Welcome to the Office of University Initiatives Blog, an online journal that allows our office to share and reflect on our work at ASU.
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Over the past several weeks I have been contemplating the meaning of public service in America. It’s a hot topic to be sure. Prominent political and thought leaders from Hillary Clinton to Tom Brokaw have made passionate pleas for a renewed commitment to civilian service. Exactly what public service means though, depends on who are talking to.
During the final days of 2012, I had the pleasure of reviewing applications to the ASU Innovation Challenge, an entrepreneurial competition for undergraduate and graduate students. As the competition’s name suggests, judges evaluate each application’s innovativeness. Throughout the judging process, I wondered whether we all have a common, identical definition of what is innovative. As an Innovation Fellow, I have gained valuable insight on the meaning of innovation.
Last October I had the honor of speaking at Campus Compact’s 2012 Presidents’ Leadership Summit. The Summit is the second such event for Campus Compact – a national network of 1,200 college and university presidents who are committed to fulfilling the civic purposes of higher education. The Summit brought together leading presidents from all over the nation to discuss key issues in higher education.
It has been almost six months since my first day as an Innovation Fellow. To mark this, I thought this would be a good time to reflect back on my decision to come to ASU.
Recently, I was interviewed for an article at my undergraduate alma mater. During the interview I was asked: If I could pass on one piece of advice to current student what would it be? My response was, “don’t give up, but also don’t be afraid to pivot.” This philosophy is at the core of a new program at ASU, Sun Devil Success.
The Frank Rhodes Lecture series is a lecture series that began in Fall 2011 at the direction of President Crow to help advance his vision for a New American University and the need to redefine the role of higher education in society. Each semester an individual with a commitment to institutional innovation will visit Arizona State University to deliver a lecture, attended by hundreds of people, as well as meet with ASU students, faculty, staff and community members.
– Open to the public
Picture 82,000 households. That’s more families than ASU has students. Now imagine that all 82,000 of these households are hungry—they do not know where their next meal will come from. Maybe you’re picturing a developing country or a distant land. However, this statistic represents our own Maricopa County; families and individuals in our communities struggle to put food on the table.
In a perfect world a classroom setting would not be a barrier to education. Unfortunately that is not the world we live.
Some people hoard objects. Some may collect mounds of figurines, clothes, or dishes. I, however, hoard information—any tidbits I can grasp. So during my first weeks at the office of University Initiatives, I basked in the whirlwind of new faces, new names, new facts, and new details. Like a contestant in a cash cube, I collected as many valuable pieces as possible. I may not have captured everything thrown at me, but I was thrilled to catch what I could.
Just a month ago, I was sitting on the floor of a small apartment in Cambridge, Ma. The lights were dim and the atmosphere was blissful but somber (despite Lady Gaga blaring in the background). I was surrounded by my classmates, my friends, my comrades. We had all just turned in our final paper of graduate school, and we were reveling in the accomplishment of having completed a Masters at Harvard in less than nine months.
In a time where things are changing rapidly and technology is running full force, we are in a place where the importance of innovation and entrepreneurship will dictate our future and quality of life. Across the world, innovation and entrepreneurship centers are sprouting up, serving as the seeds to our future. As a continuation of the i6 Challenge innovation calls, Dr.
A few weeks ago, ASU entrepreneurs and innovators joined the Edson team on a party bus and tour all of the premier co-working spaces, incubators, and accelerator spaces throughout the Valley. In one day we toured greater metro Phoenix in an attempt to learn about all the exciting spaces looking to support innovation and entrepreneurship in a variety of ways.
What do you believe it takes to establish an award winning innovation and entrepreneurship center? In anticipation for the start of the 3rd annual i6 Challenge, the U.S. Economic Development Administration has organized a series of conference calls focused on answering this question and exploring how to create and develop award-winning proof of concept innovation and entrepreneurship centers.
What did you do your final week of 9th grade? Maybe you celebrated the end of the dreaded standardized testing or maybe you daydreamed about waking up late and spending your days by the pool doing nothing.
In providing an environment where individuals can showcase or interact with ideas, the 10,000 Solutions Project is part of a growing community of challenge platforms. Since its inception, 10,000 Solutions has also prompted many valuable debates regarding the design of an initiative that aims to be accessible and impactful. For instance, is it better to ask broad challenge questions—or specific ones? Or, how can ideas or individuals with solutions be connected to people who can help make them happen?
