Wrapping up my first year in Entrepreneurship

Let's Run It Back!

August 10 marks the first anniversary of being named the Director for the Center for Integrated Entrepreneurship. A picture of the contract signing is below. After one year, as they say in basketball, "let's run it back." I'm ready for another year!

I was a full-time faculty member in Communication and had interviewed for the Director's role because I like Dave Kukurza and know his background. 

When I was named Director, there wasn't much time to mess around. I had a full-schedule of classes to teach, which now had to be rearranged. I had no choice but to hit the ground running in terms of managing the responsibilities of the Center. For the next two weeks, I had Zoom meetings with at least 15 different people in the Entrepreneurship ecosystem in Northeast Ohio. I also met with Dean Judy Muyskens, School Director Andrew White, and of course, Dave Kukurza to get up to speed on what all I needed to do. 

In a management position like this, one thing I constantly do is check and respond to email. When I teach class, in the back of my mind, I wonder, "how many messages are in my inbox?" I feel like I have accomplished something major when I can leave work without unanswered email. 

I love what I do. I love helping students and seeing them succeed. I get charged up when I see and work with students who are just go-getters. I'll make calls and do whatever I can to get them ahead. 

My major goals for this year will be to teach a new Entrepreneurship class. Get more activities going with the Entrepreneurship Club and just make Entrepreneurship more visible. 

Student Spotlight

Kaela McMullin had herself a year last year! Second place in ideablitz! First place in ideabuild! And Honorable Mention at EEC's idealabs! That's $1,300 in winnings! Kaela's winning idea was called Cancer Cure Wigs. The idea was inspired by a family member who had battled cancer and dealt with the loss of hair and the psychological impact that had. Her product proposed to help restore and regrow hair. Watch the video to hear Kaela talk about it. 

What's next for Kaela? She said she would like to start a new clothing line. Over the summer, she took part in the EEC's Side Hustle program to learn more about starting a clothing line. 

Mentor Spotlight

Trevor Capiccioni is one of our awesome mentors. He launched his own medical supply sales business called Patriot Surgical in February of 2018. And it is taking off! Click on the link below to see Trevor explain how the expansion is going outside of Ohio! 

Trevor Capiccioni's Patriot Surgical expansion!

Taking a breath

(Canton, OH) It's summer time and the living sometimes isn't so easy. It's the fourth week since graduation and every week, has had several meetings on the docket, including four separate professional development seminars online. I'm supervising two students on internship. I require them to blog and we have Zoom meetings every couple of weeks. And I check in with their work supervisors. I am also in the middle of prepping a 100% asynchronous online class for the second summer session. 

When I previewed this week in meetings, I saw 11 meetings and yet another conference/seminar to attend and it conflicts with two meetings. On top of all of this, I had to take our dog to the emergency vet last night as she hadn't been able to eat for the past two days. She is not herself. The doc had to keep her overnight and give her an IV. She is having an ultrasound to see what the mass is that is stuck in her abdominal area. 

With all of this going on, I had to remind myself to just take a breath. Inhale. Exhale. Get through one thing at a time. Getting through each meeting and each day and just staying ahead of things helps settle the anxiety down a little. 

A New Year In Entrepreneurship

 (Hiram, OH) I am starting year six at Hiram College. I originally started in January of 2016 as an Assistant Professor in Communication. I came to Hiram right after graduating from BGSU in December of 2015. There's no way when I came to Hiram that I thought I would be an administrator at the start of this year!

Hiram College press release about me!

My great colleague

I'm thrilled to be in my current position. I work with a great colleague named David Kukurza. He's the Academic Development Director for Entrepreneurship. He and I mesh really well. You can tell we both have been around the block awhile and understand how to work well with people. Working well with people isn't something you can learn all about in school. A lot of it is learned from being in the business world, being in meetings, observing the hierarchy of companies, seeing who speaks when, knowing the roles of people, and so on. This business insight is what makes working with Dave so much fun. We don't mess around trying to figure things out so much. 

What's coming up

We are starting the spring semester face-to-face in-person. However, we are still following the state guidelines of not having more than 10 outsiders for a gathering. Social distancing is still encouraged. February 1st, all Ohio school employees are supposed to start getting vaccinated. We'll see. 

