Highlighting the Innovation & Entrepreneurship Institute
In this episode we discuss and highlight the Innovation & Entrepreneurship Institute and how it benefits students and faculty alike.
Show Transcript
[MUSIC PLAYING]
ANDREW COLETTI: Hello, and welcome to this episode
of The T in Teaching.
My name is Andrew Coletti, and in this episode,
we are going to focus on the services of Innovation
and Entrepreneurship Institute at Temple University.
To talk about the program and the benefits of IEI,
I am joined by Michelle Histand and Alan Kerzner.
Michelle joined Temple University full time last year
as the managing director of IEI.
She's been teaching at Temple for the past seven years,
always in innovation and entrepreneurship topics,
and previously ran a project at Temple
helping a University in south Australia set up
their entrepreneurship program.
Prior to her time at Temple, Michelle
started and ran the Innovation Function
at Independence Blue Cross.
She also has a consulting business
and has worked with many companies,
thinking about how to work in new, innovative ways.
Alan has been at Temple University for seven years
as assistant professor and director
of the Temple University Entrepreneurship Academy.
Alan has been at Temple University for seven years
as assistant professor and director of the Temple
University Entrepreneurship Academy,
which is focused on facilitating incorporation
of entrepreneurial thinking and doing
in the 16 non-business schools within Temple.
In this role, he has worked with the Tyler School
of Arts and Architecture to establish
the successful bachelor of fine arts
in entrepreneurship studies degrees,
conducting the University-wide Social Impact/changemaker
Challenge workshops and competitions, as well
as the Freelancing and Working For Yourself program.
Prior to joining Temple, Alan taught part time
at Wharton, NYU, and the University of Queensland
in Australia, and established the Institute of Global Student
Success, which helped international students achieve
professional success in the United States.
He started his career at Fortune 100 companies,
such as Procter & Gamble and Johnson & Johnson,
as well as worked in several start-ups
and private equity-owned companies.
Thank you for listening, and please enjoy.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
With me are Michelle Histand and Alan Kerzner.
Thank you, guys, both, for joining me.
MICHELLE HISTAND: Yeah, thanks for having us, Andrew.
We're excited to talk about this.
ANDREW COLETTI: All right, let's just jump
in with what the mission of IEI is and what you guys aim to do.
MICHELLE HISTAND: So our mission at IEI
is to ensure the Temple community, which we define
as students, alumni, faculty, and staff,
have the innovative mindsets and the tools
they need to think differently, to do critical problem solving,
to create new things.
And ultimately, that allows them to have
more successful careers, bigger impact in their communities,
and more fulfilled lives.
We have academic programs and co-curricular programs
that are focused on those mindsets and those tools.
So we're helping people who want to start businesses or side
hustles, who want to be a source of change in their community
and start nonprofits, or do good work for their community
and work with their community members,
or who want to contribute new ideas and ways of thinking
within existing organizations.
ANDREW COLETTI: I like how you started it
off by talking about Temple environment,
the entire environment.
It's an all-encompassing idea.
And then I liked how you mentioned the tools to succeed,
the tools to innovate.
Let's talk a little bit about those tools and services
that you guys offer.
Let's start with students.
What kind of tools and services do you offer students?
ALAN KERZNER: So we are really an overall resource,
if you will.
We're a hub of expertise.
We have 108 mentors, successful entrepreneurs,
funders who are available to students, alumni, faculty.
But at the end, we really help people develop ideas or even
the step before an idea when they're just saying, hey,
I'm really thinking about this issue
and trying to figure out how to do something about it.
So we'll help them along that.
We help them create new ventures and really, different ways
to approach problems.
We do have an entire tool set we can share.
And when it comes to faculty, we're
also available to help them think about ideas they have
and maybe side businesses or businesses they want to start.
We've done this a lot with STHM professors,
with engineering professors.
Because, obviously, professors see a lot.
