ASU's Entrepreneurship and Innovation Group expands with new dean, wider focus
Arizona State University’s[6] Entrepreneurship and Innovation Group will expand in the fall as the college has named a new dean and plans a new focus to extend its entrepreneurial education to all students, faculty and the community.
Mitzi Montoya[7], the former vice provost of ASU's Polytechnic campus and dean of the College of Technology and Innovation, is the new vice president and university dean of the school’s Entrepreneurship and Innovation Group.
“This is (ASU President Michael) Crow’s vision for the next phase of entrepreneurship and innovation,” Montoya told me today. “We want to extend entrepreneurship education to all students, provide entrepreneurial experiences for all students, support faculty startups and entrepreneurs, and grow the regional entrepreneurial ecosystem.”
In the Fall, Montoya will be helping to launch signature innovation challenges at the 15 ASU colleges. The goal is to give all ASU students opportunities to be entrepreneurial and to develop those skills no matter what their major is, Montoya said.
“This is an opportunity for students to have new ideas to solve big problems,” said Montoya, who has been at ASU for four years after spending 15 years at North Carolina State University[8]. “Students can carry those ideas forward through entrepreneurship classes and other mechanisms to make their ideas happen. Innovation is certainly the foundation of economic growth and development. A major characteristic is our ability to invent and re-invent ourselves, which is a skill that can be taught.”
Montoya is known for helping to bring the state's first TechShop Inc.[9], a membership-based, do-it-yourself fabrication studio filled with more than $1 million worth of tools, technology and equipment, to Chandler last November.
Hayley Ringle covers technology and startups for the Phoenix Business Journal.
References
- ^ Hayley Ringle (feeds.bizjournals.com)
- ^ This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (feeds.bizjournals.com)
- ^ Twitter (twitter.com)
- ^ LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com)
- ^ Google+ (plus.google.com)
- ^ Arizona State University’s (www.bizjournals.com)
- ^ Mitzi Montoya (feeds.bizjournals.com)
- ^ North Carolina State University (www.bizjournals.com)
- ^ bring the state's first TechShop Inc. (www.bizjournals.com)