School:Menlo College

Overview

Menlo College is a small private school located in Atherton, California with a little over 800 students. Menlo College offers degrees in business, as well as a degree in psychology that has a business focuse. Being in the heart of Silicon Valley, Menlo College provides its students a unique approach to business: being able to see and learn about companies, such as Facebook and Google, who are just a short drive away from our campus. However, because Menlo College is such a small college, we lack many resources needed for innovation. Having the influence of such great entrepreneurial businesses around us is not enough to implement our own ideas as students without the necessary materials, mentors and an area to foster creativity. Therefore, the UIF Leadership Circle of Menlo College looks forward to identifying the gaps in our ecosystem, which need to be strengthen in order for Menlo College students to fully embrace entrepreneurship and innovation.

Student Entrepreneurship

Menlo College students are passionate about entrepreneurship and innovation; except, there are only minimal assets for them to utilize on campus. Entrepreneruship is offered as a major for those pursuing a business degree and is a growing major at Menlo College. The large presence of clubs on campus gives students the extracurricular opportunities to explore their areas of interest, such as the Pioneer Club, an organization strictly designed for entrepreneurs and creative thinkers alike. Menlo College Office of Career Services hosts a number of career orientated workshops, such as how to create a cover letter and resume workshop to learning how to set up a Linkedin profile; these are just a few of the events Menlo College offers to support entrepreneurship in their studnts. In addition, this was the first year Menlo participated in the Hult Prize competition, a start-up accelorator for social entrepreneruship. With the success of this competition, Menlo College is looking to expand on-campus challenges.

Faculty Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Being in the heart of the Silicon Valley, most of our faculty members are not only professors, they have either experience in the world of business or are currently in the work force. Many professors share their entrepreneurial experiences in class, whether it is indirect or directly tied to entrepreneurship.  Menlo College students are grateful to be backed by administration and faculty, who see the potential and need for expansion into entrepreneurship and innovation on campus 

University Technology Transfer Function

Our school does not have a technology transfer office.

University - Industry Collaboration

As an undergraduate school, Menlo College does not host the amount of research as a gradaute univeristy. Many professors conduct research, furthering their professional area of study, but there work is not directly linked to students. As a possible solution, Menlo College can partner in collaboration efforts with Stanford University and other local univerisities for students to see and utilize the resources in their surrounding environment.

Regional and Local Economic Development

Menlo College has a very low regional and local ecomonic development. Possibly due to the fact that our campus and its students do not have access to a specific entrepreneruship deparment or designated leader. There is a lack of awareness surrounding entrepreneruship and innovation on campus. Ultimately, this deprives students from pursuing their innovative business ideas as well as learning the steps to fully develop their ideas. 

Related Links

Student Priorities

Spring 2018 Fellows:

Ethan Moengchaisong
Sachal Jogi
Ash Hunt
Esther Funez
JC Maroun
Brenda Flores-Reyes
Jonathan Garcia
Lucia Casadei Parlanti