I write to share an update that Jan Ryan, Executive Director of Entrepreneurship and Innovation and founder of the college’s Center for Creative Entrepreneurship, will be stepping away from her role with the center to focus on teaching and writing about women in entrepreneurship. During her five years in the College of Fine Arts, Jan has built a robust slate of curricular and co-curricular programming to support and mentor our students in their creative entrepreneurial endeavors. Jan has also been integral to the founding and launch of the Kendra Scott Women’s Entrepreneurial Leadership Institute, and she will continue to stay involved with that program.

The College of Fine Arts will be launching a search for a new director of Creative Entrepreneurship in the coming months.

A serial entrepreneur with a passion for working with women and creative people, Jan joined the college in 2017 and created the university’s first entrepreneurial program focused on supporting artists and creatives. Through the Center for Creative Entrepreneurship, Jan built co-curricular programs that connected our students with artists and creative entrepreneurs to illuminate different pathways to navigate creative careers. She also launched the weekly Ideas Lab, a community-oriented place for students to drop in to share and refine pitches for ideas they have and seek support and mentorship.

During her time in the college, Jan built two important classes: Creative Entrepreneurship and Women in Entrepreneurship. She created and taught the Women in Entrepreneurship class for almost two years before bringing in businesswoman and jewelry designer Kendra Scott as a co-instructor in the class. Jan will continue teaching and co-teaching this class moving forward.

Jan will continue to hold office hours by appointment for young entrepreneurs seeking coaching, and the Center for Creative Entrepreneurship will advance two additional programs this spring semester: "How to Attract a Great Mentor" on Feb. 23 and a Fireside chat with Studio Art alumna, artist and businesswoman Gay Gaddis on “The Business of Art” on March 9.

Jan has said her favorite part of her job is mentoring our students, and she’s coached and guided countless students in one-on-one appointments, listening to their ideas and connecting them with her professional network and guiding them through different options to pursue their ideas.

She’s worked hard to create a sustainable program, and in fact, the Center for Creative Entrepreneurship received its first two major gifts this year: the David and Tabitha Burke Endowment for Female Entrepreneurship to support entrepreneurship projects for students in the arts, and the Lori and Jonny Brumley Endowed Excellence Fund for the Center for Creative Entrepreneurship.