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The Spark of Innovation Begins Here
Connected to the Minor in Innovation & Entrepreneurship, JOLT develops creative co-curricular programming intended to be hands-on and experiential. We aim for students to graduate with the necessary skills to respond to uncertainty in a rapidly changing marketplace.
The JOLT Center creates an energizing and inviting space for students to take calculated risks, grow their talents, and discover their true potential. JOLT@TU Business helps students of any major better prepare for their chosen career paths by enhancing the excellent foundation provided by our university’s academic departments.
Dive into JOLT
The JOLT Fellowship
Nurturing the next generation of innovators by providing them with the resources and support needed to bring their ideas to life.
Benefits
Bring your ideas to life.
- Access to 200+ mentors, entrepreneurs & business professionals
- Help plan and attend first class workshops, panel discussions and fun events
- Hands on participation in pitch and ideation competitions
- Executive leadership practice
- Undergraduate research opportunities
- Honors programs like UIF and Sigma Nu Tau
- Access to Tulsa’s largest and most prominent incubator – 36 Degrees North
- Fun trips and off campus opportunities
JOLT Candidate
Freshmen & Sophomore Years
- Enroll in First Year Experience (FYE) Innovation & Entrepreneurship &/or Enroll in Intro to Innovation & Entre (Minor), or MGMT Minor
- Attend AT LEAST 3 Jolt Events per semester
- Engage on One Valley Platform
- Attend AT LEAST 1 ecosystem visit per semester
- Attend AT LEAST 2 StarTUp Club events per semester
- Participate in AT LEAST 1 competition: Hurricane Pitch Competition or Idea Challenge
JOLT Fellow
Junior & Senior Years
- Qualification to apply for a Jolt Chair/Leadership position
- Qualification for Sigma Nu Tau (Honors Society)
- Continued participation in Jolt events, StarTUp events (at least 3 per semester) & competitions (at least 1)
- Internship, extended visit or special project with ecosystem partner organization
- Attend a special trip: SXSW, USASBE conference, Silicon Valley, etc
JOLT Student Leaders
2024-25 academic year
Catherine Dooley
Fellow Chair
Brett Walsh
Membership Chair
Hasti Khaleghpour
Events Chair
Broen Dowd
Communications Chair
Mason Richardson
Marketing Chair
Dani Marques
CIE GA, Advisor
Jasmine Cherifi
Student Leader
Experiences for Impact
Signature Events
The JOLT signature programs invite professionals from all industries to connect with students through engaging and interactive programming. A variety of programs designed to support and accelerate the entrepreneurial journey categorized into three main pillars: Creativity, Future of Work, and Entrepreneurship.
StarTUp Club
University of Tulsa’s official Venture Capital Club.
Educates, connects, & provides a unique experience for sTUdents interested in early stage/starTUp community & venTUre capital to learn real world experiences. StarTUp seamlessly integrates with the entrepreneurship curriculum to expand real-world education beyond the classroom.
CREATIVITY
Innovation is creativity applied to real problems. Students, partners, community members, and faculty come together to create unique programs and events fostering the promotion of unique pathways to solve everyday friction.
Past Events Include:
- Value of Experimentation During Problem Solving: Tower building exercise based on popular TED Talk
- Practices of Highly Creative Thinkers: Session using materials from teachingentrepreneurship.org, design-thinking, and buildabetterbusiness.com
- Value of Play in the Creative Process: Field trip to the Discovery Lab with a presentation by a Laureate neurological research scientist
- Science of Happiness: Understanding what really makes you happy
- Importance of Empathy: Developing solutions to problems that really solve people’s needs
- Resiliency: How to learn from failure
- Improv as a Business Skill
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
We envision a future where the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship is a national leader in entrepreneurship education, known for producing the next generation of business leaders and innovators who will drive economic growth and societal change.
Past Events Include:
- Trolley Innovation Tour: Downtown Tulsa to ecosystem partners Gitwit, AtentoCapital, Techstars, Hurricane Ventures, and 36 Degrees North
- Idea Storm: Practices Used to Generate New Ideas
- The Good and the Bad: Interview with an Entrepreneur Panel
- Launching a Side Hustle: Panel focused on college entrepreneurship
- Laser Engraver Workshop and how to start a business on campus
- How to Deliver Compelling Business Pitches: Featuring speakers from Hurricane Ventures/46VC
- Best in Business Speaker Series: Jill Donovan, Founder of Rustic Cuff, and author of The Kindness Effect
FUTURE OF WORK
We envision a future where the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship is a national leader in entrepreneurship education, known for producing the next generation of business leaders and innovators who will drive economic growth and societal change.
Past Events Include:
- Power of Networking: Mixer with TU Alums
- How to Future-Proof Your Career: Skills identified by the World Economic Forum as being essential to thrive in the future environment of work
- Fueling Stations 2040: Reimagining the future and how fueling stations can deal with change
- Tulsa Mobility Challenge: A Creativity Challenge to develop real-world solutions to the problem of access to transportation in low-income neighborhoods. Students created ideas for improving Tulsa’s transit system and competed for $6,500 in prizes with judges from the City of Tulsa.
“The Jolt program is my favorite at TU! We believe that every person has the potential to unlock a creative side and express unique ideas. We explore how to navigate the world through a creative lens, how to identify the problems that resonate the most, and how to collaborate and innovate in order to solve problems.
As a Jolt leader, I have seen how students have developed their creative mindset and entrepreneurial skills over this last year through Jolt events and workshops.“
Elizabeth Kresock, Creativity Club President
PhD Computer Science Expected 2024
MS Computer Science