The McGuire Entrepreneurship Program seeks two professionals to serve as Mentors-in-Residence. These will be part-time (0.45 FTE) academic year positions. The goal of the Mentor in Residence program is to increase the success rate of entrepreneurship students across their professional choices through a pedagogical approach that equips the students to apply entrepreneurial principles in a range of environments. This goal utilizes experiential entrepreneurship education through a new venture concept and business plan as the vehicle for learning.

The McGuire Entrepreneurship Program is an award-winning, national leader in entrepreneurship education attracting graduate and undergraduate students representing disciplines from across campus. These students work in teams on the development of concepts meeting minimum criteria of scalability and innovation (new product/service/model). Approximately 100 students per year comprise 20-25 new venture teams.

For more than 30 years, the McGuire Center’s undergraduate and graduate degree programs in entrepreneurship have been top-ranked by US News, Economist, Business Week, and Entrepreneur rankings. In its Best Colleges 2018 Issue, U.S. News & World Report ranked the McGuire Center #5 among public universities for undergraduate entrepreneurship programs and #10 overall; and, #5 among public universities for graduate programs and #15 overall. For more information about what Princeton Review and USA Today have called the “crown jewel” of the University of Arizona, please see http://entrepreneurship.eller.arizona.edu/ .

The University of Arizona has been listed by Forbes as one of America’s Best Employers in the United States and WorldatWork and the Arizona Department of Health Services have recognized us for our innovative work-life programs. For more information about working at the University of Arizona and relocation services, please click here .

The Mentor in Residence works closely with entrepreneurship student teams through New Venture Development courses. Mentors in Residence bring practical and pragmatic essentials to the students as they develop their venture concepts.

Areas addressed by the Mentors are inclusive of the entrepreneurial process and include:
o Ideation
o Opportunity recognition
o Market validation
o Managing uncertainty
o Experimentation
o Competitive advantage and market analysis
o Development of financial pro formas
o Inauguration of a long term strategy
o Establishment of a management team
o Evaluation of risks and contingencies
o After-launch issues, such as legal strategies, advisory board utilization, and exit

Each mentor has specific experience in new venture development, advising in new ventures, entrepreneurship education, and a demonstrated history of innovation in high growth firms. The Mentors in Residence are on site at McGuire Center and work closely with the faculty to coordinate mentoring objectives and materials. Mentors tie directly to entrepreneurship teams’ goals, challenges, obstacles, and opportunities, and bring insights and leadership to each.

• This position will require 18 work hours per week, with 12+ hours devoted to serving as a primary mentor to an assigned set of approximately 12 teams for at least one hour each week.

• An additional 4+ hours per week will be devoted to classroom time, attending the lectures with students and leading lab sessions focusing largely on a venture specific application of the lecture and assigned readings.

• Occasionally meeting with teams assigned to other primary mentors to help students gain multiple perspectives.

• Reviewing venture-specific, student-written materials as part of the process of developing the elements of a business plan and pitch decks.

• Attending weekly staff/mentor meetings, with collaborative conversations about venture development, program directions, schedules, activities, and other Program business.

• Participating in Center-wide activities and meetings.

• Other related duties as assigned.

• Strong team and collaborative skills.
• Strong foundational knowledge of and experience in entrepreneurial ventures.
• Expertise in contemporary entrepreneurship strategies and theory.
• Expertise in setting financial objectives and budgets.
• Able to engage in conversation about theory and practice.
• Ability and willingness to collaborate.
• Ability to work with students from diverse backgrounds with a wide range of skill sets.
• Ability to understand and present entrepreneurial concepts from a variety of perspectives.

• Bachelor’s degree in any discipline related to business or entrepreneurship; OR, any equivalent combination of experience, training and/or education.
• Experience in new venture development based on innovation (bringing new technology/product/service to market).
• Experience in mentoring entrepreneurship teams in an education environment.
• Experience advising new ventures (board, consulting, venture advising).

• Launched a successful venture within the last 5 years.
• Contacts in the national or local entrepreneurial ecosystem.
• Past teaching or mentoring experience, particularly working with students in formal, organized entrepreneurship education in a four year institution (teaching, advising, mentoring).

Munerra Muhammad, [email protected]

Applications must be submitted online. Click “Apply for this Job” to do so.

If you experience difficulties with the application system, please contact [email protected]

Please include with your cover letter a listing of your new venture/entrepreneurship involvement: Venture Name; industry; product/service; dates; other relevant information. Separately list ventures with 1) ownership/key management/IP role and 2) new venture advising/consulting rolls.

At the University of Arizona, we value our inclusive climate because we know that diversity in experiences and perspectives is vital to advancing innovation, critical thinking, solving complex problems, and creating an inclusive academic community. We translate these values into action by seeking individuals who have experience and expertise working with diverse students, colleagues and constituencies. Because we seek a workforce with a wide range of perspectives and experiences, we encourage diverse candidates to apply, including people of color, women, veterans, and individuals with disabilities. As an Employer of National Service, we also welcome alumni of AmeriCorps, Peace Corps, and other national service programs and others who will help us advance our Inclusive Excellence initiative aimed at creating a university that values student, staff and faculty engagement in addressing issues of diversity and inclusiveness.