Iowa State’s Pappajohn Center for Entrepreneurship is working to expand its statewide efforts, according to its first permanent director.

“We need to prioritize the opportunities that we see and expand our range of activity so that the center has a more statewide presence,” said Steve Carter, new director of the Pappajohn Center.

Carter has served as interim director of the center since its establishment in November 1996.

The center’s efforts “focus on technologies developed by faculty and students in ISU’s colleges of Agriculture, Engineering and Veterinary Medicine, but staff are also a resource for entrepreneurs statewide through educational programs and individual outreach services,” according to a press release.

Carter said he served as interim director for the past year and a half instead of overseeing a permanent position because the center needed flexibility to get started.

“This was an organization that had never existed before at ISU and was being created in a way that was pretty unique,” Carter said.

He said College of Business Dean Ben Allen worked to establish the center and spoke to representatives of several other centers in the nation, to see what an entrepreneurship center at ISU could offer the community.

“There was some uncertainty going into the center,” Carter said. “[The interim director position] gave us a chance to begin flexibly but immediately.”

The Pappajohn Center focuses on three primary areas of activity, Carter said. The first of those areas is business development that entails assisting new business start-ups.

The second focus area is the center’s outreach branch. The Kauffman internship program, which is part of the outreach branch, matches students interested in entrepreneurship with businesses.

Last summer, 15 students participated in the internship program, and Carter said he expected about the same number this year.

The center’s outreach also includes a speaker series for faculty and students on campus.

The third focus area of the center is academics. Carter said he is working to establish entrepreneurship courses at ISU, including the development of a minor in the area.

“The minor is in the process of being approved,” he said. “It should be in place by next fall.”

Carter said he was enthusiastic about the center’s growth in the past year and a half, and that he is optimistic about future expansion.

“ISU is clearly a leader in developing new ideas in terms of technology in a wide range of areas,” he said. “Over the last year and a half the more we’ve talked to people, the more we’ve realized that there are a lot more ideas out there than we realized.”

Establishing a more statewide focus is one of Carter’s goals as director.

“We see some opportunities to work with communities throughout the state in looking at how they may play a role in commercializing technologies developed at ISU,” he said.

In addition to his appointment as the Pappajohn Center director, Carter also has served as director of the ISU Small Business Development Center since 1990.

He said the SBDC and the Pappajohn Center have worked together, but there would be some examination of staffing responsibilities with his new position as director.

Carter’s appointment officially begins Friday, and he said he’s ready to jump into his new responsibilities.

“It’s primarily going to be moving ahead very quickly on the initiatives we have begun,” he said.