Threatening messages on social media

For everything good that there is about social media, there is also a very dark side. On the front page of today's sports section of the Akron Beacon Journal, there is an article about Cleveland Indians starting pitcher Trevor Bauer. A link is below.

Bauer seeks changes on social media threats

Sports fans have favorite teams and favorite players. I have watched many games over my lifetime where a player on my favorite team choked in a do or die moment or played very poorly. I never would have thought to write that player a letter or try to call him. Now still, in today's age of social media, I never would think to tweet at a player, slide in his dm's or message that person on Instagram and tell them they suck. If they played poorly, they know. No need to make it personal. Absolutely no need for death threats or telling them you hope they die. Can you imagine what would happen if on a bad day at work someone messaged you to say they hope you die? Crazy. The anonymity of social media has given too many people courage that they otherwise wouldn't have and they become "keyboard warriors." I hope it stops at some point.

As a follow-up to social media reacts...

In my last post, I commented about how there has been a trend for quite some time about the reaction on social media to news stories. Yesterday with the release of the Mueller Report that investigated the 2016 Presidential Election and whether or not there was collusion by the Trump campaign with the Russians, social media and cable news was on fire with constant coverage.

And with many stories, especially due to the web, some things in the news take on a life of their own and get celebrity status and notoriety that otherwise would be no big deal.

Take this report by CNN for example and the stare of Rod Rosenstein.
The Rod Rosenstein stare

So for all of the BIG news that came out of the release of the Mueller report yesterday, this also gained traction on social media. This?! This also had people talking?

And social media reacts!

News and sports over the last few days have been loaded with stories that have spread quickly and have had people talking. Since the internet and especially since social media has become a way for people to "talk" about news stories, a trend has developed. It's not just the newsworthy event that gets posted but it's also the reaction. And many times, the reaction story is just as big because of the people who react. 

The link below is the story about the reaction to Tiger Woods winning the Masters. Note the people who congratulated Tiger on social media. 

 https://www.golfchannel.com/news/social-media-reacts-tiger-woods-fifth-masters-victory

This next example below is similar yet different...People around the world took notice of the beautiful Notre Dame Cathedral burning in Paris. What's different about this is that this story focused on the newspapers around the world and the reaction rather than reaction on social media. I get it. This story was to show what hard copy newspapers showed from around the world but with so many newspapers struggling and readership down, I am still surprised this angle was taken.  

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/notre-drame-newspapers-around-the-world-react-to-one-of-frances-darkest-days/ar-BBVZryS?ocid=spartandhp

Googling the phrase "social media reacts" will result in several hits on news stories. I don't think this will go away as seeing how we now measure news stories' reach by clicks, reactions, retweets, and likes. 

Class of 2019 Apple Distinguished Educator

(Massillon, OH) I received great news almost a week ago. On Wednesday, April 3, at 9:09 p.m., I got an email from Apple saying I made the Class of 2019 for Apple Distinguished Educators! Below is the video I submitted for my application.




This is a great honor. At Hiram College two years ago, we started a program called Tech and Trek, which means each student gets an iPad Pro. I love it. Having a media background in audio and video production makes me really enjoy incorporating media production into my classes.

About the Apple Distinguished Educator program, I'm truly humbled and honored to be in it. We have so many great educators at Hiram College who are doing amazing things with the iPad. While I have done a lot with the iPad, I want to say this distinction is a "team win" for Hiram College.

A new website and branding

I just finished teaching a Web Design class this Spring semester. The class did not focus so much on coding as it did on the design, look, and content of the website. I had my class purchase a membership with WordPress/Bluehost to build their website from a template and then write biographical information about themselves, add pictures, video, and other items relevant to them.

The most important thing I wanted them to start with was a goal for their website. Did they want to show off artwork, display their ambitions to be a football coach or whatever. I modeled for them what I wanted to do for myself.

I wanted to create an autobiographical website of who I am, complete with photos, videos, my resume, and a story about who I am. I bought the domain doctorstrukel.com and here is My website. Please check it out and let me know what you think.

Old to the New...radio to podcasting

It's a sign of the times. Old school radio is dying. Plain and simple. While traditional over-the-air traditional radio still exists, much of the power of transmission and who controls the content, has seen a major shift to the listener. 

