Now in its second year, the University of Wisconsin’s Entrepreneurial Residential Learning Community continues to foster innovative spirits by clustering students and faculty with a common interest in entrepreneurial pursuits.

Among the projects being developed this year by the 64 members of ERLC inhabiting the second floor of Sellery Hall’s A tower are Studytools — a study aid software application — and an IT company focused on hardware network installation.

“The community is a home where undergraduate students — mostly freshmen — can immerse themselves in entrepreneurship, and that means entrepreneurship instruction and entrepreneurship experience,”said ERLC Co-program Coordinator and School of Business faculty associate John Surdyk.

Surdyk, a member of the entrepreneurship and technology staff cluster, added in ERLC, the students are able to take courses relevant to becoming entrepreneurs or learning more about entrepreneurship in society. The community also provides opportunities to gain meaningful experience by interacting with research faculty and visiting startup companies.

While tentative at first about living in the community, freshman Mallory Filko said she has been delighted with the opportunity and results from being closely connected to fellow freshmen with interests so similar to her own.

“So far I’m really happy with it,” Filko said. “We all have the one entrepreneurship class together, which I really enjoy. It’s really good to have everybody on the floor in a class with you because not only does it allow you to get to know everybody better … but also, it is really helpful knowing people with similar goals as you.”

Starting the learning community has been an area of interest for UW for many years, but it was not until a multimillion dollar grant came from the Kauffman Foundation that UW was able to actually put the program into action.

The grant is not limited to business and engineering-focused students. In fact, the grant offers opportunities to students encompassing a broad range of academic interests, including art and music.

Last year, Surdyk said students started a social photography business that would chronicle the nightlife of Madison and then sell the photos.

The ERLC’s faculty cluster recognizes students developing entrepreneurial ideas by rewarding them with micro-grants, enabling community members to further develop their business ideas, do research and participate in community buildup projects.

ERLC director Anne Miner described the process of developing businesses as both a creative and active process in which students recognize what program is missing from school or their community, come up with a solution, then actively work to develop the needed program by developing a business plan.

During the fall semester the past two years, many UW students participating in ERLC have taken a three-credit management and human resources class called Entrepreneurship in Business, the Arts and Non-Profits.

Starting in the upcoming spring semester, Surdyk will teach a one-credit class introducing the topic of social entrepreneurship.