Leaders in innovation and entrepreneurship from the University of Colorado Colorado Springs (UCCS) and the broader University of Colorado system recently attended a workshop at Stanford University’s Design School, also known as the d.school. The weeklong program in Palo Alto brought together faculty and administrators from universities across the United States and internationally to explore approaches to teaching and learning innovation.
The CU delegation was led by Benjamin Kwitek, Ph.D., director of innovation and co-founder of C3 Innovation at UCCS. Accompanying him were Innovation Program faculty members Carolyn Gery, Ed.D., Gail Richards, M.S., and Ashley Taylor Tillman, director of the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Initiative for the CU system.
Kwitek emphasized the importance of human creativity in an era increasingly influenced by artificial intelligence. “David Kelly, the founder of the d.school, was right when he said, ‘Belief in your creative capacity lies at the heart of innovation,’” Kwitek said. “In a world increasingly dominated by AI, the human creativity factor needs to be emphasized. We are not robots or the Tin Man in ‘The Wizard of Oz’ – our faculty, staff and students have hearts.”
Ashley Taylor Tillman brought experience from California’s innovation sector to her current role at CU, having previously worked for IDEO, a product design firm with roots in Stanford’s d.school. “Design thinking is centered on empathy and understanding the user,” Tillman said. “CU students have incredible ideas and potential that can be unlocked to solve problems and produce innovative solutions.”
Other participating institutions included Maryland, Michigan Tech, New York University, Rutgers, and Utah. According to Kwitek, “The CU system is recognized as one of the leading hubs for innovation in the world. We need to make sure we continue to learn from the best to increase our edge and fuel the economic vitality of Colorado and beyond.”
Workshop activities at Stanford included listening circles, nonverbal teamwork exercises, prototyping with basic materials, and even a dance session in a makeshift disco at the Hasso Plattner Institute. Afterward, San Francisco DJ Lamont discussed how entertainment can help foster organizational culture.
Gail Richards noted how these experiences provided insight into design thinking: “It was the perfect exercise in tuning into the people around you, paying attention and responding based on what you learn,” she said.
The team plans to apply lessons learned at Stanford to update courses within UCCS’s Bachelor of Innovation core curriculum. Carolyn Gery highlighted the need for ongoing adaptation in higher education: “Our students today were practically born with a smartphone in their hands,” she said. “We need to ensure we provide education that is dynamic and relevant.”
For more information about this initiative or future programs, interested parties are encouraged to contact Benjamin Kwitek or Ashley Tillman.
