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The grant from the Cornell Presidential Council for Women (PCCW) will help Cornell University build on its strong campus resources for student entrepreneurs. This new initiative will focus on supporting women and gender-expansive entrepreneurs.
“We want to help students understand what entrepreneurship really is and what resources are available here,” said Krista Downey, director of Cornell University’s Engineering Career Center. I’m thinking about it,” he said.
“Cornell University is a great place for anyone to start a company,” said Andrea Ippolito, instructor in the School of Engineering’s Engineering Management Program and program director for WE Cornell, which is based in the Center for Regional Economic Development. Masu. She is a female master’s and doctoral student in a STEM field and wants to learn more about entrepreneurship.
The university was ranked 5th in a recent Pitchbook survey of top universities for female founders and is among the top 10 alma maters of founders of “unicorn” companies, which are private companies valued at more than $1 billion. .
However, Cornell University offers numerous entrepreneurship courses. Resources like Blackstone Launchpad (BLP) and eLab Student Accelerator. Through hackathons and business ideas competitions, Downey and other leaders know there’s still much more they can do to expose students to the idea of becoming entrepreneurs.
“Some students never think of themselves as entrepreneurs, but in reality they are. They don’t want to work for anyone else,” says Nancy Alman, co-managing director of Blackstone Launchpad. ’83 says. “They need someone who understands them and helps them pursue what they want to do.”
Mr. Downey, Mr. Armand and Mr. Ippolito are working with a team of other campus leaders with similar goals. LeeAnne Roberts is director of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the Bowers College of Computing and Information Sciences at Cornell University. Matt Marx, Bruce F. Feiling, Senior Professor of Personal Enterprise, SC Johnson College of Business;
Organizers will use the PCCW grant to help share entrepreneurship resources with students on campus through a variety of outreach methods, including listservs, social media campaigns, and class visits. They work with communication directors from all Cornell schools and colleges to publish articles about women and gender diverse entrepreneurs. We are also reaching out to female alumni entrepreneurs to add to our already active list of mentors willing to work with students.
“It’s really important to have an infusion of role models and peer mentors at the start,” Ippolito says. “When I see people who look like me and have the same major and interests, it makes me think that maybe I can do it too.”
Downey said this increased effort could be another differentiator for Cornell in terms of entrepreneurship. “If we can say that Cornell University is a leader in producing diverse, funded entrepreneurs, we have succeeded.”
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