School:Grand Valley State University

Introduction

Grand Valley State University (also known as GVSU), is a public, liberal arts university in Allendale, Michigan, United States. The university is located west of Grand Rapids, Michigan. and offers classes at a second campus in downtown Grand Rapids--GVSU's Pew Campus. The Pew Campus houses programs in Engineering, Education, Nursing, and Business. A third campus is in Holland, Michigan, and centers are located in Traverse City, Detroit, and Muskegon.

Currently, in 2018, there are 25,049 students, with 21,937 of them being undergraduated and the other 3,112 students being graduate students. There are ninety undergraduate programs and 38 graduate programs. Grand Valley also offers over 400 student-led clubs and organizations.

Thomas J. Haas, affectionately known as T. Hass, has been serving as president of the university since 2006.

Within GVSU, the Fredrick Meijer Honors College is housed. In Fall 2017, there was an all-time high total enrollment of 1,700 students, 420 of them being freshmen. A multitude of majors are represented within the Honors College. The focus on the Honors College curriculum is an alternate education that focuses on integration of topics and perspectives, utilizing the resources surrounding the GVSU community.

There has been a movement through the past several years to improve the innovation and entrepreneurship landscape on GVSU main campuses. This recent push has gained the momentum of numerous courses, clubs, workshops, competitions and other programs involving innovation and entrepreneurship. The infrastructure is slowly growing to empower a greater number of students with the skills and mindset of an entrepreneur and innovator. With a continued focus on liberal arts, Grand Valley has been working on integrating subjects to allow for students to receive a more well-rounded education.

Events & Community

Not only does Grand Valley State University support its students in innovation and entrepreneurship, both in and outside the classroom, but the Grand Rapids community also supports it. There are many organizations that offer funding, advising, space, and much more for small start up companies and businesses. Below is a list of some community organizations and GVSU programs that support innovation and entrepreneurship.

Community:

StartGarden Speakers/Workshops (http://startgarden.com/about/)
GRIN - Grand Rapids Inventors Network (https://www.meetup.com/Grand-Rapids-Inventors-Network/?_cookie-check=clEs_1c4xRh8GhS0)
GR Current (https://www.linkedin.com/company/gr-current/)
Emerge Xcelerate (https://grileadership.org/2017/10/meet-the-emerge-class-of-2018/) (https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/emerge-xcelerate)
Seamless (http://seamlessiot.com/)

Campus:

Idea Pitch
CEO Club
MWest
Hack Your Campus
5x5 Night GVSU Editionte
aMDI (Applied Medical Device Institue)

Resources:

Engineering prototyping lab, makerspace, machine shop, wood shop, Tech Showcase.

Co-op Program

For GVSU’s Engineering program, students must participate in a 3 semester co-op program. The last two years of an Engineer’s education, a student will alternate between co-op (usually at a company) and school every other semester. This allows students to apply what they have learned in real live situations and gain valuable industrial work experience. Typically students will get job offers after graduation with the company they co-oped with. The program also has a two semester long undergraduate senior project.

Not only does all this hands-on experience cause students to develop work ethic/economics and project management skills, it offers a more active participation in innovation and entrepreneurship.