About the Massey Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation

The Massey Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation champions entrepreneurial thinking, action, and impact at Robert Morris University.  Purposed to advance students’ unique journeys to develop their innovative ideas, the Massey Center was officially re-launched on RMU’s main campus on February 8th, 2017.

Vision

The Massey Center’s Vision is to be the epicenter of RMU’s innovative campus - serving as a regionally-relevant and globally-minded center of excellence - that cultivates leadership in workplace innovation and new venture creation, to positively impact society.

Mission

Our mission is to drive an integrated entrepreneurial ecosystem throughout the RMU Community that will advance the mindset and practice of an entrepreneur in the professional and business worlds. The Massey Center strives to support RMU as it builds entrepreneurial leaders who are human-centered, contextually relevant, and interdisciplinary-disciplinary in their innovative thinking, as this--the center believes--will have a lasting impact on society.

The Massey Center specializes in curating opportunities, resources, networks, and knowledge to guide students’ original entrepreneurial pathways. The Massey Center provides a diverse suite co-curricular opportunities for “the curious to the committed” to advance their efforts at any point in their innovation journey.  The following milestones have been important milestones in expanding the now growing entrepreneurial ecosystem.

2018: The Management Department launches the inaugural Undergraduate Certificate for Entrepreneurship and Innovation in the Fall semester, which serves as the curricular foundation of the University’s  Entrepreneurship Program.

2019: The Grand Opening of the Massey Center’s physical location on the first floor of Massey Hall takes place on  March 12th upon the completion of a successful renovation effort.

2020: The Rockwell Fellowship in Entrepreneurship and Innovation is launched due to a generous gift from the S. Kent Rockwell Foundation. The Rockwell Fellowship selects a community of  premier student entrepreneurial champions who catalyze the entrepreneurship mindset and venture-building  on campus.

2022: The S.Kent Rockwell Foundation grants RMU a generous personal gift of $18 million, the largest gift to date. This gift endows the Rockwell Fellowship Program, endows a Professorship in Entrepreneurship, and names the business school, The Rockwell School of Business.

The Massey Team

Director

Dr. Eliada Wosu Griffin-EL, Director
Dr. Eliada Wosu Griffin-EL is a Professor of Management at Robert Morris University’s (RMU) School of Business (SBUS), where she is a professor and scholar of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, and International Business. Dr. Griffin-EL is experienced in creating collegiate ecosystems for entrepreneurial learning. At RMU, Dr. Griffin-EL serves in directing RMU’s campus-based Entrepreneurial Ecosystem, which includes serving as Director of RMU’s nationally-recognized Massey Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, the Founding Director of the Rockwell Fellowship for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, and the Faculty Lead of the Undergraduate Certificate in Entrepreneurship curriculum. Her leadership of RMU’s entrepreneurship education ecosystem was instrumental in securing an 18-million-dollar gift from the S. Kent Rockwell Foundation to RMU, which endows the Rockwell Fellowship and named RMU’s Rockwell School of Business. Prior to RMU, Dr. Griffin-EL served as the Senior Lecturer of Social Entrepreneurship at the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business (GSB) in Cape Town, South Africa for more than 5 years. She was the Founding Academic Lead of the GSB’s Bertha Center for Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Africa’s first international center of excellence for social innovation practice and teaching. As an economic sociologist and global scholar, Dr. Griffin-EL’s research examines entrepreneurship from a networked perspective, and explores the sociological underpinnings of innovation and venture creation for systemic change, both in the African continent and in the US. She is a published scholar and co-editor of the book, The Business of Social and Environmental Innovation: New Frontiers in Africa (Springer Publishers, 2015), and she sits on a numerous boards. For her work she has received numerous recognitions such as the 2023 Coraopolis NAACP Educator of the Year, 2021 RMU Global Engagement Faculty Award, New Pittsburgh Courier Fab 40 under 40 Honoree of 2018, a 2019 Aspen Fellow, and a featured Guest Speaker on the Pittsburgh Technology Council’s ‘Business and Usual’ webcast for 2021, among numerous speaking engagements. Dr. Griffin-EL received her PhD in Global Political Economics and Masters in International Development from the University of Pittsburgh, and Bachelor Degree in Sociology from Yale University. Dr. Griffin-EL is married to her wonderful husband, Dr. Nosakhere Griffin-EL. Together, they are co-founders of the regionally recognized social enterprise, The Young Dreamers’ Bookstore, which was a 2022 BNY Mellon UpPrize Social Innovation Challenge Semi- Finalist (among 70 total companies), and a 2023 Pittsburgh Pirates Batting for Small Business Award Winner (chosen of more than 100 applicants). Eliada and Nos are both the proud parents of two energetic and fun-loving boys, Nosakhere Jr. (age 10) and Onyemachi (age 8).