They're thinking constantly, and they're very creative.
So we help them take that, if they're interested,
and develop it into a successful venture.
ANDREW COLETTI: Yeah, that's great to hear.
And it sounds like IEI is not just either student
or faculty focused.
Like you were saying earlier, Michelle,
it's really all-encompassing for the Temple community.
So I know that you guys talked about a lot
of the different services you have, but let's
just start with the curricular side of what you guys offer.
So for students at Temple specifically,
what can they look to gain from IEI
in terms of their curriculum, their degrees,
or their experience at the actual University itself?
ALAN KERZNER: OK, well, I separate that
into a couple of buckets.
ANDREW COLETTI: Sure.
ALAN KERZNER: For people interested
in careers in innovation and entrepreneurship,
they will learn the skills they will get.
It's a requirement that we will provide an internship for them
to actually get experience in new and emerging companies.
And they will be constantly networking with people
within what we call the entrepreneurial ecosystem
in Philadelphia.
Also, though, for Fox students we have dual majors or minors.
And so if I'm a finance student, an MIS or whatever,
I could get a minor at Fox, provided
I fulfill all the Fox requirements, with just three
additional courses, just three.
And one of them can be a Gen Ed course.
We run SGM O827, which is about creativity
and organizational innovation.
So it's very easy for students in Fox to get a minor
or to do a double major.
There's one woman who graduated last year.
She was a finance major, and she took
an IEI major, a double major, is right now running
a very successful balloon design company for major events
and things like that.
We also importantly, from a faculty standpoint,
can work with faculty to help them enhance
the entrepreneurial and innovative content
within their courses.
And as a matter of fact, seven years ago,
we created the Temple University Entrepreneurship Academy,
under IEI and the goal there was to facilitate entrepreneurial
thinking and doing throughout all
the schools of the University.
So for instance, we've worked with Tyler School of Art
and Architecture, and we created nine bachelor of fine arts
degrees with entrepreneurial studies
to help art students be able to get meaningful jobs,
focus on their passion in organizations.
We work with a required Gen Ed course, Intellectual Heritage
II, which always would focus on the social problems,
a historical, literature perspective
on historical problems in this country and the world.
And what they found is students were walking out
of those courses disenfranchised and hopeless
because, hey, these problems have existed forever.
So we've implemented modules for that course, where
they learn about creative problem
solving, how, rather than just learning about issues, how
to go and solve them.
ANDREW COLETTI: Well, it's great to hear that not only do
you guys offer programs and activities and organizations
outside of Fox itself to really help,
as you were saying earlier, Alan,
build a path forward of innovation
for a lot of different people in areas at the University.
I think what's so interesting about what you just
said is most people don't know IEI for the actual curricular
programs you offer.
You're known for more of the extracurricular activities.
Those are the really big, fun activities.
Michelle, maybe you can tell me a little bit
about what you guys do throughout the semester, what
kind of activities and organizations you guys do,
that really help students interested in innovation.
MICHELLE HISTAND: Yeah.
So just like our academic programs,
we call them our co-curricular programs.
They are open to everyone across campus.
That's no matter what major you are or what school you're in.
That's whether you're a student, faculty member, an alumni,
or staff.
And our co-curricular programs, we run really three big ones
throughout the year.
So we're currently in the midst of our Innovative Idea
Competition.
Our Idea Competition is exactly what it sounds like.
You can submit an idea.
It doesn't have to be well-developed.
But what's really nice about that
is you get good feedback on your idea,
and you can think about how to build that out.
So that's going on now you can submit
until October 11th for that.
Next, we'll run our Changemaker Challenge,
which is a version of this that is really focused on ideas
that do good for the world.
And then in the spring, we run our Be Your Own Boss Bowl,
which is our big competition.
That one's really well-known.
And the Be Your Own Boss Bowl is about a business plan.
So you need to have a business plan.
And often, it's businesses that are up and running.
It doesn't have to be.