When I started in radio

I started in radio in 1988, volunteering my time at WTIG 990 AM in Massillon. I went in Sunday at 6 a.m. and turned on the power to the transmitter and station and played country music for 90 minutes before switching over to back-to-back church broadcasts. It was thrilling. The only interaction I had was with my Mom who would call me every now and then to make a request. Mom was the best!

Fading interest in radio 

Fast forward 30 years to Hiram College. Interest in radio was fading away as students were not using the radio station so much in the basement of the Kennedy Center. The space that was the radio station studio had fallen on hard times. Equipment was broken and Hiram College's IT Director Matthew McKenna and I decided to shut it down, rip everything out, and restart it as a podcast studio. 

The old studio at Hiram College

Here's what the old studio looked like.

We tried to sell the records and equipment and had no takers. Everything went to the trash. After a lot of help from the Hiram College Physical Plant, the IT Department, Marc Freeman, and others, the space was cleared. 

How academic restructuring played a role

In the spring of 2018, our Dean Judy Muyskens announced a number of new academic majors and programs that we as faculty at Hiram College should come together on and bring to fruition. One of those new majors was sport management. Sports psychology professor Andrew White, Integrated Exercise Science professor Mike Rebold and I came together to research sport management programs and went to work assembling curriculum. Part of our work included creating a wish list of things we would need funding for. I proposed we included funding for the podcast studio so athletics could use it. Funding was approved and work got going on transforming the space from what you see above to what you see below.

The new podcast studio

Tuesday, February 26, we had our big reveal of the new studio space. We had 16 students show. It was awesome to hear the collective "oooohhhs" and "ahhhhh" when I removed paneling from the window so they could see the studio. And right away, I showed them the equipment. They opened up GarageBand and started playing around and recording. It was a blast to hear the students discuss ideas about how to share content and get shows going. I can't wait to see where things go from here. 

If you have a show idea for a podcast, feel free to share it with me in the comments on this. 

MAGA hat controversy

Is a MAGA hat the level of Tinker v. Des Moines?

MAGA hat outlawed?

(The image above is from: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6735531/California-student-claims-school-banned-wearing-MAGA-hat.html)

I just saw this news story about a young lady who was told she could not wear a "Make America Great Again" hat in her high school. The link above the photo in green will take you to a video about the student and this situation in California.

Substantial Disruption

Regardless of how you feel about President Trump, this is a free speech issue and an issue that was dealt with in the Supreme Court in Tinker v. Des Moines. In that 1969 landmark case, Mary Beth Tinker and John Tinker were banned from wearing black colored peace armbands in protest of the Vietnam War. The High Court ruled the school could censure student speech IF it would cause a "substantial disruption" to learning.

If the student would get disciplined for it, she could appeal it. In the case of the young lady from California, I don't see how her wearing a #MAGA hat would cause a "substantial disruption" to the educational environment.

When I was in school

When I was in school, wearing any kind of hat was not allowed.Granted, I graduated from high school in 1989. At that time however, hats were not allowed in school. Since that time, things have changed quite a bit. With the advent of social media, student expression has taken on new life and new ways. As polarized as this country is, I think we will see more news stories like this one from California.

Facebook posting

I love Facebook...maybe too much but even I have set my limits and mentally stop myself from getting carried away. I like it because I post what's going on in my life...mostly good. I don't want to post negative or bad stuff because I feel like it is drawing too much attention. But that is a symptom of how conscious people have become of posting things on Facebook.

The real reason I am writing this is because of people who post too much information on Facebook. I just want to list three examples.

1. Do not post details that should be private about your job. Another person who I know is a grad student and teacher. He has openly posted his gripes about students multiple times and other times, he will blast the school he teaches/studies at. NEVER blast students on social media...and especially if you do not have a full-time job yet and hope to graduate in a couple years.

2. A friend of mine went through a tough divorce last year...as the break up and divorce was proceding, he posted gripes about his soon-to-be ex as well as her parenting abilities and things she supposedly did. If a divorce is pending in court, this was probably not a smart move.

3. I get that sometimes it is important to let others know how a loved one is doing if they are sick or in the hospital. I understand that. BUT I do not get people who post pictures of injuries or grotesque photos of injuries. I don't want to see that!

Please feel free to add your "do not post" or what you cannot stand that people post on Facebook comment. What are your thoughts?