Staff Roles

Grace FayeGrace Faye, Administrative Assistant
Grace Faye is the Administrative Assistant of the Massey Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. She is a proud Robert Morris Alumna from the class of 2019, graduating with a Bachelors of Science in Business Administration and a minor in Sociology. Joining the MCEI team in November 2022, she looks forward to working with student entrepreneurs and helping advance the spirit of entrepreneurship across the RMU community.

 

Spencer JacksonSpencer Jackson, Design Innovation Consultant
Spencer Jackson is Design Innovation Consultant for the Massey Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation,and member of the Class of 2023. Spencer has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Graphic Design. As a student, Spencer joined the team as the Student Design Coordinator in November 2021, and loves chatting and uplifting with his fellow entrepreneurs while working alongside the Massey Center Team. Spencer is the Founder of SJDesignsGD LLC, his own graphic design firm that provides custom art and services.

Kenny BuckleyKenny Buckley, Student Engagement Coordinator

 

 

 

 

 

Innovators-in-Residence

Entrepreneur-in-Residence

Executive-in-Residence

Workplace Innovator in Residence

Business Coaches

  • Nigel Clark

  • David Deitrich

  • Rachel Maga

Internal Faculty Advisory Board

  • Janice Sarasnic – Associate Professor Nursing 

  • Holly Hampe – Associate Professor of Health Administration

  • John Locke – Chief Experience Officer

  • Chad Wertley – Assistant Professor of Communications

  • Prasad Vemala – Dean of Rockwell School of Business

  • Hyla Willis – Professor of Media Arts

  • Albena Ivanova – Professor of Management

External Advisory Board

  • Ashley Blankette – Director of Design Practice at Highmark Health

  • Robert M. Connolly – Executive Director of Massey Charitable Trust

  • Afshan Khan – Business Advisor of Innovation Works

  • John Lynch – Retiree, Former President/CEO of Educational Computer Systems, Inc.

  • Michel M Matesic – President/CEO of Idea Foundry, Inc.

  • John Quayle – entrepreneur, investor, advisor, and startup community leader

  • Ashley Coup – Manager of Global Corporate Innovation at Koppers, Inc.

  • Randon Willard – Executive Director of Coraopolis Community Development Corporation

 

Suite of Programs

The Wicked Problem Innovation Hackathon

Established in 2017, this program was inspired to challenge students to connect entrepreneurship with social issues. Students will be presented with a pressing issue–whether local or global–cultivate a solution, and present to an audience of entrepreneurs and peers.

Massey E-Labs

The Massey E-Labs–“E” for “Experiential learning”--are hands-on learning experiences that are led by faculty across different fields of study. The sessions are designed to provide practical innovation tools and techniques to students and provoke innovative thinking concerning a myriad of professions.

MCEI’s Entrepreneur/Workplace Innovator In Residence Program

The Massey Center’s Entrepreneur-in-Residence program was launched in the Fall of 2017. It was designed to provide students an at-hand mentor who has experience as an entrepreneur and/or a workplace innovator. EIR’s will be available at an allotted time on campus for students to utilize time with them, and will host events such as workshops and speakers’ series. Workplace Innovator in Residence

RMU Entrepreneurship Week

RMU’s Entrepreneurship Week is the concentrated time when we celebrate Entrepreneurship performed on a national and global scale. In the spirit of entrepreneurship, student groups are granted the opportunity to collaborate with the Massey Center to design and execute a diverse schedule of programming. Student organizations propose or shape the program for a campus-wide audience, then the Massey Center assists in ideation, logistics, and evaluation.

Massey Masterclasses

The Massey Masterclasses are workshops facilitated by entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs who are making disruptive change with their ventures in various markets. The purpose of the Massey Masterclass is for students to be exposed to a particular tool, skill, or area of knowledge, according to the facilitation of an entrepreneur and their experience.

Innovation 360

Innovation 360 is a series of floating venture workshops that are made available by demand. Student entrepreneurs will learn the fundamentals of ideation techniques, brand development, customer discovery, and establishing legal entities.

Rockwell Fellowship Programs

Our Commitment to the Community: The Rockwell School of Business at RMU is known for our dynamic business education and now for our meaningful connections to the surrounding community. The Massey Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation creates innovation learning experiences in collaboration with schools, community organizations, and companies. Some examples of MCEI’s committed education are our Entrepreneurship Youth Camps, our partnership with the Coraopolis Community Development Center, and our Massey Masterclass Series–where we invite industry leaders and entrepreneurs to offer discourse concerning their various realms of expertise.

Rockwell Fellowship Programs