The Higher Ed Geek Podcast Episode #309: Why Work-College Students Are Becoming Founders-in-Training
What if launching a business was a graduation requirement? At Paul Quinn College, that’s exactly what students are doing.
In this episode, Dustin sat down with Jeff Meade from Paul Quinn College (PQC), who shares how this HBCU is integrating entrepreneurship into the student experience—not as an elective or a club, but as a campus-wide, curriculum-infused mission. You’ll hear how students from every discipline are learning to think like founders, pitch real ideas, and even secure funding.
Guest Name: Jeff Meade - Assistant Professor & Founding Director of Entrepreneurship at Paul Quinn College
Guest Social: LinkedIn
Guest Bio: Jeff Meade is the Founding Director of Entrepreneurship at Paul Quinn College, where he is leading a bold initiative: Every Quinnite is an Entrepreneur. The program ensures every student launches a venture before graduation, making entrepreneurship a core life skill rather than an extracurricular option.
With over 20 years of experience growing companies and advising businesses, Jeff has scaled agencies to multimillion-dollar revenues and built client-side marketing programs that gained national recognition. His work has been featured in Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, and Entrepreneur Magazine. Today, Jeff is pioneering venture-based learning, a model that equips students with an entrepreneurial mindset, creativity, and real-world experience to thrive as founders, innovators, and intrapreneurs in any field.
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Connect With Our Host:
Dustin Ramsdell
https://www.linkedin.com/in/dustinramsdell/
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