INOV 350: Innovation Seminar in Spring 2025

We are excited to announce the course will be taught by Professor Shelly Cano Kurtz, a PLU alumna with extensive experience in the field. Shelly is a 5x founder, author, CXO, and advisor with a focus on the $3T social impact sector. She has worked with national non-profit organizations, start-ups, philanthropies, and local entrepreneurs. She is also a frequent speaker and podcast guest.

The course will teach students how to manage innovation to create and deliver new programs, solutions, incubators and even purpose-built companies. There will be a special focus on changemaking and tech for good. Students will learn through a mix of case studies, research, presentations, group projects and creative whiteboarding sessions. The management focus of the course will be an exploration of the innovation process – how to generate ideas, evaluate them, and manage them through to implementation. Course teachings will be adapted from the professor’s recently published book, “This Little World: A How-To Guide for Social Innovators,” co-authored with Dr. Michael Halvorson. In addition, the professor will draw from her career in corporate America, tech startups, nonprofit organizations and joint ventures.