Fairfield County Business Journal 042015

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FAIRFIELD COUNTY

BUSINESS JOURNAL April 20, 2015 | VOL. 51, No. 16

20 | BUILDING SKILLS

26 | GOOD THINGS HAPPENING

YOUR ONLY SOURCE FOR REGIONAL BUSINESS NEWS

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UB PROGRAM INVITES ALL MAJORS TO BE ENTREPRENEURS BY BILL FALLON bfallon@westfairinc.com

THE POWER OF ONE

Dean Lloyd Gibson of the Ernest C. Trefz School of Business at the University of Bridgeport. Photo by Bill Fallon

NEXT FALL, ACKNOWLEDGING A WAVE of interest in the entrepreneurial spirit, the Ernest C. Trefz School of Business at the University of Bridgeport will offer an undergraduate entrepreneurship minor to complement majors in everything from engineering to psychology to design. “It is designed to encourage students to start their own businesses,” business school Dean Lloyd Gibson said. “This is a new tack and we are expecting a big impact. Even corporations want entrepreneurial skills, the ability to take ownership of a concept. These are important skills for all students. “Everyone is an entrepreneur of their own business, their own career, their own life,” he said. “Entrepreneurial skills will prove

important to anyone, no matter what they’re doing.” Gibson likened his dean’s job to that of CEO of the business school, although he continues to guest lecture. “We are a business,” Gibson said. “Some may bristle at the idea of an academic institution being run like a business. But we must operate efficiently. We must offer great customer service. And we must offer a quality product that we’re improving all the time.” Later, he said, “Any good organization needs to continually improve, I believe.” On a recent Friday afternoon, Gibson was to lecture an undergraduate class of business and nonbusiness majors on socially responsible corporate behavior. His talk would feature three parts: knowing what it is, deciphering » UB, page 19

Sherman embraces its small-town appeal Nearby shopping meccas pose a challenge

BY EVAN FALLOR evan@Westfairinc.com IN AN AREA WHERE TRAFFIC lights grow scarce and where, unofficially, “the country” begins, lies Sherman, Fairfield County’s last frontier. The northernmost town in the county lacks the boundlessness of Bridgeport and the shore clubs of Greenwich. The radio stations that provide the backdrop for coastal towns can be

static in Sherman. Further, Sherman does not share the same 203 area code as Fairfield County’s 22 other towns. It is an 860 locale. But what the town of 3,700 — the least populated town in Fairfield County — does have is a unique, mom-and-pop shop-driven economy that embraces the ideals of generations past. It has kept out, purposefully or not, the big-box stores and relies on its two restaurants, one

independent grocery store and day care center to keep its engine running. The town’s commercial center is along a winding mile-long stretch of routes 37 and 39, its main thoroughfares. Sherman offers no chain stores and the closest gas station, depending on one’s in-town location, is in New Milford, New Fairfield or over the New York border in Pawling. » SHERMAN, page 4

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