Intellectual Property Educators in Residence Reflect on 2020 and Look Ahead to the New Year

Closing out 2020, NACCE in partnership with the Michelson Institute for Intellectual Property, reached out to the new IP Educators in Residence for their reflections and hopes for the new year. Here’s what they had to say:

Pamela Bogdan

Institution: Ocean County College, NJ

Favorite Book, TV Show, or Film of 2020: Enola Holmes (film)

What was the hardest thing about teaching this year? Seeing so many students struggle with isolation and the distractions of not having an environment conducive to learning. 

What intellectual property subject do you most look forward to incorporating into your curriculum in 2021? General awareness of IP and how it impacts students in their future careers, for all schools and academic disciplines throughout our campus.

John Diffley 

Institution: Springfield Technical Community College, MA

Favorite Book, TV Show, or Film of 2020: The Mandalorian (TV show)

What was the hardest thing about teaching this year?

Not being able to more closely interact with students - I miss the classroom interaction and although virtual meetings do work, they do not have the same feel for me (yet, I suppose, as like with anything new, it can take some time to get acclimated).

What intellectual property subject do you most look forward to incorporating into your curriculum in 2021?

Unlike my partner on this initiative, Diane, who teaches mostly in the business and business law areas, my integration of IP education will likely be more focused on introductory ideas. So I look forward to incorporating introductions to intellectual property such as different categories of IP, requirements that make an invention eligible for patent protection. On the other end, I do look forward to being able to use my law background and assist in some of our upper level courses on IP law.

Diane Sabato

Institution: Springfield Technical Community College, MA

Favorite Book, TV Show, or Film of 2020: Ted Lasso on Apple+ (TV show)  -- funny, hopeful and uplifting.

What was the hardest thing about teaching this year? The hardest thing about teaching this year is not having in person interactions with my students - as much as I love technology, I miss the classroom!

What intellectual property subject do you most look forward to incorporating into your curriculum in 2021? Knowing what IP entrepreneurs need to protect and how to do so.

Lucio Lanucara, J.D.

Institution: Central New Mexico Community College, NM

Favorite Book, TV Show, or Film of 2020: My favorite TV show of this year is The Mandalorian, while my favorite (and all-time first choice) book was the Enchiridion, from the Stoic philosopher Epictetus.

What was the hardest thing about teaching this year? While I loved synchronous online classes, it was much harder to convey concepts to students in the higher number of asynchronous online classes.

What intellectual property subject do you most look forward to incorporating into your curriculum in 2021? Trademark, because it is the one that comes handy most often for small businesses.

Gary Graves

Institution: Fullerton College, CA

Favorite Book, TV Show, or Film of 2020: I am a huge DC superhero fan. If being a superhero was a real job, I would have applied!

What was the hardest thing about teaching this year? Like many others, I taught 100% online in 2020.  It was a hard year for maintaining close relationships with students. Because I was not able to see students every day, I missed the in-person discussions about life and truly see their ideas flourish!  While teaching online has its advantages for a very flexible schedule, I miss the personal interaction that comes from leading a classroom to their success and just being on our campus!

What intellectual property subject do you most look forward to incorporating into your curriculum in 2021? I am most looking forward to doing a deeper dive into the Intellectual Property Rights for Artists in my classes.  Because we live in a digital world, it is harder for young, artist-entrepreneurs to protect their work from showing up on t-shirts or being used on websites where they aren't receiving an income from the use of their images.  For all my students, we will be adding a new project called "what needs to be protected?"  We will discover and present the best practices to use with clients, employees, and strangers to make sure that processes, products, and digital content are protected! 

Gary Cors, J.D.

Institution: Pasco-Hernando State College, FL

Favorite Book, TV Show, or Film of 2020: The Mandalorian Season 2 

What was the hardest thing about teaching this year? Online learning has been around for many years, but it was optional. That changed in 2020. All our classes went online. A significant challenge became teaching those students who preferred and even learned better with in-person classes. Serving those students was and continues to be a priority for educators across the nation.

What intellectual property subject do you most look forward to incorporating into your curriculum in 2021? Trademarks, trademarks, trademarks! Trademarks are a fascinating component of intellectual property with a plethora of case law for my business and legal students.