With the start of a new school year, the looming prospect of the “real world” may seem daunting for students.
Luckily, the Franz Center for Leadership, Entrepreneurship and Innovation is there to help students acquire skills that sometimes can’t be learned in the classroom.
This year, the newly created Franz Center invites students to participate in their wealth of options and programs. Created through a donation from Robert Franz and Elsie Franz Finley, both University Regents and long time donors, the Center’s goal is to provide students with concrete skills and resources.
Robin Anderson, dean of the Pamplin School of Business Administration, hopes the Center will reach out to all students.
“It is a university center,” Anderson said. “It’s not based in a school, it’s for the entire university.”
Each program focuses on developing skills of entrepreneurship, leadership and innovation. Programs available this year range from long term programs like the Entrepreneur Scholars program and the Faith Based Leadership program, to workshops and events throughout the year.
The goal of these diverse programs is to give all students the tools and experience to develop their ideas into reality.
“What’s great about this new expansion or broadening of the center is that it allows more people to get involved,” Entrepreneurship Director Peter Rachor said. “It allows people to focus a little more on the piece of this that they’re most interested in.”
One way students have gotten involved is by participating in the Entrepreneurship and Innovation club. Club president and senior Fatima Ruiz Villatoro is excited to include students from all backgrounds in the club, as they participate in trips to local businesses and networking dinners with fellow college students and entrepreneurs.
“The cool thing about it is that you don’t have to be a business major to join the club,” Ruiz Villatoro said. “I came in as a freshman and I was in mechanical engineering.”
Branching out from the popular entrepreneurship programs, this year the Center looks to develop similarly popular programs in innovation and leadership. In the coming years, the Center is interested in creating programs similar to the Entrepreneur Scholars for both innovation and leadership.
The inclusion of innovation in the Center signals a shift from not only starting new ventures through entrepreneurship, but envisioning new and interesting ways to solve the puzzles and problems of today. This could range from a new way to build a computer to changing the way today’s education system runs.
“What does innovation look like in education? What does innovation in nursing look like?” education professor and Director of Innovation Eric Anctil said. “That’s the kind of questions that we are seeking to answer.”
The leadership component to the center is important to Anderson’s vision for the center and students’ skill sets.
“We want the UP alumni to be the ones who have the mindsets and the skill sets, so they can step up and successfully lead as the need arises,” Anderson said.
The leadership opportunities available for this year include a Faith Based Leadership program, which couples a class and summer internships for students interested in understanding how faith-based and non-profit organizations function, as well as a speaker series.
The center is also piloting programs for integrating leadership into classes and a leadership certification program to start next year.
“What this program can do is bring the skills and confidence that a knowledge age worker needs to contribute to society,” Leadership Director Peter Rooks said.
This focus on leadership stems from the University’s Strategic Planning Commission and an emphasis from University President Fr. Bill Beauchamp to make the creation of ethical leaders a priority at UP.
For students who want to become involved in these programs, personal motivation is key. Anderson emphasizes that students “need to take the initiative” and connect with the Center via Facebook, Twitter or stopping into their office in BC 216.
Event:
The Center is hosting an innovation workshop, “Discover Innovation,” on Saturday, Sept. 21 for all students to brainstorm and answer these questions.
