Rick LeJuerrne, a lecturer at the School of Business, has been working for Washburn University since 2003. He helps students accomplish their dreams through the pathway of being an entrepreneur and believes that they should be able to establish their name and fame.

He was born in Wichita, Kansas. He started college in 1987 and graduated from Washburn University with a bachelor’s degree in business administration in 1991. Upon graduation, he got a job and spent three years working in Huntington Beach, California. In 1996, he earned his law degree from the University of Kansas.

Costanza Armadans, a sophomore majoring in marketing and data analytics, is currently in LeJeurrne’s class and has noticed the generosity and care he provides to students.

“As a responsible professor, he creates a platform to help students with the first step to starting a business,” Armandans said.

He loves reading business-related books but his full interest is in entrepreneurship. He grew up in a kind of family where his grandfather and dad were entrepreneurs who built a company together. So, he loves entrepreneurship and is passionate about helping people and students.

LeJuerrne has been working with entrepreneurs for nearly 25 years. He utilizes time every week to help entrepreneurs and to teach entrepreneurship classes. His classes on campus are often centered around business planning and entrepreneurial finance.

Leah Ekren, a freshman in mechanical engineering, took LeJuerrne’s class last fall and said that his main personality trait is his passion for business.

“He mainly inspires students to be independent entrepreneurs,” Ekren said.

LeJuerrne said that his journey at Washburn began when he was hired at the Washburn Small Business Development Center as a business consultant. Although SBDC became part of the Washburn School of Business, his office was located downtown.

“A year later, after I turned to repositioning, they asked me if I would consider teaching a class on campus as an adjunct faculty member. I refused because I have the dedication to work with entrepreneurs as a consultant,” LeJuerrne said. “Later in 2005, I taught one of the first classes on entrepreneurship, and in 2013, I became a full-time professor.”

His connection to the job and the university came about through his passion to help entrepreneurs.

He also mentioned that he has practiced serving entrepreneurs under the law for more than 25 years. He has all the expertise of being an attorney and helping people start and grow their businesses. He brings his experience to the classroom and shares it with the students.

“We have some opportunities in the entrepreneurship department for starting a business, as the student business accelerator fund is available to students who have ideas and want to start and develop their businesses, which we’ve been doing for the last seven years,” LeJuerrne said.

He mentioned that college is the only time in students’ life that they’re going to be surrounded by many people who are working in various areas professionally. So, they should connect with as many fellows, friends and relations as possible. They should take some risks, put themselves out of the box, and take advantage of those critical connections that will make a difference in their life.

Moreover, he made his students create a LinkedIn profile so they could connect with others. He says that other social media are all about having fun, but LinkedIn is about professional connections.

“If you want to have a life of independent wealth and happiness, there are many different pathways to get there. I think the best career path is to start a business and be an entrepreneur. I think there’s nothing else that makes your life better than being a boss, creating a product and being an owner, not just a labor employee,” LeJuerrne said.

He believes that starting a business and being an entrepreneur is the best career path for students that leads to a quality life with independent wealth and happiness. LeJuerrne hopes more students will start their own businesses rather than work for someone else.

Edited by LeSha’ Davis, Glorianna Noland and Simran Shrestha