Gallaudet’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship Institute launches new website, gears up for fall events

Gallaudet's Innovation and Entrepreneurship Institute (GIEI), led by Director Russell Stein, '94, and Coordinator Lorenzo Lewis, '19, has just unveiled its new website and kicked off an exciting program of events this fall.

It also highlights the valuable resources GIEI offers to help students, alumni, and the Deaf community discover how to thrive in the world of business, Lewis says. Incidental learning through networks and informal conversations offer a huge boost to hearing entrepreneurs, but these resources are not always available for Deaf, Hard of Hearing, and DeafBlind entrepreneurs. "Most hot and trendy business-related topics are inaccessible to us," says Lewis, who points to the lag in deaf involvement in innovative programs, such as accelerators that are designed to help startups scale quickly.

One way GIEI addresses that gap is with its annual BisonTalk series, which brings in experts to explore topics related to entrepreneurship. This year's BisonTalk workshops began on September 11th, with a deep dive into artificial intelligence led by IT professor Tayler Mayer, G-'05.

Upcoming workshops include a guide to financial accountability, advice on unlocking a successful mindset, and a reunion of past contestants from GIEI's BisonTank competition. (More details on this year's alumni and student BisonTank events will be released soon.)

The BisonTalk series aims to foster peer-to-peer learning, resource sharing, and networking opportunities within the Deaf community. Lewis emphasizes that GIEI's target audience is you! The one-of-a-kind series is presented live on Gallaudet's campus but is also available via webinar so that anyone can join and learn from practitioners in the world of entrepreneurship. Upcoming sessions are listed below; please register on GIEI's webpage.

BisonTalk Series:

All sessions take place from 6-7 pm EST