When Erin Miller found out that the Raymond von Dran Innovation and Disruptive Entrepreneurship Accelerator (RvD IDEA) program had been shut down, she said was devastated.

Miller, a senior advertising major at Syracuse University, got involved with IDEA when she was a freshman in the Creativity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Learning Community. After going on a camping trip through the IDEA program, she applied to be an IDEA Connector and stayed involved with the program for the remainder of its existence.

“It was something that I was involved with since the beginning. It was something that gave me purpose as a student, to actually touch other peoples’ lives,” Miller said. “When it was shut down, I was like ‘Well, sh*t, now what am I going to do?’”

J.D. Ross, communications director for the School of Information Studies, said in an email to The Daily Orange that IDEA is being transitioned into a larger program that will include new and significant external support as part of restructuring the activities and programming surrounding student entrepreneurship initiatives at SU.

A new, specially designed physical space in the center of campus is being planned to support entrepreneurship programs for students, Ross said.

Faculty members from all of SU’s schools and colleges will be providing direction and oversight for many of the initiatives formerly run by IDEA, Ross said. On this steering committee, the faculty members will, in light of the new academic strategic plan, review the curriculum in entrepreneurship at SU to identify strengths and synergies at SU’s schools and colleges.

Ross added that further details regarding the transition of the new program and space will be announced in October.

However, Ross said, current activities and funding such as the RvD Fund for Student Entrepreneurship at the iSchool and the Couri Hatchery program at the Martin J. Whitman School of Management will continue to be administered by their respective schools as part of integrated, cross-campus educational programs in entrepreneurship.

Kevin Quinn, senior vice president for public affairs, could not be reached for comment about IDEA or any future plans.

IDEA was established by Gisela von Dran, wife of former iSchool dean Raymond von Dran, after her husband passed away. Gisela used the $1.7 million RvD Fund to financially support the program until it came to an end in late July.

The mission of IDEA was to be a catalyst for a thriving entrepreneurship ecosystem on the SU campus, connecting students with ideas to the resources they need to move ideas forward, according to the IDEA website.

Currently, Miller and six others who were also previously involved with IDEA, are collaborating with deans, faculty and staff members of different schools and colleges at SU to create a new initiative that inspires cross-campus entrepreneurship.

Miller added that a lot of student businesses that are running right now would not be where they are right now without IDEA. She said she used her anger over IDEA being shut down to create this initiative that is not bound to any college.

Plans for the initiative include having a database of student businesses to show which ones are profitable and connecting student businesses to different professors and resources on campus.

Miller and others involved are working on two major events for this new initiative, including an annual event called Entreprelooza, which would be a demo-day for student businesses, and a pop-up shop within Marshall Square Mall.

The pop-up shop, sponsored by AT&T, is a glass room located directly inside Marshall Square Mall beside the staircase, where student businesses can sell or promote their products or services for a few days. Miller added that the pop-up shop is located in Marshall Square Mall because it is not a part of any school or college at SU.

Miller said she is also planning to write to Chancellor Kent Syverud about IDEA being shut down and how it has affected her and many other students.

“Honestly it’s not going to change anything, but what it can do is make the chancellor and people who are high up there know that, ‘Oh sh*t we made a mistake by getting rid of something super important to the students and they’re mad about it,’” Miller said.

Published on September 8, 2015 at 12:08 am

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