Marketing Professor Mick Jackowski has a vision to help his department and others make extra cash. It starts with a class project to sell water bottles. From there, he foresees an entire Metro product line with its own online catalog.

In Jackowski's Seminar in Marketing Management course, the students gain experience in running a business. They decided on a business that sells water bottles and divided themselves into four departments - research management, production, promotion and sales. The class has teamed up with Clay Daughtrey's Personal Selling course and those students are helping with sales.

The water bottle, which sells for $10, is similar to the Nalgene water bottle with a screw lid. It features the Metro State logo and is available at hiking and outdoors stores. The goal for the end of this semester is to generate revenue of just under $7,000; so far revenues have reached $4,440.

"This is the first product in the product line," Jackowski said. "In time I envision a variety of products we'll develop in conjunction with other marketing classes that will be available through an online product catalog."

That entrepreneurial spirit is fitting for Jackowski, who has held marketing and public relations positions with the Buffalo Bills, and the league offices of NFL International, the National Lacrosse League, and the Arena Football League.

Jackowski began his teaching career at Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania while working on his Ph.D., but decided he wanted to fulfill his dream of running a business. With this in mind, he moved to Colorado with his wife Jennifer and became co-CEO of a management consulting firm that was recognized by the Boulder County Business Report as the second-fastest growing company in Boulder County in 2001. With the birth of his twin daughters, Elaine and Kate, he sold his share of the company to stay at home with them in their first year.

And he decided it was time to return to teaching.

"I love to learn about stuff, and teaching is the only profession where knowledge is the primary reason for being," Jackowski explained. "I get paid to keep learning. Plus, by sharing my knowledge with students, they express their own perspectives and I learn a ton from them as well."

Jackowski, who believes that good relationships are key to success and happiness, says he has found his niche at Metro. "Because the focus here is on students, and not research, for instance, I can build many more relationships with many different learners, from many different backgrounds, from many different stations in life."