Kanji writing symbols and use hiragana and katakana extensively in the classroom and with computer word processing.

SEN 1346: A Journey of Self-Improvement, Both Inside and Outside of the Gym

Instructor: Jack Shangold CPT

 

Exercise science's applications don't cease to exist when you leave the gym. They live with you during every step and bite you take. This class will not only analyze how to change your body, but also how to change your mindset outside the gym. Topics that will be covered include, but are not limited to, behavior change, nutrition, hypertrophy and strength training principles, injury prevention and rehab, and how to create a career in the fitness industry.

HSS2003 Latin American History
4 Intermediate Liberal Arts CreditsThis course will be an introduction to the main themes, processes, and ideas in Latin American history since 1810. The central focus will be on Mexico, the Caribbean, and the ABC countries (Argentina, Brazil, and Chile), without neglecting the main thinkers and major historical events from other countries. It will develop familiarity with critical developments in modern Latin American history such as slavery, modernization, neocolonialism, racism, and migratory flows. At times it will take a global perspective to situate Latin America in its proper international context, paying close attention to US-Latin American relations. In other words, the main goals of the course will be to cultivate an understanding of key concepts, developments, and issues in the region's history, while offering a sense of Latin America's human and cultural diversity.

Prerequisites: (FCI1000 or AHS1000) and (WRT1001or RHT1000)

EPS4530 Launch Your Venture

(Formerly Living the Entrepreneurial Experience)
4 Advanced Management Credits

This hands-on course is designed for undergraduate students who have an entrepreneurial opportunity that they are ready to launch. Students will engage in Entrepreneurial Thought and Action to develop and execute key steps to launch their businesses. During this course, students will do secondary research and primary research where they will engage experts, stakeholders, analogous/complementary ventures, and investors/donors to enrich their understanding of the entrepreneurship ecosystem and test their ideas.

Course readings and cases will provide supplemental background that students will use as they take steps to start their venture. The core of the course is "action-based learning" which will result in pivoting the venture based on information gained in experimenting and testing assumptions. Students will set their milestones to move their venture forward based on where they are in the entrepreneurial process. The course has multiple deliverables related to key actions and decisions in marketing, finance, customer service and operations, all designed to move entrepreneurs closer to launching. Students are expected to work independently as well as interdependently with other entrepreneurs in the course.

Contact time for this course will be split between in-class sessions and out-of-class individual meetings with the instructor.

Prerequisites: FME1001 or EPS1000

EPS4530 (formerly EPS3530), EPS4525, EPS4531, EPS4532, EPS4533 and EPS4534 are equivalent courses. Students can only take one of these courses.

LAW7200 Law

1 CreditThis course teaches students to create business structures and make business decisions that effectively manage legal issues in order to create and capture value for their business while managing law-related risks.

LAW6110 Law

MSEL Course

1.5 Credits This course provides an overview of essential legal content for any entrepreneur, including (1) business formation, (2) contracts, (3) intellectual property, (4) liability issues (torts), and (5) agency (employment law and related issues), with an emphasis on developing students' abilities to ask astute questions. This course is integrated into the LEAP experience, so that students will explore these legal concepts in the context of their LEAP projects.

LAW7515 Law for Entrepreneurial Success
1.5 CreditsFor the entrepreneurial leader, law is an essential lens for seeing risks and opportunities - and for helping to ideate and realize plans. This course will equip you to see, plan, and act with legal astuteness.

This course features a customizable learning experience that allows you to focus on the industry and country of your choosing. It will require speaking with an entrepreneur or manager at a company or your family business that has dealt with legal issues. This will allow you to develop an appreciation for how law can help to not only minimize risk, but actually see opportunities, grow, and create more value.

This course features a review of generalizable legal essentials for any entrepreneur, including (1) business formation, (2) contracts, (3) intellectual property, (4) liability issues (torts), and (5) agency (employment law and related issues).

Class meetings will focus upon (1) practice with issue-spotting in typical "real life" scenarios, (2) guest speakers who will speak to the value of legal astuteness as part of the toolkit of the well-equipped entrepreneurial leader, and (3) a check-in and then presentation of lessons learned acquired from the customized learning experience.

This course is designed for both students who plan to work in the U.S., and those who plan to work in another country or internationally.