Jobs and Relationships

It's been so long since my last blog post. I feel the need to write. For a long time, I have compared jobs to relationships and vice versa. We are looking for "the one"...whether it's a job or the signficant other. I strongly believe the two have a lot in common.

For both...
You want to make a great first impression.
You want growth in both.
You don't want to cheat on either. If you are cheating, what you have currently going on is not satisfying you. Or it is not giving you something you need or deserve.
You want good, open communication.
You want to have input in your future.
You want "the one" you find to be your last one.
If there's bad news, you would like to be treated as an adult and treated with respect. Meaning, you should be talked to in person and not in a memo or e-mail.
And vice versa, if you have to leave, do it respectfully. Be a good person. Show that you have class.
The transition process from one to another can be awkward and requires time.

In the Business Communication class I teach, I say to my students all the time to treat people like how you would like to be treated. The Golden Rule. Even if you have to fire an employee and it is unpleasant, do them the favor and tell them in person. It could be a learning experience for them as well as for you. I am such a huge believer in this. I try to treat students and colleagues with a positive attitude and support them.

Over my career in which I have worked numerous jobs, I have noticed that the "rules" I have listed in my comparison to relationships, usually hold true.

Newswriting issue

Sorry it's been so long between posts but I had to write something after seeing this story on the local news.

TOLEDO, OH (WTOL) - Anferney Fontenet, 16, has been sentenced for raping a woman with Asperger's syndrome alongside a Toledo road.

As the judge handed down the punishment of 18 years in prison, the victim watched from a monitor in another part of the courthouse and Fontenet shed tears.
Judge Stacy Cook says Fontenet has no control over his impulses and that makes him a danger to the community.

The victim's mom read a letter her daughter wrote saying how the rape and robbery changed her life forever.

Fontenet had a few words to say in court too.
"I'd like to apologize to the victim and her family. I didn't intend for any of this to happen, but I'm not going to make an excuse for it, but what I did was not right. What I did was wrong."

The victim's family is glad this boy is off the streets.
"I don't feel satisfied. I don't feel dissatisfied. I am happy he's off the streets so he doesn't hurt anyone else, but I'm not in for revenge," the victim's mother said.

Fontenet will have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life. He says he plans on appealing the sentence.


****My only question with this story is why is it relevant that the victim had Asperger's syndrome? Why is she identified by her illness?

You never know who you'll run into...

Ok, so here's a story...
I was at Kroger's on Main Street in Bowling Green, on the north end of town. At least I think it's Main Street. This was this past Saturday night. I was on my way to a birthday party. I just filled my gas tank and was waiting to turn left to go south...leaving Kroger's. I'm behind a white Chevy Caprice Classic. All of a sudden, the car puts it in reverse and starts backing up. I can't go anywhere because a car is behind me. I lay on my horn a couple times. The car kept coming and hit me!!!! Didn't seem major but the car hit me enough to get my attention. Of course, the light turns green. The white car turns left. I'm pissed. I follow the car. I'm honking my horn and flashing my lights every other block. The car keeps going. I call BG Police....who are busy with the Tractor Pull. I read off the license plate number and took a picture of the car with my phone. As I'm on the phone with BG Police, I am calling out what direction I am going and what streets I'm passing. Every so often, again, I flashed my lights and honked my horn. I noticed the passenger turned around and looked. I pointed to the side of the road as if to say, "HEY, PULL OVER!" I even yelled that out the window. We were now five miles away from Kroger's. We went by the fairgrounds where the tractor pull was going on. We never went faster than 40 mph. Eventually, I got transfered to the Wood County Sheriff's Department. I followed the car to a little town called Tontogany. Otsego High School is not that far away. We were now about 6 miles from where the "chase" started. The car pulled into a driveway. I parked. The passenger got out. She was a short woman...a little rough around the edges. I said, "You hit my car." She said, "no, we didn't." I said, "Yes, you did....back at Kroger's. We were sitting at the light waiting to turn onto Main....you started to back up and I laid on my horn and you hit me." The woman got really nervous and pulled out a cigarette and was shaking. I looked at the front of my car and really couldn't see any major damage. There might have been some scratches in the grill or something but nothing big. Anyway, then, the driver gets out. She's probably in her mid-60s. There's a handicap accessible placard in her rearview mirror. She struggled to make it over to me and the other woman, who as it turned out, was her sister. The driver, was missing teeth and walked (really struggled to walk) with a cane. She didn't know or believed she hit me either. She thought I was tail-gating her. After talking to her and her sister, the driver told me she is homeless. Her car is pretty much the only thing she owns. She has no phone. She lives in a mission in Toledo. She also told me she had been the victim of a break-in and had been robbed recently in Toledo. Her sister lives in a room at the house of a friend we were at parked at. She has a pre-paid phone. Both are looking for work. The driver was overly apologetic and seemed to be getting upset that she hit me and didn't realize it. The sheriff's department told me BG Police would follow up with them when I told them I live in Toledo. However, after hearing how down on their luck both women were, I decided this wasn't worth it. They don't need the trouble. I told them to forget about it. Just then, a Wood County Sheriff's Department officer pulls up. He showed me a message from the BG Police that basically said that again, they would follow up if I wanted to. I told him to forget about it. The ladies thanked me and said I was a very nice guy. I left and went on my way to the birthday party but man, it really taught me a lesson about waiting to judge somebody before I get all the facts. Here I was thinking, "what kind of a-hole hits me and keeps driving?" And then after talking to these two ladies, I found out they were super nice and didn't mean it all. And in the end, I ended up wishing I could have done more to help them.