And that is one where there are significant prizes where
folks can win money toward their business and toward their work.
ANDREW COLETTI: Wow, that sounds excellent,
the ability to maybe even kickstart an idea that you have
and get to see it in action, get to see
all of the different ideas and innovations
that students have come to life and get to see them,
test it against other people's ideas.
You're right.
The Be Your Own Boss Bowl, not only because it's a great name,
is one of the things that you guys are so well-known for.
Now I want to transition a little bit
to the success stories.
Because IEI really is a valuable part of Temple's community
and has been for some time.
Alan, you mentioned one student who
came through and now runs a successful balloon design
business.
Do you guys have any other stories that you want to share?
ALAN KERZNER: Yeah, I mean, one we'd like to share--
and anyone who's on the first floor of 1810 Liacouras
will probably hear her, see her, is Jung Park.
She got an undergraduate degree from us, I think,
about five or six years ago.
She is a dynamo.
She has started a very successful, basically,
bartending for service business.
It's called Cocktail Culture.
She also has now started a karaoke business, where
they go, she and her team she's built,
go to corporate functions, to restaurants, to all types
of events and basically, put on a karaoke show
with active class participation, or I should
say audience participation.
And Jung is great.
She came back to us, actually, to help.
In the spring, one of the things that we run--
we used to call it a freelancing workshop series.
We now call it Working For Yourself because we
have a lot of marketing people who
want to go into social media who join us, a lot of consultants,
whatever.
And we brought Jung back as a panelist.
And she's such a dynamo, she is now
adjuncting two courses for us.
ANDREW COLETTI: Wow, that's great to hear.
ALAN KERZNER: And she's just loving it.
Another one that we could talk about
is Jared Cannon, who most people know from Simply Good Jars.
He was a sous chef who came and got an entrepreneurial degree
and said, there's got to be a way
to provide really good, healthy food to people
outside of a restaurant in an environmentally-friendly way.
So they basically, provide very healthy salads, gourmet salads,
in jars.
And if you return a jar, they make a donation of a free meal
to Philabundance to feed the hungry.
And we've had another, James Calcagni from engineering,
develop the first prosthetic leg that is
very easily usable in a shower.
It's waterproof, and the way it functions and bends--
I didn't realize this.
A lot of people with prosthetics have
a hard time taking showers.
And so this really makes that a lot easier.
ANDREW COLETTI: Yeah, these are really great stories to hear.
And something that stood out to me about all three
of those stories is when people think of innovation, especially
in a business school, I think they
think of your typical business student.
But you shared an example of a sous chef who
creates their own business, a karaoke business, a balloon
business, and now a prosthetics business.
And I think that gets to the fact
that people don't always appreciate what IEI
is able to bring to the table.
And that gets me to one other aspect, which
is I feel like faculty don't know about IEI
or don't know enough about IEI to tell their students
to go in there or themselves to interact.
So open mic, what do you want to say to faculty?
What should they know about IEI?
And what should they be telling their students, going forward?
ALAN KERZNER: Well, I think one important thing is IEI
is not traditional business.
There were two recent surveys.
Creative Problem Solving, which is
at the core of all our courses and of which Michelle is expert
in, has consistently been listed as a top 10 skill
that employers of undergraduate, graduates, want to see.
So there's communication.
There's interpersonal skills.
But creative problem solving is always a top.
At the graduate level, there's a new study
that says strategy and innovation are critical today
and will even grow in importance over the next five years.
So I think the first thing we would say to faculty is,
and so we're teaching people, not just what it is,
but how to apply it successfully.
And that's true.
It don't matter what your field, what your life goals,
or whatever.
MICHELLE HISTAND: Yeah, and I would add to that
that what we really want faculty to know is IEI
is not just for students who want to start a business.
So everything Allen just said rings so true.
We are focused so much on how to creatively and critically
problem solve, which is a very in-demand skill,
but will also benefit our students,
no matter what field they're going into.
