faculty_fellows

View the bios and abstracts of the 2005   2006   2007   2009

2008 UIUC Faculty Fellows

2008 Parkland Faculty Fellows
2008 Faculty Fellows

Kathryn H. Anthony

Architecture, College of Fine and Applied Arts

Abstract: Entrepreneurship in Design, Diversity, Environment and Behavior

Designing for diversity addresses how gender, race, culture, physical ability, and sexual orientation relate to consumers, critics, creators, and clients of the built environment. The field of environment and behavior informs those engaged in the design professions about how spaces and places affect the everyday people who use them. In this course, students will examine in depth the entrepreneurial qualities of award-winning high-tech firms (such as Google) where the work environment is designed to promote the highest possible levels of creativity and productivity, and to meet the needs of an increasingly diverse work force; as well as firms initiated by diverse, underrepresented, architects and designers whose work has had a major impact on improving spaces and places for economically disadvantaged and culturally diverse clients. The course will also provide an opportunity to study individuals and firms that integrate environment-behavior research into the design fields. The course will equip students to be more effective leaders in the design professions and to become more influential citizens in society.

back to top

Ariel Avgar

Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations

Abstract: Strategic Human Resource Management and the Entrepreneurial Organization

Using the case method, this course will apply human resource principles and practices to entrepreneurial firms throughout their various developmental stages. The course will center around three stages in the life cycle of an entrepreneurial firm: organizational infancy (1-10 employees); growth and institutionalization (50- 150 employees); going global or being acquired by a much larger company (over 500 employees). Employing class lectures, case material analysis and discussion and guest speakers, the course will provide students with the understanding of the specific human resource needs at each of these organizational phases. In doing so, the course will illustrate the important strategic role of human resource management and its potential contribution to the sustainability and competitive advantage of entrepreneurial firms.

back to top

Kevin Chang

Computer Science, College of Engineering

Abstract: Entrepreneurial Computer Science

Computer Science – the science of computation for processing information – is a discipline full of entrepreneurial possibilities. As Google, MySpace, YouTube and even Wikipedia demonstrate, computer science at the heart of a new “Information Revolution” which is changing the way humans live and work. Using a combination of case studies and lecture, students in this graduate-level course will systematically study the historical roots, concepts, and methods for entrepreneurial computer science in this course, and explore how entrepreneurship, in a broad sense, has impacted computer science research and practice. The course will include opportunities to identify critical innovations and influential research projects in the field, and to develop a systematic framework for the innovation process, as well as to compare the educational institutions which have successfully integrated entrepreneurship and innovation into their curricula with those which have been less successful in doing do

back to top

Susan R. Frankenberg

Anthropology, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Abstract: Strategic Resource Development in Museum Contexts

Although museums are non-profit entities, they are increasingly entrepreneurial in seeking funding for daily operations and blockbuster exhibits, and competing for visitors in an urban landscape of multiple “edutainment” venues. This course conceptualizes entrepreneurial behaviors and environments in museums in terms of strategic resource development. The overall goal of the course is to identify and frame the entrepreneurial elements of museum activities within the schema of museum operations. The course will (1) address entrepreneurship theories and models, (2) survey museum operations, (3) examine case studies of how museums operate as social, business, corporate, community, and ethical entrepreneurs, and (4) encourage students to act entrepreneurially, using both individual and team exercises.

back to top

Gale Fulton

Landscape Architecture, College of Fine and Applied Arts

Abstract: The Entrepreneurial Landscape

The profession of Landscape Architecture is full of opportunities which have yet to be exploited but which require a particular way of seeing in order to be perceived and subsequently acted upon. In order to be effective practitioners and leaders in this new landscape, designers will require new sets of practical skills as well as new ways of seeing and understanding the world. This course intends to instill an entrepreneurial ‘ethos’ in students interested in problems and issues of the built environment. The course will be organized with two parallel tracks which simultaneously explore the literature and practices specific to entrepreneurialism and the literature, projects and practices specific to the disciplines concerned with the built environment, which students may then apply in subsequent studio and seminar coursework. The ultimate goal is to equip students in landscape architecture, architecture, and urban planning, with the entrepreneurial tools that will help make them leading-edge practitioners who are ready to face the global economic and environmental challenges of the coming century.

back to top

Bruce Litchfield

Engineering Administration, College of Engineering

Abstract: Creativity, Innovation and Vision

Creativity, innovation, and vision are intrinsically linked to entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurs create products and services; they undertake innovative endeavors; they take initiative to solve problems. Yet we do not teach creativity as a skill to be enhanced for entrepreneurs. This proposal aims to enhance the creative and entrepreneurial skills of students via a new course. The course will be offered to students at all levels, first year through graduate, and in all academic programs, campus-wide. Upon completion of the course, students should be able to (1) understand and use techniques to generate ideas, i.e., access a set of tools for creativity; (2) apply creativity in individual and group settings; (3) foster a creative environment, including dealing with obstacles to creativity; (4) evaluate or critique ideas; (5) understand the theory and psychology of creativity; (6) lead others in creative processes and courageous entrepreneurship, and; (7) communicate ideas effectively and creatively to bring about change in a specific domain or field.

back to top

Deana McDonagh

Gender and Women’s Studies, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Abstract: Inventor’s Studio: Designing for the Sexes

