The nametag on Melinda Stewart's dorm room door identifies her as a "CEO of the future," but she's not waiting for someone to hand her the title for real. A freshman in apparel design at Oregon State University, she already has her own company.

"I'm a greeting card designer," Stewart said. "I have some orders from some retail stores, and I'm going to be looking at more outlets."

Not bad for a kid fresh out of high school. But at Weatherford Hall, she may be more the rule than the exception.

After sitting empty for 10 years, the newly renovated OSU landmark reopened this fall as the home of the Austin Entrepreneurship Program, a joint venture led by the College of Business with help from the College of Engineering and University Housing & Dining Services.

While it isn't the first residential program for young entrepreneurs in the country — that distinction belongs to the University of Maryland, which launched the Hinman Campus Entrepreneurship Opportunities Program in 2000 — it may well be the most ambitious.

Students who either want to launch their own companies or be involved in a classmate's startup fill the entire dormitory, not just a floor or two as at the handful of other schools trying similar experiments. Weatherford's roster of 289 residents includes 89 business majors, 69 from engineering and a cross-pollinating jumble of other disciplines. Each year, 25 of the most advanced young executives-in-training will be admitted to the elite Weatherford Academy.

With a budget of $20 million — $14 million in state funding and $6 million in private money — the renovation equipped Weatherford with first-class facilities. In addition to the residential wings, the elegant Italian Renaissance building has two classrooms, faculty offices, a business library, incubator space for startups, a product engineering workshop, a conference room, several large common areas and an assortment of small, intimate gathering spots squirrelled away in odd corners of the rambling 76-year-old structure.

Weatherford has the backing of some heavy hitters in the business world. The key donation in the renovation campaign was a $4 million gift from OSU alum Ken Austin and his wife, Joan, owners of dental equipment maker A-dec and namesakes of the new entrepreneurship program. (The university's family business program is also named for them.)

Bing's, the already popular coffeeshop on Weatherford's ground floor, was endowed by Bernie Newcomb, the Oregon State grad who founded E-Trade.

Hewlett-Packard has donated office computers, digital projectors for classroom presentations and antennas to beam wireless Internet access throughout the building.

One of the program's faculty members, Justin Craig, lives on the premises, sharing a spacious apartment with his wife, Kimbo. When he's not teaching, Craig will be roaming the halls fielding questions, challenging spotty business plans and listening to elevator pitches for the next Nike, Microsoft or e-Bay.

"I'm always available," he said. "You can send me an e-mail and say, ‘Meet me in the library.'"

Even the classes are set up to mesh with the quirky schedules of would-be entrepreneurs. Craig's weekly seminars are slated for 9

o'clock on Wednesday nights.

The way Craig sees it, that kind of always-on-call availability sends an important message to students about being an entrepreneur.

"It's not a 9-to-5 (job)," he said. "If they're going to go out there, it's 24-7."

A gregarious Aussie who spent several years in the business world before going into academia, Craig appears to revel in the constant interplay of ideas with students, a rough-and-tumble educational style he calls "the Weatherford Way."

An important part of that full-contact approach will be the visiting executive series. A comfortable two-bedroom suite on the second floor is set aside for established captains of industry and rising corporate stars.

During a typical overnight stay, a visiting exec would have an informal question-and-answer session with MBA students in the afternoon, followed by dinner with students from the MBA and entrepreneurship programs and a fireside chat open to the entire campus community. Students would get another crack at the visitor over breakfast the next morning.

"For fall quarter I have about 22 people who are scheduled to stay here," said Jon Down, director of the Austin Entrepreneurship Program, including New Edge Networks CEO Dan Moffat, Tripwire founder Wyatt Starnes and Absorption Corp. Vice President Shawn Dooley.

Down, who expects to bring in at least 75 executives a year, said he's been gratified by the response to his invitations from the corporate world.

"I've talked to lots of people about this in the last month, and really there's been nobody who's said no."

Karen Thornton, who runs the Hinman CEOs Program at the University of Maryland, said her 109 graduates haven't heard "no" too often. Corporate recruiters, she said, are intrigued when they interview someone who's been through residential entrepreneurship training.

"Most students, with their first job, they've had little or no work experience," she said. "These students are running companies."

According to Thornton, the Maryland experiment has developed a tight-knit community of budding entrepreneurs who are very conscious of the program's reputation and jealous of the Hinman CEOs "brand."

That's exactly the kind of name recognition the Austin Entrepreneurship Program hopes to achieve.

"Ultimately, we think if you have Weatherford on your resume, that has some equity," Craig said.

But, in typical entrepreneurial fashion, Weatherford's residents aren't waiting around to cash in on their rep. They're too busy getting their own businesses off the ground.

Within days of moving into her new dorm, Stewart was already cutting deals with her next-door neighbor, MBA candidate Tyler Walters. He's already on his second venture, an online advertising company that's devised an ingenious way to identify the hottest emerging sites on the Web.

"This program runs on five-minute increments, so we can see exactly when their popularity skyrockets and be the first to call them," he said.

Stewart, he said, has already approached him about doing some Web design work for her greeting card startup.

"We talked briefly about making a product catalog so she can sell her cards."

And what is his artistic neighbor offering in return?

"Maybe I could make all his Christmas presents," she said.

Bennett Hall is the business editor for the Gazette-Times. He can be reached at 758-9529 or bennett.hall@lee.net.