So I used to run innovation at Independence Blue Cross.
It's an insurance company.
What does insurance have to do with innovation?
It's not something you think of.
But for students who want to work in a particular industry
or in an organization, they will still
need to be able to bring these skills to the table.
So that's what's so important.
And I also want to make sure folks know--
Alan talked about the major and the minor.
We also have a certificate for non-Fox students.
So every student on campus should be thinking about that
innovation certificate because it makes them more marketable,
and it helps them stand out when they're out there in the job
market, .
And again, it's only three courses, one of which
is a Gen Ed.
One can be a Gen Ed.
So we really want students to know,
and for faculty to help guide their students to,
hey, when you're thinking about electives,
think about doing this minor or this certificate, which
will help you stand out and be noticed in the job market.
ANDREW COLETTI: Great.
So it really feels like you guys are both
giving a tangible thing to students,
helping them test out their ideas
through all the different activities you do,
even a chance to kick start their business,
winning some money in these organizations, but also,
the intangible skills, the skills that really
are something that employers are looking for,
that are just valuable in the workforce today.
Another thing I think is a lot of people
think innovation and entrepreneurship, that's
not me, that's not who I am.
But it really feels like IEI has made an effort
to be open to just about anybody.
But again, maybe students still are a little apprehensive,
or faculty are apprehensive about reaching out to IEI.
I know you guys have some stuff coming up.
Can you tell me a little bit about, one,
where students and faculty can find you guys?
I know in the podcast, we will link your page
on Temple's website so they can find you there.
But where else can they find you guys?
And what else do you guys have going on, coming up
in the future?
MICHELLE HISTAND: They can find us by walking in.
So our space is in the bottom of 1810 Liacouras.
We're in the back, in the accelerator space.
Come on over.
Reach out to Alan or to me via email.
We love to meet up with people and have
coffee and chat about it.
And to your point of it sometimes
feels scary or ambiguous, I didn't know what any of this
was until I taught myself and learned it a few years back.
So we want people to know it's not scary.
It's accessible to everybody, and you
don't need to know anything when you walk through our door.
That's why we're here.
So it shouldn't feel off-putting or anything.
So I'd say, reach out to us via email.
Come into our space.
Visit our website.
And what we have coming up is our Changemaker Challenge.
Do you want to talk about that?
ALAN KERZNER: Sure.
So as Michelle mentioned, the Innovative Idea Competition
will occur--
submission's October 11th.
And the actual event is November--
MICHELLE HISTAND: 8th.
ALAN KERZNER: 8th, OK, November 8th.
ANDREW COLETTI: Well done.
ALAN KERZNER: Yeah, so we're a team here.
And then for the Changemaker Challenge,
we're going to start with social impact workshops.
It'll be the first week of November.
We always start off with what we call an inspirational speaker.
Last year was Malcolm Jenkins, ex-Philadelphia Eagle,
but a person who has done tremendous good
throughout communities in America, New
Orleans, and Philly, all over.
Two years ago, we had the VP of product design
and sustainability from Patagonia.
And everyone should listen over the next couple of weeks,
and we'll let them know who our big speaker is
for the first week of November to kick off our social impact.
ANDREW COLETTI: Yeah, this is great to hear.
And it sounds like you guys really
keep the calendar full with events coming up.
But it also sounds like if a student or a faculty member
really has an idea or just wants to talk to you guys,
you guys are super approachable, first floor of 1810 Liacouras
Walk.
They can just come in.
And it sounds like you guys are excited just to talk to people.
So it sounds like if you have any time,
or you want to come talk to them, you can either reach out.
Or just come in and talk to them that way.
Michelle, Alan, thank you, guys, so much for coming in here
and talking about IEI.
And thank you for the work that you guys
do with the Temple community.
MICHELLE HISTAND: Thank you.
Thanks for highlighting IEI.
We love it.
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