It is hard to find a better example of an intrepid spirit than the men and women who protect our freedoms in the armed services.

For Dr. Michael Morris, head of OSU’s Department of Entrepreneurship in the Spears School of Business, helping those veterans is not only the right thing to do but a patriotic duty. That is why the N. Malone Mitchell Jr. Chairholder in Entrepreneurship has established the Veterans with Disabilities Entrepreneurship Program.

Veterans with Disabilities Entrepreneurship Program, known as VEP, is an entrepreneurial training program that provides the business support and resources necessary for all disabled soldiers, but especially those returning from Operation Iraqi Freedom or Operation Enduring Freedom. The program aims at developing viable approaches for turning veterans’ business ideas into workable business models, helping them create their own companies, and making their ventures sustainable.

“What we are offering is an intense, focused program to help disabled veterans create their own ventures -- to believe in their dreams and successfully act on those dreams,” Morris said. “The program is entirely free. The veterans pay nothing. We pay for transport, accommodation, food, instruction, everything. We want them to be able to come in here and focus while being exposed not just to our best faculty and some of the coolest entrepreneurs that work with us, but to great faculty we bring in from around the country. It’s all world-class.”

The program will run each winter, with an online pre-course beginning in December and eight days of intense work in the classroom in January and February. There is also ten months of follow-up.

“It’s intense,” Morris said. “We work the veterans very hard. We expect a lot of them. Our experience is they will throw themselves into it. … We give them assistance, advice and support.”

Morris came to OSU from Syracuse in January. While there, he was part of a team who built the first two iterations of a similar program. He saw many success stories there, including Tim Hatcher, a Marine who served for 21 years, including time in Operation Enduring Freedom.

Four years later, the retired gunnery sergeant signed up for Syracuse’s program. He was so impressed by it that he offered to cover his own expenses, which was unnecessary because of the program’s endowment. Hatcher said offering the “great program” for free is extremely helpful to younger veterans who don’t have a lot of money when they depart from the service.

“I think it’s wonderful that so many people donated time and money to help out disabled vets,” Hatcher said. “We don’t expect a thank-you, to be honest, but it was very nice and we’re humbled by it. Still to this day I try to stay in touch with most of the folks. I’ll do anything for Dr. Morris and the rest of the folks.”

In February 2006, Hatcher launched Objective Resources International, a company “established to provide unique solutions and services to the government and civilian analytical sectors,” according to its Web site, www.ori-usa.com. He took part in the entrepreneurship program in August 2007. Hatcher said the lessons he learned there have made a big difference in the success of the company.

To ensure OSU’s program is always available to veterans like Hatcher, VEP is raising $150,000 per year for the first three years, after which it will be self-sustaining. Funds are still being raised, but the first session at OSU will begin this winter. Morris displayed his own intrepid spirit explaining fundraising efforts.

“We can’t sit and wait for the money and then say, ‘OK, let’s go,’” Morris said. “We have to take the risk and get on with it. It’s the right thing to do and we owe it to these young men and women.”

For more information about the program and the application process, visit entrepreneurship.okstate.edu/vep. To make a donation, visit OSUgiving.com, or contact Morris at 405-744-5357.