Bachelor of InnovationTM Overview
The Program: The Bachelor of Innovation™ family of programs is an internationally unique interdisciplinary undergraduate program between the College of Engineering and Applied Science (EAS) and College of Business (COB). The Bachelor of Innovation™ (BI) is a family structure, much like a Bachelor of Science (BS) or a Bachelor of Arts (BA), in which particular majors are defined. Included degrees (in alphabetical order): BI in Business Administration, BI in Computer Science, BI in Computer Science Security, BI in Electrical Engineering, and BI in Game Design and Development. Each degree in the program is composed of an emphasis major, an innovation core, and one of 4 cross-discipline cores.
Student Outcomes:Beyond the already expected technical depth from a Bachelor's student from the University of Colorado, BI students will emerge with a unique set of experiential skills. This will include: Multi-year multi-discipline team experience working on real problems with local companies, an understanding and experience in the innovation process of transforming ideas into sustainable societal impact, an understanding of the basics of business, policy and intellectual property, and through their cross-discipline a deeper exploration of globalization issues, creative communication, technology impact or business. The program will benefit both the business and science/engineering students as they learn to work together to solve problems.

Student Competitiveness:
A common question is whether these new degrees will be competitive in the marketplace. In building the program we did a detailed formal survey of 50 companies, across Colorado. When asked if they would agree with the statement "I would generally choose a UCCS BI graduate over a BS/BA graduate from other schools such as CU Boulder," the hypothesis was accepted at the very significant 99.95% (p=0.0005) level and when asked to agree with the statement "I would be unlikely to hire a UCCS BI student" the hypothesis was rejected at the very significant 99.998% (p=0.00002) level. These and other questions in the survey strongly suggest that the new BI degree students will be more employable than our current UCCS graduates, and that the new degrees will be accepted by industry. And if there is a company that does not know what the BI degree is, it is still a formal "Bachelors" degree in either engineering or business, as we did not change the name of the major, just the family.
Meeting a National Need: The National Academy of Engineering report on “Educating the Engineer of 2020”, the Council on Competitiveness, and the Business Roundtable all conclude that teaching about the innovation process and changing the education process, especially for engineering, is critical. The NAE state.
“Innovation is key ……… there is an undercurrent of awareness that current complexities are so daunting that tinkering at the edges—reforming one course, one program, one department at a time, developing isolated instances of success here and there — is no longer a viable response if we are to build the kind of robust programs in research and education now needed to strengthen the U.S. engineering community by 2020.”
The need for a dramatic reform in engineering education is not something we are claiming, it is a nationally recognized need to which we are responding. The comprehensive nature of the proposed Bachelor of Innovation™ is directly in line with the NEA engineering 2020 guidelines. We are preparing students for the competitive environment in which they will explore their careers.
What is the Bachelor of Innovation™?
The Bachelor of Innovation™ family of programs is an interdisciplinary undergraduate program between the College of Engineering and College of Business. The Bachelors of Innovation™ is actually a family structure, much like a Bachelor of Science or a Bachelor of Arts, in which particular majors are defined. Included Programs (in alphabetical order, click on any one to see its details)
- Bachelor of Innovation™ in Business Administration
- Bachelor of Innovation™ in Computer Science
- Bachelor of Innovation™ in Computer Science Security
- Bachelor of Innovation™ in Electrical Engineering
- Bachelor of Innovation™ in Games Design and Development
Each major in the BI family of programs is composed of an emphasis major, an innovation core, a cross-discipline core, and the general education requirements:
The Innovation Core is 27 Credits, geared toward innovation and entrepreneurship; a key component is multi-disciplinary long-term team activities over the sophomore, junior and senior years. Teams are expected to include students from all years, and may include graduate students. The teams will have dynamic membership and team member roles will change on a regular basis. The innovation core includes courses on innovation, entrepreneurship, business and IP law, and policy. The students will develop an "innovation portfolio" throughout the program to help document and highlight their roles and contributions in these various courses. This unique common core and experiential learning component are part of what makes the Bachelor of Innovation™ family so unique.
Each major also includes a per-student choice of a cross-discipline core, which is a coherent collection of 15 credits from one “cross over” area. The individual will choose this as early as possible in their program, but definitely before sophomore year.
Business Core (for non-business degrees) provides a broad coverage of business topics.
Creative Communication Core (for any BI major) provides coverage of a variety of communication modes. Courses include both traditional (e.g., oral communication) and non-traditional (e.g., visual arts) communication approaches.
Engineering Technology Core (for non-technology degrees) provides a broad coverage of engineering and technology.
