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, Health Professions, and Business. A third campus in Holland, Michigan houses many of the online hybrid degree programs and two graduate programs--the Master’s of Business Administration and the Masters of Education. Three satellite centers are located in Traverse City, Detroit, and Muskegon.

Currently, in 2022, there are 22,406 students, with 19,239 of them being undergraduate and the other 3,027 students being graduate students. Grand Valley is still able to maintain its average class size of 26 students. There are 96 undergraduate programs and 45 graduate programs. Grand Valley also offers over 400 student-led clubs and organizations.

President Philomena Mantella, affectionately known as Philly, is the first woman to serve in this position. She has initialized a program known as the "Grand Huddle" in order to encourage dialogue regarding Grand Valley's innovative future.

Within GVSU, the Frederik Meijer Honors College is housed. The Honors College has 8% of all undergraduate enrollment. In Fall 2019, there was an all-time high total enrollment of 1,700 students, and enrollment has been capped. A multitude of majors are represented within the Honors College, but as of 2018 60% of the students are in STEM majors. 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.

Grand Valley houses a Technology Commercialization Office. This office functions similarly to a Technology Transfer Function. The office focuses on creating connections between faculty, students, and industry resources through scholarships and connection programs.

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. A new building was just opened, known as the Innovation Design Center for Engineering. 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.

Campus Overview

Promoting Student Innovation and Entrepreneurship

GVSU has eight non-innovation/entrepreneurship departments utilizing innovation and entrepreneurship in their courses: Brooks College of Interdisciplinary Studies, Business, Engineering, Marketing, Cell and Molecular Biology, Biology, Art, and the Honors College. Grand Valley also has the Richard M. and Helen DeVos Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation, CEI. The CEI supports students through a combination of courses, curriculum, peer to peer networking, competitions, and mentorship.

Encouraging Faculty Innovation and Entrepreneurship

At Grand Valley, faculty in the Seidman College of Business and the School of Engineering are more encouraged to be innovative than faculty in other areas. However, many faculty members do some type of research or project. However, faculty with research/projects are limited to a course load of three total courses a semester.

Creating Collaborative Industry-University Relationships

Grand Valley's Technology Commercialization Office is committed to creating opportunities to enable university-industry relationships and connecting student research with real-world applications. The TCO capitalizes on value created by scholarship at GVSU, and facilitates the exchange of ideas between students, faculty, and industry professionals. Business needs, project management and expertise can all be provided at the TCO.

Facilitating University-Industry Collaboration

Within GVSU and the surrounding community, many programs and partnerships have become available to promote a continued use of innovation and entrepreneurship outside of the classroom. These programs include:

FlexLab
Grand Rapids Score
Grand Ventures
Engineering Co-Ops

Engaging with Regional and Local Economic Development Efforts

Grand Valley works with the Muskegon Innovation Hub, Lend GR, and many small companies supplying funds or student interns to promote local economic development. Grand Valley has also recently opened the Innovation Design Center for Engineering. However, the resources that directly connect students to industries in the area are not expansive and centered on business and engineering students.

Entrepreneurship and Innovation

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 and courses that support innovation and entrepreneurship.

Community:

MWest Jumpstart
MWest Challenge
5x5 Pitch Competition
Startup Weekend
Startup Grind
StartGarden
SURGE

Campus:

Idea Pitch
Collegiate Entrepreneurs Organization (CEO)
Design Thinking Academy
Design Start
Social Innovation Club (SIC)
77 Idea Lab

Resources:

Makerspace (GVSU)
Social Innovation Lab (GVSU)
Start Lab (GVSU)
Flexlab (Kendall College of Art and Design)
Innovation Design Center for Engineering
Muskegon Innovation Hub

Courses:

AFN 381 - Design Thinking in Applied Food and Nutrition
ART 153 - Making and Meaning
BUS 501 - Self Management for Leaders
EGR 185 - First-Year Engineering Design
EGR 301 - Analytical Tools for Product Design
EGR 401 - Advanced Product Design
EGR 610 - Engineering Design
EGR 614 - Opportunity Identification for Medical Devices
ENT 150/151 - Entrepreneurial Quest/New Venture Feasibility
ENT 350/351 - Entrepreneurial Business Plan and Project
HNR 151-154 - Design Thinking for Social Product Innovation
INT 323 - Design Thinking to Meet Real World Needs
MKT 369 - Creativity in Marketing Innovation

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.