"Not only are our universities not teaching innovation or delivering an innovation experience, they seem to be doing their best to destroy innovative thinking in young people." (Doss, Forbes 2015)
At the University of West Florida, we ARE teaching innovation, capitalizing on our students’ creativity and developing a campus-wide culture of entrepreneurial thinking.
Workshop Success
More than 150 business and community representatives, faculty and students attended the CFE's first workshop. Dr. Cheryl Kirby provided valuable advice to unleash your creativity and innovation potential, and Quint Studer shared his career experiences from corporate innovator to entrepreneur. Guests at the UWF Conference Center were also treated to a bonus workshop on creativity by Dr. Kirby.
Thank you to all who attended in-person and via live stream. We hope to see you again at future events. Special thank you to CFE partners Studer Community Institute and Florida Small Business Development Network.
Academic Achievements
Student Profile:
Jim Sparks,
Center for Entrepreneurship
Graduate Assistant
Why did you pursue the MBA with an entrepreneurship emphasis?
My passion is helping people turn their ideas into businesses or nonprofits. While I have strong technical skills in creating new organizations, I wanted to improve my grasp of strategic and financial planning. The MBA with an entrepreneurship emphasis seemed like a perfect way to gain that knowledge while earning credentials that could lead to new opportunities.
How do you feel that this program will support your career?
The opportunities as a student are pretty endless. Being part of this program has opened doors and facilitated connections that would have been much more difficult to create on my own. I walked into the MBA program with a small circle of contacts in Pensacola but am walking out with new connections all across the country. Whether I choose to start a new business or go to work for someone else, those connections will be instrumental in advancing my career.
What has been the most rewarding part of working in the UWF Center for Entrepreneurship?
The director, Rick Duke, is one of those rare leaders that place the success of his employees at the top of the agenda. He has been incredible about providing opportunities to interact with leaders from the business and entrepreneurial support community in Northwest Florida. Working with him in these early months of the Center’s existence has been the most rewarding part for me.
Idea Space in Library
New space for student creativity and collaboration is in development on the second floor of the UWF Library. Soon, students will be able to relax, brainstorm ideas and hear from creative and inspirational leaders. This space is temporarily being called the “Idea Space.” A student-led innovation team will recommend the permanent name later this fall.
The furniture is scheduled for arrival at the end of August. Speaker programming will begin soon thereafter. This project was made possible by the generous support of Mr. Bob Dugan, UWF's Dean of Libraries.
Gulf Power to Assist Idea Space
Becca Boles, Gulf Power Corporate Communications Director, will offer her expertise this fall to a student innovation team designing the UWF “Idea Space” in the library. Becca and her group manage Gulf Power’s “Big Idea Room/Innovation Space.”
UWF HMCSE End of Summer Research Symposium
Congratulations to the Hal Marcus College of Science and Engineering (HMCSE) on the successful Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP) and symposium. CFE partners Patrick Rooney and Tad Ihns (Avalex) were in attendance, along with Graduate Assistant Jim Sparks and Founding Director Rick Duke. This group of students with faculty advisors demonstrate UWF’s bright future for increased sponsored research and commercialization potential.
Community Activities
An Ecosystem Asset:
Venture Hive
Venture Hive Fort Walton Beach, led by director Bob Foster, launched its second major training Accelerator session. The second class of Veteran entrepreneurs has successfully completed twelve weeks of the program.
Benefits of this program include a world-class curriculum of highly practical workshops and training sessions, access to a collaborative working space in Fort Walton Beach for a year, mentoring from a vetted network of local, national, and international entrepreneurs and experts, and exposure to qualified investors. (Information taken from Venture Hive FWB Accelerator Final Report)
Core Dialogues Radio Segment
Founding Director Rick Duke was Dr. Mona Amodeo's guest on Core Dialogues, Business Radio X’s “Dr. Mona” show.
Topics of conversation included how creativity, ideas and innovation are all part of a robust culture of entrepreneurial thinking.
TechFarms Visit
Leaders from the Pensacola area hosted Steve Millaway from TechFarms in Panama City for a visit in early August. This was the first opportunity for the Panama City native and serial technology entrepreneur to learn how robust the Pensacola-Escambia County area is with entrepreneurial assets. He visited Dean Michael Huggins at the UWF Hal Marcus College of Science and Engineering, various community leaders during a visit to IHMC, and attended the “Inner Entrepreneur” Workshop on the UWF campus.
YEA! at Pace High School
The Center for Entrepreneurship and the College of Business will again support the efforts of the Young Entrepreneurs Academy (YEA!) at Pace High School.
University representative are working closely with Celene Sessions of Pace High School and Charlin Knight of the Santa Rosa County School District to discuss UWF support of the program.
