Our Team

Innovation Program Team

We know the value of teamwork. Our interdisciplinary courses are taught by teams from various departments; innovation, business, engineering, computer science, communication, education, and the humanities.

  • Benjamin Kwitek, PhD

    Dr. Kwitek 2020

    Innovation Director

    Innovation Department

    email: bkwitek@uccs.edu
    phone: (719)255-5126
    office: Innovation House #102


    Benjamin Kwitek is the Director of Innovation at UCCS and teaches Entrepreneurship and Innovation classes. 

    Dr. Kwitek has founded many companies including Gellyfish and InterForm. His patents have been licensed by leading global corporations including: Acer, Dell, Facebook, Lenovo, Pentel and Sony.
     
    He serves on the Advisory Boards of the National Small Business Development Center (U.S. Small Business Administration) and IP2 at Stanford University. 
     
    Dr. Kwitek holds three degrees and multiple honors from the University of Colorado and Colorado State University, including a Ph.D. with research entitled Driving Economic Development. He has further studied innovation and intellectual property at Harvard Business School.
     

  • Corinne Harmon, PhD

     

    Dr. Harmon 2021

    Associate Director of Innovation

    Innovation Department

    email: charmon2@uccs.edu
    phone: (719)255-4902
    office: Innovation House #101


    Dr. Corinne Harmon is the Associate Director of the Bachelor of Innovation degree program at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs. She has served in the field of public education for over thirty years as a teacher, assistant principal, principal, executive director, assistant superintendent and superintendent. She also taught leadership courses at St. Louis University, the University of Missouri at St. Louis, Webster University and Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville. She provides training and support for local school districts in the Colorado Springs and Denver area on culturally responsive leadership practices, the facilitation of the Appreciative Inquiry process for positive, systemic change. Research interests include the components of effective leadership in facilitating systemic and sustainable reform in various institutional and organizational cultures as well as an analysis of the variables that support the implementation of culturally responsive practices through collective efficacy determinations at all levels of the educational system. Other interests include the application of selected principles of quantum physics and their relationship to leadership strategies on an individual and organizational level. She is also owner of Vibrational Living, where she provides consultancy and life/leadership/change coaching.

     
  • Terrance "Terry" Boult, PhD

    Dr. Boult 2020

    Innovation Program Founder

    Computer Science Department

    email: tboult@uccs.edu
    phone: (719)255-3510
    office: ENGR #174

    website: http://vast.uccs.edu/~tboult/


    Dr. Terrance E. Boult, Distinguished El Pomar Professor of Innovation and Security, is the visionary behind the Bachelor of Innovation. The new degree grew out of Dr. Boult's observations about not being able to hire people with the skills he wanted in his own companies. Dr. Boult was a founding member in 3 successful startups that earned more than 7Million each before their technology was acquired by public companies. With over $50Million in funded proposals, $25 million in revenue across his companies, 11000 citations, 300 papers, 15 issued patents, Dr. Boult brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the Bachelor of Innovation. He has taught every course in innovation core but also works with many students outside the classroom. Dr. Boult works closely with The El Pomar Instititue for Innovation and Commercialization, where he is the directory, assisting creative individuals and organizations in transforming innovative ideas into economic opportunities. In his role in EPIIC, he has helped many students move their ideas into actual startup companies.

     

  • Albert "Tim" Chamillard, PhD

    chamillard pre-2020

    Liaison for the College of Engineering and Applied Science

    Computer Science Department

    email: achamill@uccs.edu
    phone: (719)255-3150
    office: ENGR #182

    website: http://cs.uccs.edu/~chamillard/


    Dr. Chamillard attended Georgia Institute of Technology where he received his Bachelor of Electrical Engineering in 1987, and graduated with highest honors. He then went to the University of Southern California and the University of Massachusetts where he received his Master of Science in Computer Engineering and his Ph.D. in Computer Science, in 1990 and 1996, respectively. He taught at the Air Force Academy for 10 years before joining the Computer Science Department at UCCS in 2003. Dr. Chamillard has done Project Management and Consulting work for the Defense Contract Management Agency at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, and for the Air Force Satellite Control Network at Los Angeles Air Force Base, California.

    Dr. Chamillard’s primary research area is computer science education in two major areas: student performance prediction techniques and the relationship between student learning styles and student performance. In the software engineering area, he is examining a number of different topics, including software metrics, dependency analysis, and software process improvement.

