Justine Bassett, director of innovation at UNE, loves walking around the university’s P.D. Merrill Makerspace, surrounded by student projects — the whiteboard full of notes, CPUs connecting mazes of wires, students coming and going. Bassett was tapped to run innovation by university president James Herbert, who came to UNE in 2017 with a vision to help students contribute to the marketplace of ideas and develop interpersonal skills. Herbert believed in the expansion of experiential learning, and last year, the Office of Innovation opened to help realize his vision. Amid the clutter of student ideas coming to life, Bassett offered a deeper look at why innovation is important in collegiate education.
How did UNE’s existing makerspace spur the creation of the Office of Innovation?
The makerspace is a physical place where students can come and make their ideas happen….