It is clear that environmentalism has had great success in pressing for sustainable design, and most architecture programs have now embedded these tenets so that they are an unquestioned assumption in the design process. However, this is not the case for gender. Products that creatively and insightfully take gender into account can catalyze societal change, and be inspired by entrepreneurial approaches. By addressing how men and women use objects differently, new entrepreneurial avenues can open in design innovations. This course will revolve around designing and re-designing everyday objects to better serve women’s needs. Students will be required to include gender as a design element, and their success in doing so will be assessed and reflected in their project grades. The course will utilize the resources of the Fab Lab, scheduled for completion in spring of 2008. Not only will students create and design a technology, they will be able to fabricate it to create a prototype. The prototype can then be the basis for a marketable product, patent, or business plan.

back to top

Steven C. Michael

Business Administration, College of Business

Abstract: Techno-Entrepreneurship

Research has shown that, in general, cross-disciplinary teams are more effective than individuals in starting businesses. The purpose of this course, therefore, is to encourage technology and business students to commercialize opportunities together. The course will convert a section of the existing BADM 446 class into a technology-based entrepreneurship course; it will blend principles from technology management into the existing entrepreneurship curriculum, to develop a cutting edge, world class course that helps students learn from each other and pair off into successful venture teams. The curriculum will include information on technological trends, entrepreneurial opportunities manifested through the industry lifecycle, the role of disruptive technology, and the nature of technological opportunity recognition. The course will yield projects that commercialize technology as a startup venture, in the form of business plans and technology documents, as students present their findings to successful entrepreneurs for real-world feedback.

back to top

William Patterson

African-American Cultural Program, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Abstract: Hip Hop and Social Entrepreneurship: The Emerging Implications of Cultural Capitalism and How it Can Be Used to Instigate Social Change

Hip Hop Culture emerged in the late 1970’s and 1980’s as a platform through which young people from marginalized communities expressed themselves to the world. This course will focus on the implications of acquiring new wealth and being “young, black, rich and famous” (Boyd 2002). Student will also review and build on the work of researchers such as Tyson (2003) Davis (2003), and Gant & Stokes (2002), examining the use of Hip Hop program development and intervention theory for addressing social concerns such as HIV/AIDS and African American female identity. It will also engage students in culturally specific policy analysis, indigenous evaluation, and grant research methods from a Hip Hop perspective. Five local small business owners or entrepreneurs with business located in or serving marginalized communities will receive a tuition waiver and book voucher to participate in the course. A final outcome of the course will be for students to submit final projects in a competition to receive a $5,000.00 stipend to implement their Hip Hop-based social entrepreneurial idea into a viable program that meets a need of a marginalized community or population.

back to top

Anne P. Villamil

Economics, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Abstract: Economics and the Entrepreneur

The overall objective of the course is to use economics to provide a framework for analyzing theories about entrepreneurship, problems and opportunities faced by entrepreneurs, and how government policy affects an entrepreneur's ability to start up and operate a firm. Students will explore the question of whether entrepreneurs are different than other people (e.g., innately more willing to bear risk, more optimistic, more constrained by credit problems, derive greater value from “being their own boss,” or possibly even more irrational), as well as those features of the economic environment within which entrepreneurs operate that are most affected by government policy. In order to answer these questions, we will use published data sets to establish facts about small firms, as well as build a computable theoretical model to answer the research questions and organize and interpret the data we use.

back to top

Sharra Vostral

Gender and Women’s Studies, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Abstract: Inventor’s Studio: Designing for the Sexes

It is clear that environmentalism has had great success in pressing for sustainable design, and most architecture programs have now embedded these tenets so that they are an unquestioned assumption in the design process. However, this is not the case for gender. Products that creatively and insightfully take gender into account can catalyze societal change, and be inspired by entrepreneurial approaches. By addressing how men and women use objects differently, new entrepreneurial avenues can open in design innovations. This course will revolve around designing and re-designing everyday objects to better serve women’s needs. Students will be required to include gender as a design element, and their success in doing so will be assessed and reflected in their project grades. The course will utilize the resources of the Fab Lab, scheduled for completion in spring of 2008. Not only will students create and design a technology, they will be able to fabricate it to create a prototype. The prototype can then be the basis for a marketable product, patent, or business plan.

back to top

Ruthann Whobrey

Parkland: Associate Professor, Computer Information Systems

Abstract: Web Design I

Knowing how to create and maintain a website can be a very effective, cost-efficient entrepreneurial tool to publicize a new business or organization. Web Design I in the Computer Science and Information Technology (CSIT) Department at Parkland College includes content to teach students enough manual coding in XHTML and CSS to be literate in coding syntax and introduces students to Dreamweaver, a very popular professional web authoring software package. While putting together a website, entrepreneurs must also find creative solutions for making their website more visible on the web. Search engine optimization (SEO) relates to learning how to improve the probability that a website will establish a high ranking in search engines. SEO constantly changes as the Internet evolves based on emerging technology. Web Design I provides a perfect academic opportunity to infuse these entrepreneurial concepts into the curriculum. An entrepreneurship component focusing on search engine optimization will be added to Web Design I to encourage students to seek innovative solutions, practice an entrepreneurial attitude and nurture their interest in entrepreneurship opportunities.

back to top

Curtis Shoaf

Parkland: Associate Professor, Physics

Abstract: How Things Work: Alternative Energies

back to top