Our Team
We know the value of teamwork. Our interdisciplinary courses are taught by teams from various departments; innovation, business, engineering, computer science, communication, education, and the humanities.
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Dr. Benjamin Kwitek: Innovation DirectorBenjamin Kwitek, PhD
Innovation Director
Innovation Department
email: bkwitek@uccs.edu
phone: (719)255-5126
office: Innovation House #102Benjamin Kwitek is the Director of Innovation at UCCS, where he teaches Entrepreneurship and Innovation classes. He is also the Inventor-in-Residence at the Kraemer Family Library.
Dr. Kwitek has founded many companies including Gellyfish, InterForm and Roundabout Signs. His patents have been licensed by leading global corporations including Acer, Dell, Facebook (Meta), Pentel and Sony. He currently serves as the Chairman of SBDC National Advisory Board for the U.S. Small Business Administration in Washington DC.
Dr. Kwitek holds three degrees and multiple honors from the University of Colorado and Colorado State University – where he completed a Ph.D. with research entitled Driving Economic Development. He has further studied innovation and intellectual property at Harvard Business School.
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Dr. Corinne Harmon: Associate Director of InnovationCorinne Harmon, PhD
Associate Director of Innovation
Innovation Department
email: charmon2@uccs.edu
phone: (719)255-4902
office: Innovation House #101Dr. Corinne Harmon is the Associate Director and a Principal Instructor of the Bachelor of Innovation degree program at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs. She has served in the field of public education for over thirty years as a teacher, assistant principal, principal, executive director, assistant superintendent, and superintendent. She also taught leadership courses at St. Louis University, the University of Missouri at St. Louis, Webster University, and Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville. She provides training and support for local school districts in the Colorado Springs and Denver area on culturally responsive leadership practices, the facilitation of the Appreciative Inquiry process for positive, systemic change.
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Dr. Terry Boult: Innovation Program FounderTerrance "Terry" Boult, PhD
Innovation Program Founder
Computer Science Department
email: tboult@uccs.edu
phone: (719)255-3510
office: ENGR #174website: http://vast.uccs.edu/~tboult/
Dr. Terrance E. Boult, Distinguished El Pomar Professor of Innovation and Security, is the visionary behind the Bachelor of Innovation. The new degree grew out of Dr. Boult's observations about not being able to hire people with the skills he wanted in his own companies. Dr. Boult was a founding member in 3 successful startups that earned more than 7Million each before their technology was acquired by public companies. With over $50Million in funded proposals, $25 million in revenue across his companies, 11000 citations, 300 papers, 15 issued patents, Dr. Boult brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the Bachelor of Innovation. He has taught every course in innovation core but also works with many students outside the classroom. Dr. Boult works closely with The El Pomar Instititue for Innovation and Commercialization, where he is the directory, assisting creative individuals and organizations in transforming innovative ideas into economic opportunities. In his role in EPIIC, he has helped many students move their ideas into actual startup companies.
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Dr. Colleen Stiles: Liaison for Strategic Alliances and Partnerships, Senior InstructorColleen Stiles, PhD
Liaison for Strategic Alliances and Partnerships & Senior Instructor
Innovation Department
email: cstiles@uccs.edu
phone: (719) 330-0353
office: Innovation House #104Dr. Colleen Stiles currently serves on the University of Colorado Colorado Springs (UCCS) Bachelor of Innovation™ (BI) faculty, and as the Liaison of Strategic Alliances for the family of degrees.
Colleen owns Quoin Consulting, a firm serving clients on a confidential basis by providing strategic innovative business and philanthropic services. Dr. Stiles is a licensed private investigator level II in the state of Colorado. Colleen is a Kellogg National Leadership Fellow, Daniels Fund Ethics Fellow, and a known speaker on topics as angel investing, the new entrepreneurial spirit, impact-based philanthropy, and innovation. Colleen waives her speaking fees for all fundraisers related to finding a solution for cancer diseases and/or patient support.
With over 30 years of experience working internationally in the field of entrepreneurship and innovation, she has built a reputation for all out massive action. Dr. Stiles continually lives in the possibility of making a difference through her work with students and clients.
