The new eight-week Study USA program features a core capstone course and an internship opportunity.
Elon in San Francisco is an eight-week program that begins in early June and will give 20 students the chance to network with the more than 200 Elon alumni that work in the Bay Area. Students will work at an internship Monday through Thursday and take the core capstone seminar, “Global Innovation: Solving Problems with Design Thinking,” on Friday each week.
“We hope the two will be a powerful combination where students can bring the classroom experience into the internship and the internship experience into the classroom,” said Scott Kelly, the program director and assistant director of the Doherty Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership in the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business.
Kelly has taught the course “Innovation in America” in San Francisco during Winter Term for the past two years. The summer program is an extension of that experience.
“The decision to pursue a Study USA program in San Francisco had much to do with the rising prominence of the field of design thinking,” said Mark Dalhouse, director of Elon’s Study USA program. “Provost Steven House encouraged us to pursue this a year ago. At the same time, Scott Kelly was teaching the Winter Term course in San Francisco, and we saw the opportunity to draw upon his expertise in the field and expand the Elon presence in the city.”
Similar to the Winter Term course, where students spend a week in the Bay Area, students participating in Elon in San Francisco will visit iconic Silicon Valley technology giants, such as Google, Facebook and Apple. But because they will be in the city for eight weeks, they will have the opportunity to really dig into the design-thinking curricular experience.
Design thinking is a creative, solutions-generating process that starts with understanding real issues in real contexts. It then focuses on generating and testing solutions by encouraging creativity, teamwork, collaboration across many disciplines, experimentation and learning from failures.
“The focus on solving problems systematically definitely aligns with the university’s vision of injecting innovation in what we do,” Kelly said.
From Winter Term courses that take students to places, such as Hawaii or Utah, to longer experiences at Elon centers in New York City, Washington D.C., Los Angeles and now San Francisco, Study USA programs explore cultural, political and religious difference, often through the lens of current events.
“Study USA is striving to create interdisciplinary centers that are open to all majors along with internships in every discipline buttressed with intentional engagement with the growing cultural diversity of the U.S.,” Dalhouse said. “That is the driving force behind the creation of any Study USA center.”
Elon in LA, which has programs in spring and summer, launched its fall program this year. It is geared toward strategic communications students with courses in strategic writing, media law, contemporary art and producing branded content. As with all Study USA programs, an internship will be one of the main pillars of the Los Angeles experience with a two-credit course. Students can take up to 18 credit hours in the fall and spring programs.
In the summer 2018, Study USA will launch Elon in Nashville. It will be anchored in the core capstone seminar, “The Old South Meets the New South,” which is taught by Anthony Hatcher, associate professor of communications. He will be the faculty director of the program. Students will intern in Nashville in a variety of venues—an experience that will be a good fit for music productions and strategic communications majors, although Study USA programs are open to all majors.
“It’s a cross campus, multidisciplinary initiative,” Kelly said. “We look forward to working with a broad range of majors.”
Applications for Elon in San Francisco are due by Nov. 17 with rolling admission until Feb. 26. The summer 2017 program is from June 3 to July 29. Visit Study USA for more information.