NACCE & Michelson IP Educator in Residence Initiative

The Michelson 20MM Foundation and NACCE have renewed their joint commitment to closing the IP education gap and seek faculty to serve in our NACCE & Michelson IP Educator in Residence Initiative!

Intellectual property, or IP, refers to intangible creations of the mind. In today’s knowledge economy, it is critically important for aspiring entrepreneurs, inventors, and makers to understand how to leverage IP rights. That means managing the protection, sharing, and commercialization of their ideas and creative works. 

Since 2017, the Michelson Institute for Intellectual Property (Michelson IP), an initiative of the Michelson 20MM Foundation (20MM), has worked alongside NACCE to provide a first-of-its-kind IP curriculum to member colleges. Our pilot phase included a dynamic community of practice that spearheaded the modular buildout of an undergraduate IP curriculum and eventually led to its adoption at more than 70 NACCE colleges! Read more about this partnership in our program impact story – Partner, Plug-in, Pioneer: Success in IP Education through Community College Partnership and on our partnership page.

Today, we’re seeking up to five (5) faculty participants for a new community of practice that aims to build stronger literacy in IP across the NACCE ecosystem. These IP Educators in Residence will comprise an inclusive community of faculty who share our commitment to empower future entrepreneurs and innovators with IP education. In support of this initiation, 20MM will provide a stipend of up to $3,000 for participating faculty that meet specific criteria and complete all deliverables. The NACCE & Michelson IP Educator in Residence Initiative will launch in fall 2020 and continue our efforts through spring 2022. 

Objectives and Deliverables:

• Grow the adoption and integration of Michelson IP’s digital curriculum and resources across the NACCE community.
• Participants will act as IP education influencers within their college and community networks. Participants will embed relevant modular Michelson IP curricula within their current courses. They will also help to onboard IP curricula and/or resources into at least ten (10) additional courses or programs (including non-credit courses, events, and workshops) at their institution, providing implementation support and sharing best practices.
• Promote and share the importance of IP awareness in the entrepreneurship, invention, and/or maker communities for the benefit of the greater NACCE ecosystem.
• Participants will present alongside Michelson IP in an educational capacity in at least one (1) in-person event or webinar.
• Participants will author at least one (1) short blog article (500-700 words) in collaboration with Michelson IP that chronicles either (1) their process and tactics for deploying IP curriculum into their courses, or (2) highlights a student success story to illustrate the importance of IP subject matter in undergraduate coursework.
• Co-develop faculty professional development resource materials to assist faculty in IP instruction.
• During Year 2 of the initiative, participants will jointly collaborate on the development of a ‘teaching IP 101’ short resource guide to share their best practices and insights for IP subject matter instruction across disciplines, and on utilizing Michelson IP materials.

The success of the initiative will be evaluated based on a number of metrics, such as the total number of NACCE member institutions utilizing Michelson IP materials, the total number of students reached through the engagement, and educator experience surveys.

Who We Are Looking For:

The ideal IP Educators in Residence candidates will meet the following background and qualifications:

• Participants must be faculty members teaching at least one active course.
• Participants should have a legal background (eg. JD, LLM, MLS, etc.), OR a strong understanding of patent, trademark, and/or copyright law and policy. Preference will go to faculty members with previous experience teaching IP subject matter.
• Comfortability teaching the fundamentals of patent, trademark, and/or copyright law to a general (non-practitioner) audience.
• An eagerness and passion to share the importance of IP and its role in encouraging innovation. We seek collaborators who want to serve budding entrepreneurs, inventors, makers, and creators in developing their IP understanding!
• Approval from their home institution or program dean, vice president or president that has the authority to commit to the project.

Timeline:

• Tuesday, August 18 - Application Opens  
• Wednesday, September 1 at 1 PM ET - Informational Webinar  
• Friday, September 11 - Application Closes
• Week of September 21 - Educators are notified 
• Week of October 5 - Welcome & Kick-off Call