Emphasis on Innovation Benefits Students and Community

In the summer of 2014, the Colorado College community is huddling around a metaphorical drawing board, brainstorming about what innovation means and how CC can utilize it to improve lives.

Patrick Bultema is in the forefront of the effort to bring these ideas to fruition in down-to-earth ways.

The executive director of CC’s Innovation Institute and The Big Idea competition was hired for his savvy with startups — he’s mentored more than 50 — and his devotion to the liberal arts, his imagination, and his collaborative spirit.

In late June, Bultema talked about CC’s plans in the Innovation Institute’s incubator, the Carriage House behind Morreale House.

First, the institute will install a governing board, comprised of faculty, staff, and alumni, to support students as they take their ideas to the next step.

“We want to give students experience in innovation so they’re better prepared to take their liberal arts education and translate that into exciting career pursuits. It really is consistent with the spirit of liberal arts education because it’s all about creativity. It’s about new ideas, inventions, creativity, a vision for how you see the future,” Bultema said.

The building will house work space for student teams, project storage, and meeting space. It will host “innovators in residence,” from alumni or locals who give a few months of their time to full-timers in it for the long haul. He’ll welcome people from the public and private sectors.

“The things you do to be successful, whether you’re a nonprofit or a for-profit, are the same; you just keep score differently” in lives improved or dollars earned.

Bultema will reach out to alumni and the community for ideas for the institute. In cooperation with CC’s Alumni Office, he’ll travel the country to meet with alumni.

He also will act as the point person for a collaboration between CC and the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, Pikes Peak Community College, and the Air Force Academy to create a Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurialism in the community. This will help CC innovators find and work with, for instance, the electrical engineer they need for their project.

Bultema is seeking ways to connect more CC students with the school’s existing programs: State of the Rockies, Public Interest Fellowship Program, Venture Grants, and Global Sustainability Summer Internships.

“I don’t have any designs or notions that we’re going to somehow change those programs, but let’s just figure out how we can create as much synergy and collaboration between them. So I’ve been pitching, for example, there’s some startup things that have relevance for State of the Rockies, so students can be involved and do research projects on State of the Rockies, and say, ‘oh, there’s a startup idea that comes out of that,’ and then do a Venture Grant to pursue that. There’s a natural synergy between all those programs.”

The scuttlebutt about Colorado Springs is that it’s not the most hospitable place for young people with fresh ideas.

CC’s Career Center surveyed this year’s graduates about their post-graduation plans, and 460 responded. Of those, 52 gave Colorado Springs as their primary place of residence. When asked about where they plan to live, 46.8 percent of the total respondents said Colorado. California is second with 8.2 percent, followed by New York, Washington, D.C., and Illinois, then 34 other states and Puerto Rico. Twenty-one graduates are heading to 18 foreign countries, predominantly in Asia and Africa.

Students have told Bultema that they love Colorado Springs and would love to make a difference in the community, but can’t always find employment. His mission is to help them look at what is and see what could be, to transform their passions into opportunities — here or elsewhere.

“I really think that we’re going to create a character of engagement with the community that’s going to be beneficial to the community and beneficial to CC. Part of my passion, part of my vision is: Whatever the percentage is, if it’s 55 percent or 45 percent, the percentage of CC students that would like to stay here, that we help nurture and create the kind of community that gives them that option. We’re not here to evangelize Colorado Springs, but this is the place where we are, and this is the place our students want to be.”

Dan Pallotta

In early April, CC hosted an Innovation Showcase to highlight work being done and possibilities on the way. Events included discussions and workshops about teaching strategies, the innovative life, and social innovation on campus and overseas; a keynote address from Dan Pallotta, a pioneer in multi-day charitable events; and the release of the 2014 State of the Rockies Report Card.

Bultema foresees the day when CC won’t have to specify a time to focus on innovation because it will be ubiquitous throughout the year.

“I believe the goal of this is to be able to weave this theme of innovation throughout the fabric of this institution.”