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Dr. Rory Lewis: ProfessorRory Lewis, JD, PhD
Associate Professor
Computer Science Department
email: rlewis5@uccs.edu
phone: (719)255-3149
office: ENGR #188website: http://www.rorylewis.com
Dr. Rory Lewis is an Assistant Professor with the Bachelor of Innovation at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs and an Adjunct Professor at the University of Colorado Denver’s Anschutz Medical Campus. In addition to teaching, Dr. Lewis has written several books on computer programming.
For the past five years, Dr. Lewis has worked under the guidance of Dr. Zbigniew Raś in Knowledge Discovery and Music Information Retrieval (MIR). In Law, he worked as an associate VLSI legal litigation analyst on the AMD vs. Intel case at both Fulbright & Jaworski in Austin and Skjerven Morrill in San Francisco. Dr. Lewis teaches students in Computer Science and in the Business Innovation Program.
Dr. Lewis also holds a Jurist Doctorate in Law and a Bachelor of Science in Computer and Electrical Engineering from Syracuse University.
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Dr. Carolyn Gery: InstructorCarolyn Gery, PhD
Instructor
Innovation Department
email: cgery@uccs.edu
Dr. Carolyn Gery is a Research Affiliate at NIHR. She is adept at building and nurturing partnerships to address homelessness, youth disconnection, and access to mental health.
Her professional background as a scholar and practitioner is in the field of educational technology, trauma-informed systems and data-based inquiry. As a former administrator of an alternative high school, she forged partnerships with higher education to develop an integrated framework incorporating social and emotional competencies with academic knowledge domains.
Carolyn currently teaches courses in the multi-disciplinary Bachelor of Innovation program at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.
Dr. Gery's research interests are focused on the impact of early trauma on cognition and the identification of integrated practices for marginalized student populations.
Click here to view Dr. Gery's CV!
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Dr. Oluwatosin Oluwadare: Assistant ProfessorOluwatosin Oluwadare, PhD
Assistant Professor
Innovation Department
email: ooluwada@uccs.edu
Dr. Oluwatosin Oluwadare, an Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Bachelor of Innovation at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, holds a PhD in Computer Science with a research focus on Bioinformatics & Computational Biology, Machine Learning and Deep Learning. His research, supported by NSF, NIH, and UCCS, is published in renowned journals. As the director of the Bioinformatics Lab, he leads groundbreaking work. Beyond academia, Dr. Oluwadare pioneered EyeCYou, an AI-driven app offering facial descriptions for the visually impaired, available on the Apple App Store. Explore his research and innovations on his webpage.
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Angus Chassels: Entrepreneur in Residence, InstructorAngus Chassels
Entrepreneur in Residence and Instructor
Innovation Department
email: achassel@uccs.edu
Instructor in INOV1010, and ENTP1000 and Entrepreneur in Residence. As (EiR) I actively work with members of the University of Colorado (UCCS) community, including students, faculty, staff, and alumni. I assist these constituents in developing proposed business ideas, solidifying business strategy, identifying market positions, securing intellectual property, and obtaining funding. I mentor and support Business Administration, Computer Science, Computer Science Security, Electrical Engineering and Game Design and Development students in the Bachelor of Innovation program. I assist student startups, particularly those in the early stages of development and those seeking to commercialize their own or University technology. In addition, I work extensively with aspiring UCCS entrepreneurs to move potential ventures from the idea phase to prototype or startup, and help UCCS inventors create businesses around their ideas and technologies. I also bring notable speakers to campus, network students with additional mentors outside UCCS and directly support placing recent graduates into the hottest start-ups and most exciting established companies.
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Gail Richards: InstructorGail Richards
Instructor
Innovation Department
email: grichard@uccs.edu
Ms. Gail Richards is a marketing communications consultant focused on supporting entrepreneurs to move their ideas off the drawing board and into the marketplace through the tactical application of branding, messaging, graphic design, and strategic planning. Her specialty is preparing startup ventures for investor pitches and thoughtfully building a customer base.
She is a published author, copywriter, ghostwriter, editor, and content creator. She is also an accomplished, award-winning graphic designer.
Gail is a faculty instructor in innovation and entrepreneurship for the Bachelor of Innovation™ program at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, where she is also heavily involved with university-based entrepreneurial mentorship programs for students and community members.