Things on my mind as I go through school.

Let me first apologize for writing about my doctoral program experience. I know not everyone can get into this but there are a lot of lessons that apply to areas outside of school.

First, my adviser, Dr. Ewart Skinner, said to me, "Think of the end....now." In other words, what I do now has a direct bearing on what happens when I graduate and look for jobs if I want to move around or even stay at Toledo. In terms of what I am doing now, more specifically, he meant the theory I specialize in as well as the research method is something I will carry with me throughout my doctoral student career and then when I apply for jobs or stay at Toledo, I can talk about my areas of specialty.

Second, think about your audience. My research interest is studying how pregnant teens and teen moms identify with pregnancy themes in the media like tv shows and movies. We have seen people blame the media for glamorizing pregnancy and making it more appealing to teens. To me, this has practical applications. I want to talk to teens about the media's impact. Once my research is completed, I want people, especially teens, to read it. In my opinion, there is a lot of academic research that seems to float in this cloud above people that only academic types read. I don't see the point in doing research if it does not benefit people in some way. So, to shorten up my point, basically, who is the audience? Who will read or hear your research? How will it impact them?

Lastly, you are constantly making an impression on somebody. What I mean by that is no matter what happens, what assignment you have, you are always "interviewing." Someone has their eye on you. The faculty in the Media and Communication Department at BGSU is strong and have published a ton of research articles and have connections. While many are set in where they are, they might get a call from a professor they know at another university asking if they know of someone who they think would make a good hire. I try to keep that in mind. I don't want to be the student who gets spoken of as, "yeah, he tries hard but doesn't seem to give it his all" or "he goes through the motions a lot." Not cool.

So what?

As a doctoral student at Bowling Green State University, I along with my fellow students have a wide variety of research interests. However, it seems we are always trying to answer the question, "SO WHAT?". Or "why should people care?" One of my all-time favorite professors at Kent State, the late Larry Hugenberg once said, "you could probably take about 99 percent of all academic research and throw it in a pile in the parking lot and burn it (due to the so what question)." There is an issue with academia in that on one hand, you are looked at as a "sell out" if you try to reach beyond the academic journals and go "mainstream" to reach a wider audience BUT on the other hand, if you keep your research interests or projects inside the academic circles, who really benefits from your research? Case in point: my best friend here in Toledo did her dissertation on the retention of minority students in medical colleges across the country. She loooked at the factors that cause minority medical students who stay in the program and the factors that cause students to drop out. I applaud her massive effort to gather data and assemble her dissertation. Her dissertation led her to do presentations at several conferences across the country and it led to her getting a promotion at the University of Toledo. My friend was truly motivated to carry out her research because it was personal to her and she wanted to make a difference. My friend's work could not have made the impact it has if she would have confined it to academic journals. Thankfully, one of my professors said recently that one of the major academic communication organizations is softening its stance on reaching out beyond its walls to a wider audience.

