Dayton Engineer

By Adrienne Zandvoort, Communications Intern ?19

80 leaders from KEEN Partner Institutions attended the three day meeting.  The Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network (KEEN) partners with 31 universities around the country and their engineering faculty to help create an entrepreneurial mindset among future engineers. 

At UD, KEEN has funded the largest faculty development program in the School of Engineering’s history, resulting in three cohorts of faculty who have had the opportunity to re-think how they present the engineering curriculum. The idea is to help students become more curious, make unexpected connections and create added value when they enter the workplace. 

The goal of this meeting was to establish an annual action plan to take the network to the next level.  Deans, provosts, and faculty established priorities for this year and the future. 

Participants heard from President Eric Spina, Provost Paul Benson, and Dean Eddy Rojas during the course of the meeting about how KEEN has impacted 4,000 students and led to many cross-disciplinary partnerships across campus and with area businesses. 

Since partnering with KEEN in 2008, the School of Engineering has been honored to receive nearly $2 million dollars in grants.  Dean Eddy Rojas was awarded the KEEN Outstanding Dean Award in 2015. 

“Companies today need engineers who are not only technically sound, but who are also opportunity seekers and change agents that question the status quo,” Ken Bloemer said.  Bloemer is the Director of the Visioneering Center and was awarded the KEEN Outstanding Faculty Member Award in 2016. 

The University of Dayton is thankful for KEEN’s partnership and its many contributions towards the education of our students.