Globalization Core (for any BI major) provides a selection of courses on globalization issues. It will have a language requirement (passing at the second year level) and a collection of international business/policy courses. Students in this option are encouraged to demonstrate at least 3 months residence in a non-English speaking country, which may be met by one-semester of study abroad. While abroad, involvements in the Innovation team projects will be “virtual," but will be required.
UCCS is an NCA accredited university. The BI degrees have been designed to be consistent with the appropriate specialized accreditation guidelines of AACSB or ABET. The College of Business is AACSB accredited so the BI in Business carries that automatically. However, no program can be ABET accredited until it graduates its first class of students and applies for ABET review. When that is granted it would be retroactive to the class reviewed.
Innovation and Cross Discipline Cores:
Innovation Core (27 Credits)
| Credits | Course | Course Title |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | Innovation Elective | Freshman Seminar or Innovation Elective (approved by advisor) |
| 3 | ENTP 100 | Introduction to Entrepreneurship |
| 3 | INOV 101 | The Innovation Process |
| 3 | BLAW 201 | Business/Intellectual Property Law |
| 3 | INOV 210 | Technical Writing, Proposals and Presentation |
| 3 | INOV 201/202/301 | Innovation Team: Reporting and Analysis |
| 6 | INOV 302/401/402 | Innovation Team: Design and Research |
| 3 | ENTP 450 | Entrepreneurship and Strategy |
Cross Discipline Core - Business (15 Credits)
| Credits | Course | Course Title |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | ECON 101 | Introduction to Microeconomices |
| 3 | ACCT 201 | Introduction to Financial Accounting |
| 3 | MGMT 330 | Introduction to Management & Organization |
| Choose two of the following: | ||
| 3 | OPTM 300 | Fundamentals of Operations Management |
| 3 | MKTG 300 | Marketing |
| 3 | FNCE 305 | Basic Finance |
Cross Discipline Core - Creative Communication (15 Credits)
| Credits | Course | Course Title |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | COMM 344 | Leadership Communication |
| 3 | Choose 1 MUS course | Music course |
| 3 | Choose 1 course from the list on the right | VA 101 Beginning Studio 2D VA 102 Beginning Studio 3D VA 104 Beginning Drawing VA 206 Two-Dimensional Topics VA 207 Three-Dimensional Topics VA 210 Digital Imaging VA 211 Introduction to Photography VA 215 Digital Photography |
| 6 | Choose 2 courses from the list on the right | COMM 102 Interpersonal Communication COMM 201 Oral Communication in the Workplace COMM 328 Intercultural Communication COMM 422 Creative Communication ENGL 205 Introduction to Creative Writing - Fiction ENGL 312 Technical Editing and Style MGMT 390 Improving Presonal and Team Creativity PSY 100 General Psychology PSY 315 Psychology of Motivation |
Cross Discipline Core - Engineering Technology (15 Credits)
| Credits | Course | Course Title |
|---|---|---|
| 9 | Take 1 course from each Engineering Department (CS, ECE, MAE) from the list on the right | CS 107 Introduction to Visual Basic CS 110 Problem Solving Through Game Creation CS 115 Principles of Computer Science ECE 1001 Introduction to Robotics ECE 1411 Intro to Logic Circuits I (2 credits) ECE 2411 Intro to Logic Circuits II (2 credits) MAE 1502 Principles of Engineering MAE 1503 Intro to Engineering Design MAE 3342 Engineering Economy |
| 6 | Choose 2 other engineering courses | Choose 2 other engineering courses for which you meet the prerequisites. You may choose courses from the list above or other Colleg of Engineering and Applied Sciences courses. |
Cross Discipline Core - Globalization (15 Credits)
| Credits | Course | Course Title |
|---|---|---|
| 6 | Foreign Language | This requirement is fulfilled by taking and passing the 211 and 212 courses for any spoken foreign language. Students may need to take additional foreign language courses for placement into the 211 and 212 courses and may need to exceed the 120 credit hours required to graduate. This requirement may be satisfied by passing a proficiency test. If a student successfully passes the proficiency test then the 6 credits must be used for additional courses from the list below. |
| 9 | Choose 3 courses from the list on the right | COMM 328 Intercultural Communication ECON 328 International Political Economy ECON 431 International Economics FCS 318 German and Austrian Civilization and Culture FCS 322 Japanese Culture and Civilization FCS 339 Internships in Foreign Cultures FNCE 440 International Financial Management INTB 360 International Business INTB 461 Regional Business Environment Europe INTB 480 International Management INTB 496 Internship in International Business MKTG 490 International Marketing PHIL 309 Philosophies of Asia PHIL 416 Business and Management Ethics PSC 101 Introduction to Global Politics PSC 322 Eastern Political System PSC 413 Latin-American Political System PSC 421 International Politics PSC 425 International Law SOC 222 Communities in a Global Environment SOC 438 Globalization and Development |


