Extraordinary Customer Service: Entrepreneurial Catalysts

The EC student worker position was created as part of the Fulton Schools of Engineering's EM integration effort, focusing on stakeholder engagement. This peer-to-peer resource was modeled after a similar position under Entrepreneurship + Innovation at ASU called an Entrepreneurship Catalyst. This new position, however, had a specific focus on engineering students and catalyzing the concept of having the entrepreneurial mindset. The job description was created and potential candidates were brought in for interviews and hired based on their experiences and qualifications. The ECs were provided position orientation and meetings were created to share the vision of the duties/tasks as this was a new facet to the project.

The ECs were introduced to FSE Faculty and KEEN Professors during the KEEN Professorship Orientation and Kick-off Lunch, as well as at the KEEN Professorship Reflection and Analysis Retreat. They were also introduced to the Academic and Student Affairs (ASA) staff. An EC polo shirt was designed and created for the team for easy identification while they hold open hours in designated ASU makerspaces. 

Currently, there are five ECs across the engineering campuses: two undergraduate ECs at the Tempe Campus, one graduate EC at Tempe Campus, and two undergraduate ECs at the Polytechnic Campus. All ECs are listed in the FSE advising system calendar so that students can make one-on-one appointments with them. Flyers are used to promote their schedules and open hours, as well as the EC webpage. 

The ECs make the most impact through their efforts around already-established events as well as conducting classroom presentations. The events that they have appeared at or contributed to include the following:

• Devils Invent: They have been volunteers, as well as facilitators for a skill session titled “The Art of the Elevator Pitch” at multiple DI events in the 2017 academic year.
• FURI Symposiums and Innovation Showcases: They tabled during the entirety of these events to showcase KEEN student mini-grant opportunities and highlight EM/3Cs. 
• EM101: They introduced themselves and explained their services to faculty and staff during the Entrepreneurial Mindset 101 presentation to KEEN Professors.
• ASA Student Worker Training: They co-facilitated training to Academic and Student Affairs Student workers to review EM/3Cs and the EC position on campus.
• From Thinking to Tinkering: A collaboration effort with GenKFD, the ECs covered how to use EM in the ideation and prototyping processes and ASU resources.
• Various events related to mini-grant awardees: ECs raised awareness of their existence and services through AirDevils Glider Workshop, AirDevils Info Session, and the FSC Engineering Leadership Conference.
• Various other programmatic events: EPICS Design Reviews, Live@ Gen Labs, eSeed Challenges--ECs have helped to integrate EM at all of these events.

ECs’ efforts to speak to classes have varied depending on the connections of others and referrals for speaking opportunities. These efforts have ranged from introductory engineering classes with more than 50 students to capstone classes of fewer than 15.

Currently, ASU’s KEEN Team coordinates bi-weekly meetings with all ECs across campuses to coordinate efforts and provide supervision of their on-campus efforts. Monthly All-Hands Trainings with the E+I Entrepreneurship Catalysts are also held jointly to discuss ASU resources, entrepreneurship opportunities, and 1-1 appointment coaching. 

NOTE: Supporting resources for this case study can be found within its companion KEEN card (link below), which is also where the community can discuss the case and its broader topic.