     

  • Lissanna Follari, PhD

    Dr. Follari 2020

    Liaison for the College of Education

    Teaching & Learning Department

    email: lfollari@uccs.edu
    phone: (719)255-4102
    office: UH #221


    Dr. Lissanna Follari, CTP-E has been working with and for young children and families for 23 years. She began her teaching career with infants and toddlers and has worked in classrooms throughout the elementary grades. Lissanna has spent the past 18 years as an Early Childhood Education college faculty, focusing on diversity studies and innovative approaches to inclusive early care and education. She actively participates with numerous community agencies and schools advocating for high quality practices in inclusive early care and education. Lissanna earned her PhD in Education in 2005 with a focus in early intervention and international approaches to early childhood education. Lissanna has authored two books: Foundations and Best Practices in ECE and Valuing Diversity in Early Childhood, and her research and scholarship focus on diversity, social emotional learning, and trauma informed practice in early childhood. She joined the College of Education at UCCS in January 2014.

     

  • Colleen Stiles, PhD

    Dr. Stiles

    Liaison for Strategic Alliances and Partnerships & Senior Instructor

    Innovation Department

    email: cstiles@uccs.edu
    phone: (719) 330-0353
    office: Innovation House #104


    Dr. Colleen Stiles currently serves on the University of Colorado Colorado Springs (UCCS) Bachelor of Innovation™ (BI) faculty, and as the Liaison of Strategic Alliances for the family of degrees. 

    Colleen owns Quoin Consulting, a firm serving clients on a confidential basis by providing strategic innovative business and philanthropic services. Dr. Stiles is a licensed private investigator level II in the state of Colorado. Colleen is a Kellogg National Leadership Fellow, Daniels Fund Ethics Fellow, and a known speaker on topics as angel investing, the new entrepreneurial spirit, impact-based philanthropy, and innovation. Colleen waives her speaking fees for all fundraisers related to finding a solution for cancer diseases and/or patient support. 

    With over 30 years of experience working internationally in the field of entrepreneurship and innovation, she has built a reputation for all out massive action. Dr. Stiles continually lives in the possibility of making a difference through her work with students and clients. 
     

  • Thomas "Martin" Key, PhD

    Dr. Key 2020

    Liaison for the College of Business

    Department of Marketing, Strategy, & International Business

    email: tkey@uccs.edu
    phone: (719)255-3497
    office: DH368


    Thomas “Martin” Key is Associate Professor of Digital Strategy & Marketing at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs. Dr. Key was originally trained as a cultural anthropologist before launching his own business in 2003. After nearly a decade, he went back to university and earned a PhD in Business Administration with emphases in marketing and strategy. His research primarily deals with digital and strategic marketing issues at the executive level. He has published in the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, European Journal of Marketing, Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing, the Journal of Marketing Channels, and Business Horizons. 

     

  • Glen Whitehead, DMA

    whitehead pre-2020

    Liaison for the College of Letters, Arts & Sciences

    Music Department

    email: gwhitehe@uccs.edu
    phone: (719)255-4155
    office: ECFA #254


    Glen Whitehead is a new music trumpet artist, improviser and sound artist working in classical, jazz, and contemporary music settings, electro-acoustic composition, and interdisciplinary projects across the arts. His professional background spans a wide body of work over two decades as principal trumpet in professional orchestras, professional brass quintets, jazz ensembles, free improvisation and electronic music groups, and as an electric bassist, vocalist, lyricist and song-writer in the progressive rock world. He is the Director of Music and Associate Professor at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs (UCCS) and won the Innovations in Teaching with Technology award at UCCS and the Big Idea Award with Peak FreQuency in 2016 from the Pikes Peak Arts Council. He is the Artistic Director of the Peak FreQuency Creative Arts, Director of Performance of the environmental arts organization, EcoSono (http://www.ecosono.org), and he holds the Principal Trumpet chair in the Chamber Orchestra of the Springs.

     

  • Rory Lewis, JD, PhD

    lewis pre-2020

    Associate Professor

    Computer Science Department

    email: rlewis5@uccs.edu
    phone: (719)255-3149
    office: ENGR #188

    website: http://www.rorylewis.com


    Dr. Rory Lewis is an Assistant Professor with the Bachelor of Innovation at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs and an Adjunct Professor at the University of Colorado Denver’s Anschutz Medical Campus. In addition to teaching, Dr. Lewis has written several books on computer programming.

    For the past five years, Dr. Lewis has worked under the guidance of Dr. Zbigniew Raś in Knowledge Discovery and Music Information Retrieval (MIR). In Law, he worked as an associate VLSI legal litigation analyst on the AMD vs. Intel case at both Fulbright & Jaworski in Austin and Skjerven Morrill in San Francisco. Dr. Lewis teaches students in Computer Science and in the Business Innovation Program.

    Dr. Lewis also holds a Jurist Doctorate in Law and a Bachelor of Science in Computer and Electrical Engineering from Syracuse University.

