Intellectual property (IP), such as a manuscript or design, is a work or invention that is the result of creativity. IP can be protected by a patent, copyright, or trademark. In today’s workplace, an entrepreneurial mindset is not only valued by employers, but essential to success. 

To help prepare Illinois State University students for their careers, the first cohort (team) of five faculty members, during the 2024-2025 academic year, had access to background content on IP to upskill themselves and integrate it into their courses through relevant assignments.  

The lessons and assignments created by the Illinois State professors led the students to exercise their creativity and encouraged them to flourish.  

The following are the professors’ perspectives and outcomes following the IP upskill and student assignment class integration.

For Dr. Hulda Black, a marketing professor said, it was a “no brainer” to add IP into her Creative Strategy and Design class.

“Since the students are creating content, it is crucial for them to understand how to protect their work while also respecting others,” Black said.    

“IP opens new perspectives of systems development while encouraging students to understand what elements of their solution can be protected, becoming an intellectual asset,” said Dr. Rosie Hauck, a business information systems faculty member.   

Outside of the College of Business, Dr. Valerie Wright, Assistant Professor for the Mennonite College of Nursing, said that students were fully engaged with IP through a health care assignment and presentation.

“They not only loved the lesson but also enthusiastically brainstormed and presented their own innovative ideas,” Wright said.

Sarah Calvert, a sound designer, audio engineer, and educator, shared one example from her music business students. Shown in the image (at right) is a first attempt at what their patent might look like for a new product they created.  

The student team comprised of Athena King and Katelynn Lesinski, created their product concept called Aura Glasses. The students identified a frequent problem experienced by those who wear glasses and developed a solution they might protect through a patent. From this assignment, Athena said, “Knowing we could safeguard our idea through IP rights gave us a real sense of pride.” Katelynn shared, “Through this project, we explored all aspects of IP rights that applied to our ideas and saw how different protections work together to ensure an artist’s ideas remain their own.”   

The engagement and successful results from the professors and students speak for themselves.  

IP will continue to be integrated into more courses in the 2025-2026 academic year through a second faculty cohort at Illinois State and is part of a three-year pilot initiative offered by Illinois State’s Stephen and Sharon Hagge Innovation Institute, the George R. and Martha Means Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, and the Center for Integrated Professional Development (CIPD).    

Alum Warren McCarty, who specializes in IP technology law, provided the IP content used by faculty and students. 

“Helping ISU students understand and appreciate the role IP plays in today’s world has been very rewarding,” McCarty said. “I expect the program to be quite valuable for students. The majority of employment opportunities for ISU graduates comes from IP-intensive industries.”  

Dr. Ajay Samant, dean of the College of Business, said that the college aims to equip its students with the latest knowledge in protection of IP and Innovation.

“I am incredibly grateful to our alum Mr. Warren McCarty, who is an internationally acclaimed authority on IP Technology Law, for his support to upskill faculty expertise in this critical area,” Samant said.   

Jeff Hahn, College of Business instructional assistant professor who teaches Business Law, supports the IP faculty cohort with its IP assignment development, presents in faculty classes as requested, and answers questions from faculty and students as the assignment is being implemented.   

Students interested in pursuing IP (or innovation) beyond the classroom, are offered further help through the Hagge Institute’s Innovation Coaching, that provides students with one-on-one, or one-on-student team personalized coaching as supported by Perma-Seal Basement Systems. Following coaching, students can be referred to the Means Center for potential funding.   

We would like to acknowledge and congratulate the following five Illinois State faculty recipients of the CIPD for IP upskill for 2025-2026.  

Elahe Javadi (School of Information Technology) seeks to integrate IP education to boost students’ motivation and engagement in AI-integrated hardware research and prototyping projects.  

Erol Sozen (Family & Consumer Science) plans to teach Food Science students how to protect new sustainable food product ideas.  

Rachel Shively (Language Literature, and Culture) will help future teachers protect original materials and navigate copyright issues, especially with AI tools like ChatGPT and platforms like TeachersPayTeachers.  

Tim Trombley (Finance) will explore with students the shift from unrestricted access to IP as an asset that revolutionized how innovation is funded, through a new class.  

Tobias Pret (Management) plans to offer an IP focused assignment to prepare students to protect their business ideas.