News for and about University of Portland faculty and staff.
Please join the Pamplin School of Business and the Franz Center as we say goodbye to Peter Rachor, Director of Entrepreneurship. The gathering will be held on Tuesday, May 14, from 4 to 6 p.m., in Franz Hall room 120. All University employees are invited to extend their good wishes to Peter.
If you have any questions, please contact Christine Naylor at naylor@up.edu.
The Franz Center for Leadership, Entrepreneurship, and Innovation will present its annual $100K Challenge Venture Competition on Saturday, April 27, on the third floor of Shiley Hall. This competition provides students with the opportunity to receive feedback on their proposed ventures from within the local entrepreneurial community, win cash awards, and move on to the opportunity to acquire seed funding that will help advance an entrepreneurial opportunity to the next stage. All faculty, staff, and students are welcome to attend and watch student presentations.
The $100K Competition includes flights focused on For Profit Ventures, Social Enterprises and Inventions. The Invention flight winner moves ahead into the InventOR Statewide student invention program.
Students and judges can join for an informal lunch beginning at noon. All flights begin at 1 p.m and should finish by 3:15 p.m. A reception and announcement of winners takes place from 3:30 to 4 p.m. Prizes include $1,250 for first place (for-profit, non-profit and invention); $750 for second place (for-profit) and $250 for third place (for-profit). Sponsors include VTM Group, Cinder Staffing, LivePlan, A to Z Wineworks, and the AARP Foundation.
For more information contact Peter Rachor, Director for Entrepreneurship, at rachor@up.edu.
The Franz Center for Leadership, Entrepreneurship, and Innovation will present its annual $100K Challenge Venture Competition on Saturday, April 28, in Shiley Hall room 301. This competition provides students with the opportunity to receive feedback on their proposed ventures from within the local entrepreneurial community, win cash awards, and move on to the opportunity to acquire seed funding that will help advance an entrepreneurial opportunity to the next stage. All faculty, staff, and students are welcome to attend and watch student presentations.For more information contact Peter Rachor, Franz Center, at rachor@up.edu.
The Franz Center for Leadership, Entrepreneurship, and Innovation will present its annual $100K Challenge Venture Competition on Saturday, April 29, in Shiley Hall room 301. This competition provides students with the opportunity to receive feedback on their proposed ventures from within the local entrepreneurial community, win cash awards, and move on to the opportunity to acquire seed funding, as well as legal and other services, that will help advance an entrepreneurial opportunity to the next stage. All faculty, staff, and students are welcome to attend and watch student presentations. Additionally, this year adds a new track focused on Invention, allowing students to highlight something they developed through the InventOR Statewide student invention program.
Preliminary rounds start at 9 a.m., lunch is 12:30 to 1:15 p.m., and the finals round is 1 to 3:30 p.m. The Invention round will take from from 1:30 – 3:30 p.m. A reception and announcement of winners takes place from 3:30 t0 4 p.m. Prizes include $1,250 for first place (for-profit and non-profit); $750 for second place (for-profit) and $250 for third place (for-profit). Sponsors include LivePlan, Schwabe, Williamson and Wyatt, Klarquist Sparkman LLP, AARP Foundation, Portland Business Journal, and the Oregon Entrepreneurs Network (OEN).
For more information contact Peter Rachor, Franz Center, at x7769 or rachor@up.edu.
The Franz Center for Leadership, Entrepreneurship, and Innovation will present a Create-A-Thon in conjunction with the Shiley School’s Engineering Week, February 20-24. This event is open to all UP students on Saturday, February 25, in Franz Hall room 120, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. According to Franz Center director Peter Rachor, the Create-A-Thon offers the chance for an individual or team to ideate and develop a basic prototype for a product, service, or venture. Prizes will be awarded in 5 categories, and the event will mark the start of UP’s participation in Invent Oregon, a Statewide program for student inventors.
For more information about the Create-A-Thon contact the Franz Center at rachor@up.edu and more information about Invent Oregon is here.
Michael Williamson, a senior Finance major, was awarded runner up in his category for his venture Sentri Performance at the finals of the University Start-Up World Cup, held Friday, October 7 in Copenhagen, Denmark. Sentri makes a line of lightweight high performance outdoor wear styled as a ‘hoodie’ specially designed by Williamson, and incorporating technical fabric and features.
