THE PENDULUM
NEWS
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 6. 2010 // PAGE 7
‘Idea Launch Pad’ offers students with
opportunities to share entrepreneurial concepts
Liz Moy
Reporter
Some of the biggest ideas of this generation
have been imagined by the youngest innovators —
people in their twenties. Elon University’s Doherty
Center and Student Entrepreneurial Enterprise
Development organization encouraged students to
voice their ideas at the inaugural “Idea Launch Pad"
held in the Koury Business Center Sept. 28.
Students of all majors were invited to bring a
concept or idea to share in a
two minute pitch for a panel
of professors, as well as for
other students and members
of SEED. Afterward,
professors offered feedback
not only on the idea the
students shared, but also
on the overall presentation.
They also provided advice to
each group or individual.
“It’s important to have
energy and passion in
presenting and to engage
with your audience,” said Gary Palin, panel member
and executive director of the Doherty Center for
Entrepreneurial Leadership.
The panel consisted of professor Gary Palin,
David Jackson and Barth Strempek, professors
of entrepreneurship at Elon, and Amanda Elam,
professor at North Carolina State University.
Palin worked with Brian Serow, SEED president
and Alex Carberry, vice president of finance for
SEED, to assemble the panel and turn the idea of the
launch pad into an actual event.
“Turning any idea into a real venture takes a
combination of hard work, luck and know-how, and
most students simply do not have all of the resources
or experience necessary to launch the ventures on
their own," Serow said. “Both the members of SEED
and Professor Palin realized this was a need that
had to be addressed and independently came to
very similar conclusions."
A wide range of ideas were shared by 10
different groups and individuals, ranging from new
applications for smartphones to a pedal-electric
vehicle. Senior Brittany Hooper proposed the idea of
an organic biodegradable cigarette, a concept that
she has had since her sophomore year.
“If we can’t stop society
from smoking we can at least
stop the long trail of trash
behind us,” Hooper said.
“This was the first time I
ever proposed the idea in a
formal manner.”
Once the event
concluded, students were
given the opportunity to
discuss their ideas together
and collaborate. Hooper
found the experience to be
positive.
“The response was overwhelmingly positive,"
she said. “I know this idea has incredible potential
both in a business sense and in an environmental
sense, and it was nice to have the encouragement to
seriously move forward with the idea from experts
in the field.”
The event participants and SEED executive board
said they look forward to taking the next steps to
developing the ideas shared and are seeking further
information about the different concepts.
“This is just the first step for the relationship
between the Doherty Center for Entrepreneurial
Leadership and those who pitched,” Serow said. “The
next step is to work with the students to establish
oea
L-auntzH
Ran
Make your ideas a reality
PHOTO COURTESY OF UNIVERSITY RELATIONS
feasibility and find experts in the respective idea
areas that can help them further develop their
ideas.”
The Doherty Center and SEED members said they
aren’t finished with these forums. As they continue
to work with the current students, they plan to host
future forums, since the turnout of the first was a
success.
Hooper is currently looking into patenting her
idea and has found valuable advisers in personal
contacts to further this concept. Students
continuing to further their products and concepts,
if supported, could end up graduating from Elon
having helped start up a business.
“To our knowledge, this is a program unique
to Elon University,” Verow said. “We find this to
be a highly exciting project that has the ability to
change how entrepreneurship is taught across the
country."
“The response was overwhelmingly
positive,” she said. “I know this Idea has
Incredible potential both In a business
sense and in an environmental sense, and
It was nice to have the encouragement
to seriously move forward with the Idea
from experts In the field.”
-BRITTANY HOOPER
ELON UNIVERSITY SENIOR
Environmental studies restructures curriculum
to suit student interests, adds two majors
JULIA MURPHY | Staff Photoflraptw
Elon University’s community garden is a large element of the environmental studies program,
which is looking to create a new major, as well as add more faculty and student interest.
Melissa Kansky
Multimedia Editor
Elon University faculty from the
environmental science department
recently redesigned the department’s
curriculum, redefined two existing
majors and created a new major and
minor. Elon faculty approved the
program last spring.
