Reis to be panelist for Deshpande Symposium

Jennifer Reis, coordinator of Morehead State University’s Arts Entrepreneurship Minor Program, will be a panelist for the Seventh Annual Deshpande Symposium for Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Higher Education held at the University of Massachusetts, June 11-13.

Along with faculty from Emerson College of Boston, Massachusetts, and St. Francis College of Brooklyn, New York, she will be a presenter on a panel called “The Alternative Entrepreneur: Cultivating the Entrepreneurial Mindset in Non-Traditional Student and in Non-Tech Ventures.” The Deshpande Symposium is a gathering of like-minded practitioners focused on accelerating innovation and entrepreneurship across the college and university environment. The Symposium provides a venue for attendees to learn from each other’s experiences; to gain wider exposure for their ideas, successes and start-ups; and to collaborate on activities that increase innovation and entrepreneurship in their academic communities.

A native of Canton, Ohio, Reis is a creative entrepreneur, artist, educator and curator who has more than 20 years of experience in arts business and administration.

After receiving her B.F.A. degree from Columbus College of Art and Design in Ohio, Reis continued her education at Syracuse University earning an M.A. degree in museum studies and an M.A. degree in studio art with an art education emphasis.

She is a certified instructor through the CoreFour Entrepreneurship program, a Kentucky Arts Council KPAN consultant, and an Etsy Craft Entrepreneurship Program educator. Her artistic practice has been honored through numerous awards and grants, including Kentucky’s Al Smith Fellowship and she has been an invited instructor to art/craft schools such as Arrowmont School of Art and Craft, John C. Campbell Folk School, Craft Alliance, Society of Contemporary Craft and the Southwest School of Art.

Reis has been employed by MSU for more than 15 years, and is an alumnus of the President's Leadership Academy. In addition to receiving MSU's Distinguished Faculty Service Award, the Kentucky Arts Council awarded her the Al Smith Fellowship in recognition of creative excellence. Other meritorious honors and grants have been awarded by the Kentucky Foundation for Women and Americans for the Arts for her creative and arts administration work.

MSU’s Arts Entrepreneurship Minor and its core classes attract students across campus from visual and performing arts, Craft Academy, communication and marketing, as well as business and technology. It was established in 2015 and is the only program of its kind in Kentucky.

Additional information about the minor is available by contacting Reis at 606-783-5446 or by visiting www.moreheadstate.edu/arts_entrepreneurship.

For more information about MSU's Department of Art and Design, visit www.moreheadstate.edu/art.