The 4-day event featured 50 teams from more than 30 countries. Williamson was one of two students representing the USA at the University Start Up World Cup, with the other student being from Stanford University.
Williamson was also the winner of UP’s 2016 $100K Venture Competition last April.
For more information, please contact Peter Rachor, Franz Center, at x7782 or rachor@up.edu.
The Franz Center will formally launch the new ThinkTank innovation lab, along with upcoming programs, workshops, and introductory course offering, at a special event on Wednesday, October 12, from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m., in Franz Hall Room 120. The program, hosted by University provost Tom Greene, will include a short talk by John Sherry ’85, director of Intel’s User Experience Innovation Lab, about the importance of innovation to students’ education and future opportunities. Students who led the push for the new space will also be recognized, along with upcoming opportunities for students to get involved. All faculty, staff and students are welcome.
The Franz Center for Leadership, Entrepreneurship, and Innovation will unveil its new Innovation Lab in the Fall semester, according to director Peter Rachor. Finishing touches are being put on the lab, located in Franz Hall room 123, along with the new, updated Franz Center office in room 121.
The Innovation Lab is based on the model of the d.school Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford, and is designed by the same firm, Steelcase. Designers from Steelcase worked with local dealer SmithCFI and a diverse team of UP students and faculty to develop the new lab’s design.
“This is designed to be a learning studio, as opposed to a lecture space,” says Rachor. “It is the first real innovation space of its kind in the state, which enhances our leading role in innovation offerings and supports creativity and learning styles for our students.”
The idea for the Innovation Lab came from students who participated in the National Science Foundation’s University Innovation Fellows program (http://universityinnovationfellows.org). As part of the program, they spend a weekend at Stanford’s d.school and returned with a mission to develop a similar space at UP. The lab was funded through the RISE Campaign, including the support of several donors to the Franz Center.
The lab will be open to all students, faculty, and staff, regardless of major. The space can be used for group project sessions, class assignments, breakout sessions, and more. The lab will offer technology and office configurations to facilitate collaboration and idea generation, as well as materials and tools for early stage prototyping and mock-ups.
Scheduling for the two innovation pods will be done online, and will be incorporated into the Clark Library’s scheduling app later this semester. Eventually, card keys will allow access from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., with extended hours in the future.
An official opening ceremony will take place in October. For more information contact the Franz Center at x7769 or rachor@up.edu.
The annual Franz Center $100K Venture Competition took place on Saturday, April 23, with a record number of 34 teams participating, according to Peter Rachor, Franz Center.
The winner in the Social Enterprise category was Pro Social, a web platform to help people find a volunteer organization that fits with their passions and interests, by Spencer Fovell and Ashley Lund.
Winners in the For-Profit category:
The competition provides students with the opportunity to receive feedback from experts in the entrepreneurial community, win cash prizes, and acquire legal and other services that will help advance an idea to the next stage in the entrepreneurial process. Prizes included $1,250 for first place (for-profit and non-profit); $750 for second place (for-profit) and $250 for third place (for-profit). Sponsors included D&B, LivePlan, Schwabe, Williamson and Wyatt, Domain.com, AARP, Portland Business Journal, and the Oregon Entrepreneurs Network (OEN).
For more information contact Peter Rachor, Franz Center, at rachor@up.edu.
The Franz Center for Leadership, Entrepreneurship, and Innovation will present its annual $100K Challenge Venture Competition on Saturday, April 23, in Shiley Hall room 301. This competition provides students with the opportunity to receive feedback from experts in the entrepreneurial community, win cash prizes, and acquire legal and other services that will help advance an idea to the next stage in the entrepreneurial process. All faculty, staff, and students are welcome to attend and watch student presentations.
Preliminary rounds start at 9 a.m., lunch is noon to 1 p.m., and the finals round is 1 to 3 p.m. A reception and announcement of winners takes place from 3 t0 3:45 p.m. Prizes include $1,250 for first place (for-profit and non-profit); $750 for second place (for-profit) and $250 for third place (for-profit). Sponsors include D&B, LivePlan, Schwabe, Williamson and Wyatt, Domain.com, AARP, Portland Business Journal, and the Oregon Entrepreneurs Network (OEN).
For more information contact Peter Rachor, Franz Center, at 7769 or rachor@up.edu.