Ironically, the Plain Dealer of Cleveland has an article (May 30, 2010) about a guy who is battling an issue to publish his research about a possible cancer-cell-killing project of his.
http://www.cleveland.com/medical/index.ssf/2010/05/cleveland_state_university_pro.html

Food and Memories

I find it oddly fascinating how a restaurant or food can trigger memories. For example, earlier this week, I was hungry and in a hurry. So I went through the drive-through at Arby's and got two little roast beef sandwiches. The sandwiches immediately made me think of my late dad, who passed away last year. He loved Arby's sandwiches.

Another place I went to recently was Boston Market. I think they have really good food there. Here's my issue. I had a close relative who was in a mental institution and I would go visit that relative several times. I would stop at the nearby Boston Market before going to see the relative. So, I developed a correlation between visits to the mental hospital and Boston Market. Even now that I am in Toledo, I still have trouble eating in the restaurant because it makes me think of going to a mental hospital. This time though, I got my food to go because I didn't want to sit in the store.

Dairy Queen is another place that brings back memories. When I worked in TV, I would go to Berea with one of the greatest guys I know. On the way back from Berea on the turnpike, we would stop in Richfield at the Dairy Queen. My friend has a stomach lined with tin. He eats all kinds of stuff that should melt paint off a car. It wouldn't be unusual for my buddy to get a chili dog and a burger at DQ. Anyway, every time we stopped, we had an absolute blast.

There are more food memories. I just had to share the ones I experienced or thought of recently.

How can this be fixed?

President Obama wants a major overhaul of No Child Left Behind. NCLB is the major legislation that President George W. Bush passed in an attempt to raise the level of education in this country by emphasizing testing and improvement for EVERY student.

People have to understand something. Funding is tied to nearly everything, especially in education....attendance rates, graduation rates, passing rates, etc. You get the idea. Naturally, the better a school does, the more funding it receives. Can this lead to dishonesty? Sure. Students are passed who no in way should be passed. Students who have major disciplinary issues are not punished because again, suspending students and/or sending them home counts against attendance. Only major discipline issues will send a student home.

Standardized testing...this has led to major problems for schools and children. Teachers are teaching to the test, plain and simple. Their jobs are on the line. They are pressured by administrators to do well, no matter what kind of students walk through their door. Is that fair? Maybe not. It will force teachers to attempt to reach every child though.

But what happens when teachers teach to a test? Critical thinking and/or problem solving skills are not practiced. Instead, students become strategic test takers. Filling in a circle will never replace problem or project based learning. Furthermore, filling in circles will never substitute for learning writing skills and/or learning things like American History or Geography. Consider this: a grad student/classmate of mine said recently during a conversation about First Ladies that Eleanor Roosevelt did a lot and was a powerful First Lady because "FDR sat around a lot." That lack of common knowledge is disturbing. I once ran talked to an undergrad who had no idea where Mexico was. USA TODAY ran an article a couple months ago that said that more undergrads are taking up to seven years to get their bachelor's degree because they are taking so many remedial classes. This is not a surprise. Public edcuation is failing them. Education needs to be improved, big time.

Best ratings yet.

My guess on the upcoming edition of Dancing With The Stars will be the highest rated ever. Pamela Anderson, Erin Andrews, and Kate Gosselin???? Too much "car wreck" type "stars" there to ignore.

From Yahoo! TV...

Overhyped cast announcements have become a twice-yearly tradition for "Dancing With the Stars," but this week, the hype may actually be deserved. For its tenth season, kicking off March 22, ABC has assembled the A-list of the B-list, ranging from the biggest "Bachelor" ever to the biggest (ahem) "Baywatch" babe ever to the most eccentric NFL star ever.

But above all, the show managed to score Kate Gosselin, one of the most talked about and controversial reality TV stars ever. Already, she's attracting attention for the fact that she'll need to be in Los Angeles to rehearse and tape two to three episodes each week, presumably leaving her eight young children behind (though reportedly she'll practice her routines back home in Pennsylvania). Expect that storyline to gather steam as the season progresses — unless, of course, voters send her packing quickly. Here's how we think Kate and the rest of the cast will do:

How does this happen so much?

How do so many Howard Stern clones and show contributors get on-air?