Communiqué
Scripps College’s Associate Dean Is in the Vanguard of Innovation
By: Tom Hodson
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Dr. Michelle Ferrier is a pioneer in digital content, online education communities, digital identity and reputation management and media entrepreneurship. She also is the Associate Dean for Innovation, Research and Creative Activity for the Scripps College of Communication. In that role, she leads many of the college’s innovation activities.
Ferrier not only leads college innovation projects but she personally is an innovator on many different levels.
Currently, she oversees personnel and resources in the Scripps College that are associated with innovation and entrepreneurial activities – such as the Gaming Research and Immersive Design Laboratory (GRID Lab), the Scripps Innovation Challenge (2013 and 2014) and the development of a new Center for Innovation within the Scripps College.
Ferrier also leads by example in her personal and academic life. She is the vice president for Journalism That Matters, an organization focused on “bringing together diverse communities to reimagine the news and informational landscapes.”
She also is the force behind Create or Die – media entrepreneurship startup events.
Ferrier also is a recipient of a Knight Foundation Grant for innovation.
“Innovation and entrepreneurship are new ways of thinking,” Ferrier told WOUB’s Tom Hodson.
She is a strong proponent of incorporating them into the curriculum of the Scripps College to give students a boost into the future.
Ferrier is a former columnist, managing editor of online communities and she has developed projects in serious games and immersive environments.
She is a former research associate with the Center for Research and Education in Arts, Technology and entertainment at the University of Central Florida.
She also was the lead researcher for the Employ Florida Digital Media Banner Center where she helped create a new core curriculum in digital media.