VCU news

By Tom Gresham

Ace Callwood has a talent and passion for entrepreneurship. He’s not only an entrepreneur himself – his projects include being one of the partners in Coffivity, a new website that provides ambient, coffee shop noise as a background for work – but he also revels in working with others on their budding businesses, particularly in his position as coordinator of entrepreneurship in the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Business.

In 2013, Callwood’s efforts with others in the business school to boost entrepreneurship activities for its students have led to dramatic signs of growth. Student enrollment in entrepreneurship classes has surged, necessitating more sections , and fundraising for entrepreneurship-related programs has taken root. The school has formed a student entrepreneurship organization and launched the Entrepreneurial Bridge internship program that gets students working at local startups (with pay made available through the School of Business). And the school was a host for a two-part event for student entrepreneurs from 10 state universities held in Richmond.

So what changed this year? In January, the School of Business entrepreneurship program became one of the 10 inaugural recipients of a Quest Innovation Fund grant. The fund, which currently is open for new applications, provides resources for innovative pilot initiatives at VCU that meet the goals of Quest for Distinction, the university’s strategic plan.

Callwood, whose current position was established through the grant, said the Quest Innovation Fund “provided the opportunity for a small and little-known program to make waves in a growing community of entrepreneurs.”

“It’s been huge,” said Callwood, a VCU business alumnus. “It would have been very hard for us to do what we’ve been able to do without the help we’ve gotten from the fund.”

Early returns on the fund’s impact on other awardees are similarly promising. Recipients include other projects tailored to entrepreneurship and the marketplace, such as VCU Squared and the VCU School of the Arts Creative Disruption Lab, but also to research, health and community engagement. All of the projects incorporate student participation as a core purpose. And Callwood noted that the fund has served to help bring together those with similar goals, such as in the case of the early connections made between the business entrepreneurship program, VCU Squared and the Creative Disruption Lab.

VCU President Michael Rao, Ph.D., said grant recipients have demonstrated ambition and drive in meeting the tenets of Quest for Distinction and aggresively pursuing their projects.

“These grant resources clearly are working to advance Quest for Distinction through the creativity and hard work of many great people at VCU,” Rao said. “The success of our people is what advances our university nationally. I am pleased to see the excellent work that has been done already, and I am eager to learn where they take these innovative projects next. I also deeply appreciate the invaluable contributions that the VCU team has made to VCU’s mission to expand and improve the human experience through education, innovation, research, health care and service.”

The following is a complete list of grant recipients with updates on their progress.

·        Ace Callwood, coordinator of entrepreneurship, Department of Management, School of Business: “Development and Improvement of the Entrepreneurship Program at VCU.”

·        Nicole Colomb, Enterprise and Economic Development executive: “VCU Innovation and Entrepreneurship Program.” VCU Squared, a universitywide initiative to promote and support entrepreneurship and venture creation, was launched with a new website. Startup efforts for both faculty and students began, including workshops and a student seminar series. Worked with outside partners on the development of a regional innovative ecosystem. For more on VCU Squared, visit http://www.news.vcu.edu/article/Startups_start_here.

·        Danielle Dick, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine: “Integrating Research and Prevention Programming to Reduce Risky Alcohol Use among VCU Students.” Researchers have collected and analyzed data and have begun alcohol education modules with student volunteers that are tailored to risk profiles revealed by the data.

·        Sheryl Garland, vice president of health policy and community relations, VCU Health System: “HELP for VCC and the Daily Planet: Implementing a Student-Led Health Literacy Program for Underserved Patients.” Students have conducted focus groups and health education presentations with patients in the Virginia Coordinated Care for the Uninsured program and the populations served at the Daily Planet.

·        Yan Jin, Ph.D., associate professor of public relations, School of Mass Communications, College of Humanities and Sciences: “Creating a VCU Center for Media+Health: A Collaborative Hub for Human Communication Science and Practice.” The new Center for Media + Health is up and running with a cutting-edge health media research lab and a health information dissemination program that will provide online and open lectures to VCU students and community audiences. An annual health communication event is in the works.

·        Students Qasim Kazmi, who has graduated since the grant was awarded, and Usman Chaudhry: “Emerging Healthcare Leaders on a National Level.” The group has begun to duplicate the Emerging Healthcare Leaders model – an undergraduate organization for students interested in health care careers – begun at VCU, helping launch three chapters at other schools and developing verbal agreements at four others. A national executive committee formed, marketing strategies were implemented and three students received scholarships at the group’s first national awards banquet.

·        Micah McCreary, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Psychology, College of Humanities and Sciences: “The BEST (Brothers, Energized, Spirited, Talented) Project.” A service-learning course has been redesigned. The course involves students participating in an organized service activity designed to meet the needs of African-American male middle school students in an after-school community program.

·        Tawnya Pettiford-Wates, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Theatre, School of the Arts: “The Initiative for Conciliation, Alliance Building, Recognition and Engagement (CARE).” The Conciliation Project, which uses theater performances to explore social issues, has staged plays, Kitchen Table Summits designed to enable brainstorming about social justice issues and workshops and other events.

·        Nihar Sheth, instructor, Center for the Study of Biological Complexity, Life Sciences: “Research and Experience Opportunities for Students (REOS).” Features have been developed for a web-based application to systemize the student research recruitment process at VCU. Alpha testing has begun.

·        Matt Woolman, director of creative entrepreneurship, School of the Arts: “Creative Disruption Lab.” Five new courses in creative entrepreneurship are now offered in the VCU School of the Arts through the Creative Disruption Lab. Students have begun working on industry projects and honing student-developed business ideas.

The next round of applications for Quest Innovation Fund recipients will close on Nov. 3. Visit http://www.quest.vcu.edu/innovation/index.html to apply for a grant and to find more information about the grant process.

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