Katherine Olives
Last week marked the first sessions of two new entrepreneurship classes at CCNY. One of these classes is the highly-anticipated course “Entrepreneurship: Women & Diversity” launched by the Zahn Innovation Center as part of its partnership with Standard Chartered Bank. The other, “Design Entrepreneurship” is the perfect combination of design and business for advanced-level designers.
Entrepreneurship: Women & Diversity is an Economics and Business course cross-listed with both Women's Studies and Black Studies and it will explore how women are positioned to create new businesses, new jobs and stimulate the economy. It will also provide an overall historical context for women as entrepreneurs and recognizes ethnic, racial, religious and socio-economic diversity of women entrepreneurs. Over the course of the semester, students will analyze case studies curated by Professor Kim Wales and mentors at Standard Chartered Bank. By the end of the course, all 20 students will present a final case study of their very own entrepreneurial venture, which will become entries into the Zahn competitions.
Design Entrepreneurship is an advanced-level design course that allows students to conceptualize and produce their own ideas for product development. The class is made up of a Electronic Design and Multimedia Juniors and Seniors who will receive individualized attention from Professor Yvette Francis. Over the course of the semester, students will work to bring their ideas to market using research, design (print, web, interactive, video, brand/identity, packaging, etc.), and storytelling skills. These students will interact with and have access to facilities offered by the Zahn Innovation Center.
In addition, the Zahn Center is pleased to partner with a variety of other classes across the campus, from Entrepreneurship and Social Entrepreneurship courses taught in the Economics and Business program to Engineering 101 for Freshmen engineers. These collaborations were made possible with a grant from the Moxie Foundation.
Were also collaborating with professors in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Psychology, Mechanical Engineering and beyond to bring the tools of entrepreneurship to classrooms across CCNY.
We're excited for all students to share their startup ideas and develop an entrepreneurial mindset for their academic success and beyond. As we learned last year from the Advertising/PR students at City College, entrepreneurship is not a major, its a mindset!
Interested in having the Zahn Center facilitate a workshop or collaborate with your department? contact@zahncenternyc.com and lets explore together.