Rice’s Glasscock School launches courses to help small businesses

Houston is home to thousands of small businesses impacted by COVID-19, and coming back involves more than just flipping over the “OPEN” sign. Rice University’s Susanne M. Glasscock School of Continuing Studies is teaming up with the Ion to provide education and insight to small business owners that can help them return to normal operations and recover from closures.

The Back In Business Initiative will launch its first three courses on topics important to recovery and future success the week of April 20-24. The pilot course, Collaborative Decision Making with Inadequate Information, will be free to the first 24 enrolees. Additional courses include Open Innovation and Problem-Solving in an Organization and Marketing Strategy and Communication in Uncertain Times, which cost $25 per student. Additional courses will be added based on demand.

The Anderson-Clarke Center, home of the Glasscock School.

“Glasscock’s mission has always been to provide education to the residents of Houston,” said Robert Bruce, dean of the Glasscock School. “We specialize in providing responsive, practical information that will help our constituents when and how they need it most. To assist our struggling Houston small business community during this crisis, we created this trilogy of courses to help analyze their current situation, use creative problem-solving and provide meaningful communications to help them weather this situation.”

Registration for Back in Business Initiative courses is available at https://glasscock.rice.edu/back-in-business.

“Today’s health crisis may have changed many aspects of our daily lives, but it has not affected our commitment to providing the right tools and education to help our community succeed,” said Jan Odegard, senior director of academic and industry partnerships at the Ion. “We all have a role to play in meeting the challenge of COVID-19 and we are excited to be partnering with the Glasscock School of Continuing Studies to support Houston small businesses in this time of uncertainty.”

The Center for Houston’s Future and Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship are providing support for the initiative, which complements two other Glasscock School programs: OpenRICE, which provides expertise and insight to the Houston community free and online, and a 20% discount and risk-free enrollment offer (the ability to postpone for 12 months without a fee) for all professional studies courses and programs through April 30.