The new structure provides
students with the opportunity to earn
either a Bachelor of Arts degree in
environmental studies or one of two
Bachelor of Science degrees, either in
environment al studies or environmental
and ecological science. Individuals
can also minor in environmental and
sustainability studies.
In a changing environment, the
faculty acknowledges that courses need
to change accordingly.
“Faculty do periodically look at
the curriculum and realize we can do
better,” said Michael Kingston, interim
chair of the environmental studies
department. “We can serve our students
better by making some changes. It’s not
good to stay with the same curriculum
for 30 years."
Making changes
The environmental studies program
is changing the degrees offered with the
new majors, according to Janet MacFall,
associate professor for environmental
studies and biology.
“The way the major was structured
before the revision," MacFall said, “we
had a B.S. track and an A.B. track, but the
A.B. has been completely restructured
and the B.S. has been divided into two
separate and new degrees.”
The older curriculum did not offer a
degree in environmental and ecological
science nor did it allow students to take
a minor in the department.
The Bachelor of Arts track
incorporates environmental education
and arts, Kingston said. It gives
students more flexibility to learn about
communicating and speaking to the
general public.
TheBachelorofScienceenvironmental
studies degree prepares individuals for
a career in management, urban planning
or working in Washington, D.C. with the
state legislature. He said students in the
B.S. program are not scientists, but are
interested in science in some way.
“We decided it is better to tailor the
degrees to specific interests,” Kingston
said, “and not force everyone who was
an environmental studies major to be a
scientists first and then specialize.”
According to Kingston, the new
program includes new introductory
classes for students who are not
particularly science-oriented.
These courses include Strategies
and Environmental Inquiries, which
is a second-year methods course that
reinforces skills related to accessing,
analyzing and interpreting public data.
The course is required for all three
majors.
Kingston said he hopes this new
class will better prepare students before
their senior seminar.
“The new major provides students
with more environmentally-focused
courses," MacFall said. “We really
wanted to prepare opportunities for
students that are interested in science
to have a degree in environmental
science.”
The faculty recognized that not all
careers pertaining to environmental
studies require a deep knowledge of
science.
“You can go to work for a corporation
that needs to produce media to show how
the company is doing environmentally
sound business," Kingston said.
The environmental and ecological
science major suits those interested
in becoming a wildlife biologist or
naturalist for a zoo, he said. These
students are scientists and work with
the technical side of the field.
Students can easily migrate from
one of the three majors to another as
they better understand what they want
to learn from college, Kingston said.
Blending academic departments
The new design also provides
students with the opportunity to double
major.
Political science, economics and
English are the three most common
double majors for students interested
in the Bachelor of Arts environmental
studies track, MacFall said.
“The environmental and ecological
science program is designed so
students can double major in biology
and chemistry," she said.
Interaction with other departments
at Elon has translated into a growth in
faculty, propelling the creation of the
new major and minor. With only three
full-time members of the environmental
studies department, the major relies on
faculty throughout campus to sustain
the major.
“We don’t really grow by adding
more bodies, we grow by faculty on
the campus discovering an interest in
environmental studies," Kingston said.
Elon’s Martha and Spencer Love
School of Business has altered its
mission to accommodate the increasing
student interest with respect to
environmental studies, but has yet to
redesign the courses.
“The business school has strong
sustainability initiatives,” MacFall said,
“but they don’t have courses in place
that promote sustainability training for
students.”
According to MacFall, the
environmental studies department
hopes to provide some training to
help students understand and assess
sustainability.
“Faculty members that have always
been concerned with the environment
have been teaching courses,” Kingston
said. “We put all those courses together
and that’s how the program started in
the first place.”
Even though the department uses
these secondary faculty members,
it's planning to hire another primary
faculty member.
Implementing the new design
As the interest in the faculty grows,
MacFall said she also expects student
interest to increase.
“We’re hoping these majors are
attractive majors for students,” MacFall
said, “and they help students prepare
for the society and economy to come."
The course catalog only features the
new structure of environmental science
majors.
“While it would be nearly impossible
for seniors to complete the new major,"
MacFall said, “any student that is a
freshman, sophomore or junior should
be able to do the new major if they so
choose."
Although seniors would not be able
to take the new major, the minor is
available to them, she said.