     

  • David "Dave" Anderson, PhD

    david_anderson_2016

    Associate Professor and Chair

    Chemistry & Biochemistry Department

    email: danderso@uccs.edu
    phone: (719) 255-3154
    office: CENT241A


    Dr. Anderson's work is in the area of chemical education, with special emphasis on the use of technology in teaching and learning. His course materials are now delivered entirely over the Web; he uses PowerPoint, Web material, clickers, and other software in the classroom; and he has pioneered the use of generative software for discovery learning in class and in lab.

     

  • Jenifer Robertson, PhD

    Dr. Robertson 2020

    Senior Instructor

    Innovation Department

    email: jrober13@uccs.edu
    phone: (719)255-5123
    office: Innovation House #105


    Dr. Jenifer Robertson is a Senior Instructor in the Bachelor of Innovation™. Prior to joining UCCS in 2016, Dr. Robertson built a successful career in Information Technology leading executives, technologists, and delivery organizations to drive projects from inception to implementation. She has led delivery teams and managed proposals ranging from $50,000 software development projects to $50M+ Data Center modernization programs. 

    Dr. Robertson is a certified PMP and CSM and holds degrees in Leadership, Research, and Policy (Ph.D.), Industrial Engineering (MS), Communication Theory (MA), and Computer Science and Information Systems (BS). See her full professional biography on LinkedIn at LinkedIn-Jenifer Robertson.

     

  • Carolyn Gery, PhD

    gery 2020

    Instructor

    Innovation Department

    email: cgery@uccs.edu


    Dr. Carolyn Gery is a Research Affiliate at NIHR. She is adept at building and nurturing partnerships to address homelessness, youth disconnection, and access to mental health.

    Her professional background as a scholar and practitioner is in the field of educational technology, trauma-informed systems and data-based inquiry. As a former administrator of an alternative high school, she forged partnerships with higher education to develop an integrated framework incorporating social and emotional competencies with academic knowledge domains.

    Carolyn currently teaches courses in the multi-disciplinary Bachelor of Innovation program at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. 

    Dr. Gery's research interests are focused on the impact of early trauma on cognition and the identification of integrated practices for marginalized student populations.

    Click here to view Dr. Gery's CV!

     

  • Angus Chassels

    chassels pre-2020

    Entrepreneur in Residence and Instructor

    Innovation Department

    email: achassel@uccs.edu


    Instructor in INOV1010, and ENTP1000 and Entrepreneur in Residence.  As (EiR) I actively work with members of the University of Colorado (UCCS) community, including students, faculty, staff, and alumni. I assist these constituents in developing proposed business ideas, solidifying business strategy, identifying market positions, securing intellectual property, and obtaining funding. I mentor and support Business Administration, Computer Science, Computer Science Security, Electrical Engineering and Game Design and Development students in the Bachelor of Innovation program. I assist student startups, particularly those in the early stages of development and those seeking to commercialize their own or University technology. In addition, I work extensively with aspiring UCCS entrepreneurs to move potential ventures from the idea phase to prototype or startup, and help UCCS inventors create businesses around their ideas and technologies. I also bring notable speakers to campus, network students with additional mentors outside UCCS and directly support placing recent graduates into the hottest start-ups and most exciting established companies.

     

  • David R. Nelson, MFA

    nelson

    Department Chair and Professor of Communication

    Communication Department

    email: dnelson2@uccs.edu
    phone: (719) 255-4129
    office: ACAD 5416


    David Nelson has been teaching at UCCS since 1995 when he moved here from Los Angeles. He has an MFA (the terminal degree in film and television production) from the School of Theater, Film, and Television at UCLA. Professor Nelson worked in the film and TV industry including Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Since coming to Colorado Springs, he has produced three educational TV series that have aired on the Knowledge Channel and a documentary entitled The Twentieth Century: Profiles of American Life that aired on PBS affiliate KTSC.  He has produced numerous TV programs, music videos, and short films including The Trackers shot on 16mm film about a multi-ethnic group of kids who solve crimes and mysteries by using knowledge they have learned in school. Most recently he produced a short film entitled The Lady and The Phantom which can be seen on Youtube. 

    Additionally, Professor Nelson has produced a series of children's records, played trumpet in a number of bands and orchestras, and worked for Capitol Records in Hollywood.

     

  • Kelli Klebe, Ph.D.

    Dr. Kelli Klebe

    Dean of the Graduate School

    email: kklebe@uccs.edu
    phone: (719) 255-3779
    office: Cragmor Hall 110F


    Dr. Klebe is a quantitative psychologist who was trained at the University of Minnesota (Ph.D. in 1990). She received her BSW from San Francisco State University in 1982. Dr. Klebe teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in statistics and research methodology. She received the outstanding teacher award from the UCCS College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences in 2003. Dr. Klebe was appointed as Dean of the Graduate School in July 2012.