Alumnus and entrepreneur Jim Anderson returns to campus for gift announcement

Twenty six years after leaving Wayne State to start his own company, James A. Anderson (BSCE'67, MSCE'70) found himself back at the College January 26 before a large audience, a microphone in hand, and an image of himself with WSU President Reid projected on a giant screen behind.

The Ernst and Young Entrepreneur Award winner for 2002 was back to hand over a generous check to the College. It is the first step in realizing his vision, that of a unique engineering education program preparing students to become successful engineering entrepreneurs.

Anderson told the students, faculty and alumni gathered in the Engineering's Auditorium that the new program named Engineering Ventures will be a bridge for students choosing to take the path to learn from his experience how to be successful entrepreneurs in the business world.

Reid spoke first. "This gift reminds us that we must invest in people," he said. "There are people who sit by, watch and benefit from new discoveries. And there are those who bring new discoveries derived in the laboratory out to the real world. The Ventures Program will be an investment in precisely those kinds of people."

Then came Interim Dean Ralph Kummler who said he has been thinking about the years when Anderson was at Wayne State, and trying to recall the indications that signaled his early success. "In this new program we would like to look to those signs in the students and give them the skills Jim gained for his own success. How do we do this job, not only randomly and surreptitiously as we helped Jim, but to try and make that into an engineering science?"

Anderson spoke last at his own gift announcement. He used the bridge metaphor not only to describe the program, but also his company, Detroit-based Urban Science, as the span between the worlds of science and business. "It's a bridge I was able to establish, perhaps by luck and good fortune by being at the right place and the right time. But it was very much a result of the real-world education I received at Wayne State," he said.

He credited his education and experience as a civil engineering undergrad and grad student for his ability to pioneer a unique computer map program for Cadillac Motor Car, his first client. It dramatically visualized 30,000 potential car buyers in color dot maps.

"They approached several large companies in Detroit, who told Cadillac what you're asking for cannot be done," he said. "To the uninitiated, it may have seemed that way. But I knew enough about the situation to realize that with my training, I could figure out a way to do that."

The Cadillac project, in 1977, was Anderson's first break. It opened a niche for him, and his new company. "America rewards innovation. To solve someone's problems in the business world, there are lots of rewards," he said.

Anderson has pledged $.5 million to the College now, and indicated his intention to give significantly more as the program develops. "Why am I doing this? I think we're all obligated, as teachers and citizens, to do the best we can to make the world better for the next generation," he said. "Why now? I figure if I have something to give the next generation, I need to get on with it now before I forget all those tricks I've learned."

While Wayne State does a good job of providing a real-world education, what remains to be developed is "a recruiting, selecting, training, managing and motivating program" for the students, he said. "We have to find students who either have a vision, or develop a vision, that will keep them sustained during hard times. And we have to develop among engineering students perhaps a little better risk tolerance."

Anderson said he plans to offer access to his company as "real-world entrepreneurial learning lab for budding entrepreneurs to gain practical experience."

He has even plotted measures of success for the new program. "After five years, I'm going to count the number of students who have completed the program. After 10 years, I'm going to count the number of graduates who have established their own businesses. After 15 years, I'm going to count the number of graduates who have won the Ernst and Young Entrepreneurial Award. After 20 years, I'm going to count the number of graduates who have endowed chairs in the program. And after 25 years, I want to see the Wayne State University Engineering Ventures Program widely viewed as the best in the world."