Waynesburg University has launched an Entrepreneurial Leadership Faculty Fellows Program, beginning summer 2019.
Melanie Catana, assistant professor of vocal music and director of choral music, and Andrew Heisey, chair of the Department of Fine Arts and assistant professor of art, have been named the University’s inaugural faculty fellows of the program.
“Artists are used to creating something from nothing,” said Dr. Melinda Walls, the W. Robert Stover Chair for Entrepreneurial Leadership at Waynesburg University. “That is what they do, so they are a natural fit for this program.”
The goal of this fellowship program is to create a culture of proactive and innovative problem solving which will provide students with the skills they need to thrive in a rapidly changing world.
Catana and Heisey will attend the Price-Babson Symposium for Entrepreneurship Educators at Babson College later this month, which will equip them with proven concepts for effective entrepreneurship education, as well as give them the tools to teach experientially, according to Babson’s website.
We want to help our Waynesburg University students grow into creative, individual thinkers and problem solvers."
“We want to encourage students to ‘feel’ and then to act on that feeling while solving problems and working with others. Music is a beautiful and natural fit in developing these skills that deal with emotional intelligence.”
In the applied music setting, Catana’s students are regularly immersed in active learning situations. For example, during a choral rehearsal, students analyze texts of songs, finding poetic and emotional meanings that they hope to communicate to an audience. Constantly interacting with each other and working in small groups while learning vocal parts, Catana and her students problem solve and help one another sing all the right notes as a unit.
“The tasks that are regularly practiced during music rehearsals connect firmly to a creative and problem-solving mindset,” Catana said. “I am most excited about all the correlations I will be able to make between applied music and the Entrepreneurial skill set.”
Catana plans to introduce a new course, “Cooperation and Problem Solving through Music and Movement,” based on Dalcroze Eurhythmics methodology, which teaches concepts of rhythm, structure and musical expression using movement. The highly interactive course will be available to any student from any discipline.
Meanwhile, Heisey has been teaching students to render 3D environments on computers, and the recent purchase of a 3D printer has enabled his students to turn their virtual creations into objects in reality.
“I would like to teach students how to create prototypes or concept products that can be used in future marketing campaigns,” he said. “Together they could work to market a variety of concepts to potential funders.”
Heisey’s goal is to connect his art students with students involved in the University’s eHIVE, an Entrepreneurial Hub for Innovative Ventures and Endeavors.
“I’m really excited for this program and to be one of the first to go through it here at Waynesburg University,” said Heisey. “My ultimate goal is to create a ‘Makers Space’ here on campus so that our students who have an idea for a product or concept also have the resources to make their visions a reality.”
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Ashley Wise, Director of University Relations
724.852.7675 or awise@waynesburg.edu
The eHIVE
The eHIVE, an Entrepreneurial Hub for Innovative Ventures and Endeavors, is the base of operations for Waynesburg University's newly-developed entrepreneurial leadership program. The vision of this entrepreneurial leadership program is to create a culture of proactive and innovative problem solving which will provide students with the tools they need to thrive in a rapidly changing world.
