KEEN 2020 Annual Report

30 A Thriving Community KEEN started in 2005 with a handful of private colleges interested in engineering education innovation. Since then, we have grown to 50 partners. New partners are added every year to drive the Engineering Unleashed movement. Together, we graduate engineers with an entrepreneurial mindset so they can create personal, economic, and societal value through a lifetime of meaningful work. NEW PARTNERS Oregon Institute of Technology University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Established in 1947, the Oregon Institute of Technology (Oregon Tech) is an institution founded on the princi- ples of excellence through hands-on knowledge. We believe in giving students a rigorous, practical education while applying cutting-edge concepts for real-world solutions. As the Pacific Northwest’s only public institute of technology, we take pride in our mission to deliver technol- ogy education. We continually partner with industry leaders to ensure that our programs and classes are at the top of the board with adapting to new technology and preparing students for workforce demands. “Our faculty strive to create an entrepreneurial mindset in students. Each year Oregon Tech sponsors Cat- alyze Klamath. Catalyze Klamath is an entrepreneurial student-based competition. Students develop their ideas, fabricate prototypes, examine market needs, and identify barriers and opportunities to market entry as part of the competition. Students are judged by local entrepreneurs and are awarded up to $20,000 to continue the development of their ideas.” – Thomas Keyser, Dean, College of Engineering Grand Canyon University Grand Canyon University is a premier Christian University educating people to lead and serve. Our mission is to prepare learners to become global citizens, critical thinkers, effective communicators, and responsible leaders by providing an academically challenging, value-based curriculum from the context of our Christian heritage. GCU prioritizes student success as measured by learning, retention, and career preparedness. “I had the pleasure of attending my first KEEN National Conference in January 2013 in Tempe, AZ, where I first learned about the entrepreneurial mindset for engineers. Immediately, I recognized this would be a valuable framework for building the new GCU Engineering Programs. Subsequently, I have had the opportu- nity to host Dr. Doug Melton for an on-campus workshop and attend several KEEN conferences along with GCU Engineering faculty. Networking with KEEN partner institutions and the KEEN materials have provided substantial guidance for GCU Engineering faculty and programs. We continue to value the practical insights provided by KEEN to the education of the next generation of engineers.” – Dr. Hank Radda, Provost The fundamental promise at Illinois for nearly 150 years has been to provide our undergraduate students with truly transformative educational experiences. Whether these experiences take place in the classroom, in the surrounding community, or around the globe, our students leave this campus with the skills, knowl- edge, and the drive to become leaders in their fields and to lead lives of impact in the world. Each year we welcome more than 32,000 undergraduate students across our nine undergraduate divisions – offering nearly 5,000 courses and awarding about 7,000 new degrees each spring. “The Grainger College of Engineering has a rich history and deep commitment to infusing innovative opportunities throughout the student experience. Our Technology Entrepreneur Center and Siebel Center for Design provide students with tools, skills, experiences, and knowledge aimed at developing and honing their entrepreneurial mindset. Our Academy for Excellence in Engineering Education empowers our facul- ty to work as a community to improve engineering education so that we can continue to provide the best educational experiences and outcomes possible for our students. We are honored to join as a KEEN partner institution and work with leaders in engineering education across the nation to prepare the next generation of engineers.” – Dr. Rashid Bashir, Dean of Engineering & Grainger Distinguished Chair in Engineering