Director's Message
Welcome to Our Fall 2024 Issue!
When I’m asked about the most important consideration for an entrepreneur, I always respond the same: “Empathy.” In the context of entrepreneurship, that means having a first-person understanding of the problem you are trying to solve. There needs to be a true understanding of the pain others suffer to address their issue successfully. In business terms, that’s the human way of saying you must establish “Product-Market Fit.”
One of our flagship programs, Innovation Fellows, teaches interdisciplinary student teams to use the tools of empathy and prototyping (trying a few different ideas) to solve challenges they’ve encountered or have seen others encounter at SCU. Past challenges include partnering with Athletics to discover why more students aren’t attending sporting events and providing some ideas that might encourage more student engagement. Another team collaborated with Cowell Health Center and addressed the perceived stigma associated with utilizing mental health resources. Since the program began, we’ve “graduated” over 35 students from the four-quarter program, and there are now an additional 40 students in this year’s cohort!
Our vision for this program is that the students progressing through the Innovation Fellows program (“Innovation Fellows alumni”) will be equipped to solve larger and more challenging problems in our communities and our world. They will have learned the power of interdisciplinary teams and focus on the most important element of problem-solving: Empathy.
This year, we are now seeing our vision beginning to come to fruition. A team of Innovation Fellows alumni has been engaged by the Provost’s Office to analyze and report on the student perspective and experience of the quarter-system vs the semester system. These students will meet with and survey students both at SCU and at other institutions that have made quarter-to-semester transitions. And they will meet and update Provost Jim Glaser throughout the year. I couldn’t be prouder than to see graduates of Innovation Fellows engaged to help SCU chart its path into the future!
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We hope you enjoy this issue!
Keep reading,
Chris Norris, Executive Director
Ciocca Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship |
 | Congratulations to our 6th Bronco Venture Accelerator Cohort! Our founders have been working hard all summer culminating in Demo Day and pitching live in front of over 600 guests! Also, a special thanks to President Julie Sullivan and the founders of Bay FC for joining the celebration. You can find out more about how you can join our next cohort. |
Perspectives  | Professor Ryan Carrington holds an Art-oriented workshop based on the “Iron Chef” competition at the beginning of each academic year for our new Mindset Scholars cohort. Find out more about his work and how this creative exercise grows the ability to understand different perspectives. |
 | Analyst at the Government Accountability Office, N'dea Moore-Petinak '17 reflects on how empathy has been the common language across various multicultural experiences in her life. Read here to learn how N'dea leans into others' experiences from her Immersion to New Orleans to her time in Northern Ireland. |
 | Ciocca Center's Program Director, Hallie Mullane '12 '23 shares about her jarring encounter with "Failure to Thrive". Learn how empathy can improve our public health sphere in welcoming new life into the world. |
Ciocca Center Presents...  | AI Collaborate held their first AI Summit with over 300 attendees, featuring industry professionals on the forefront of AI technology. AI Collaborate is SCU's AI club which provides cutting-edge resources, mentorship, and opportunities for real-world applications of AI by fostering collaborations that spark innovation. Find out more and take leadership in developing the next generation. |
 | Bay Bash brought Black/Pan-African College students throughout the Bay Area to engage at Santa Clara University, with games, food trucks and a Pop Up Market including student vendors supporting local black business from fellow students. Follow Igwebuike, SCU’s Black Student Union and in Igbo, Igwebuike means "in unity there is strength." |
Broncos, Actually  | Double Bronco Justin Manalac '14 '23 finds that empathy is one of the most powerful ways to lead teammates and elevate collective emotional intelligence. Learn how to practice empathy by persevering through difficult and sometimes, painful life experiences. |
Student Stories  | We officially kicked off our Fall Term in early October with swag, food, and great people! BEACH provides law and business students with an experiential opportunity to team up with industry professionals, receive clients, and advise companies on legal or business related issues. Sign up to be a part of our Winter Cohort here! |
 | Looking for a club or RSO on campus? Use our Club Navigator, a great way to make connections and life-long friends! The platform came out of Ciocca Center's "You Are Here" initiative, where students collaborate on creating meaningful resources for SCU students. |
 | Mindset Scholars is a 2 year program to develop an early entrepreneurial mindset. Scholars complete one course from each school to build an interdisciplinary entrepreneurial mindset and are supported in self-actualization, by being provided specialized advising and access to on-campus experiential opportunities, like Idea Lab and Career Launch! Meet the new 24'-26' Cohort! |
 | Welcome to our new '24-'25 cohort of Innovation Fellows! Innovation Fellows focus on finding a pain point on our SCU campus and using design thinking methods and empathy to identify and implement solutions. We welcomed our new IF Cohort with Early-Arrival, jumping into Design Thinking Frameworks and Empathy Interviews. |
 | Ciocca Center welcomes the second cohort of Venture Virtuosos! This opportunity connects sophomores, juniors, and seniors from every major to learn the art and science of effectively communicating (and challenging) innovative solutions. Learn how you can identify and convey key differentiating characteristics across a variety of scenarios! |
 | Last weekend, students dove into Idea Lab, an interdisciplinary program that introduces the core concepts of design thinking, including ideation and pitching. We focused on the ideation module, providing tools and techniques to empathize with customers, deeply understand pain points, and generate human-centered solutions. |
A Well-Lighted Place  | Do you have a paper accepted for publication/presentation at a conference/symposia or publication in a journal? Is It focused on an Entrepreneurial Topic? If so, consider applying for travel or publication support! Ciocca Center's travel or publication grant includes airfare, hotel, rental car and conference registration up to $3,000/project. Apply Now! |
 | Ciocca Center accepts Curricular Development Proposals on a rolling basis. The objective of this program is to support the development of new courses, modules, and programs that address themes that broadly relate to the topics of innovation and the entrepreneurial mindset. Learn more. |
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