Aryn Sanderson
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The Cal Poly Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship selected Lorraine Donegan, Mary Glick and Lynn Metcalf to participate in the Coleman Foundation Faculty Entrepreneurship Fellows Program.
“Students at Cal Poly have great ideas, and their classes have that Learn By Doing philosophy, so they have the resources where they can start their own business, create their own futures and really write their own ticket,” Donegan said. “And with the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, they don’t have to do it alone.”
Each fellow will develop courses or lead experimental projects to support the extension of entrepreneurship education and spread “a sense of self-startership,” Glick, the journalism department chair and associate professor, said.
For example, Metcalf, chair and professor of marketing in the Orfalea College of Business, is using the grant to “explore the awareness levels among Cal Poly women about entrepreneurship and look at their attitudes toward innovation to see whether or not they think entrepreneurship is something for them,” she said.
“Here’s what we know about women: We know they are less likely to start their own firms and they are less likely to apply for patents for intellectual property,” Metcalf said. “I’m not sure why, and there’s not a large body of research on that, but it’s certainly not that they’re less intelligent. It could be a lack of awareness or that nobody has planted the seed yet. But we’re trying to move the needle for women on campus.”
Donegan, a graphic communication associate professor, hopes to use the grant to put on a UI/UX design-a-thon — an app-design competition.
“I’d like to see a competition where students can develop and design apps or websites in a short amount of time,” she said. “And I’d love to see interdisciplinary teams, with graphic designers, computer science engineers, business majors, everyone participating.”
This is the second time Cal Poly professors have been awarded this distinction. Last year’s inductees — Bob Crockett, director of general engineering, Enrica Lovaglio Costello of the art and design department and Umut Toker of the city and regional planning department — will remain in the program this year as second-year fellows.
The Coleman Foundation is committing approximately $500,000 in fellowship grants and program support at the 19 nationwide universities and college campuses involved in the 2013-14 program, according to a Cal Poly press release.
Eden Ellisague contributed to the content in this video.