Hagerman Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation
Real World Experiences
Established in the fall of 2015 by Phil Hagerman, the Hagerman Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation is the heart of entrepreneurship on the University of Michigan-Flint campus. The center offers students opportunities to enrich their education with experiences that take them beyond the classroom. The center’s activities will facilitate entrepreneurial and innovative skills to help graduates thrive and be successful.
The Beginning
The Hagerman Foundation presented the School of Management with a $2 million gift to establish the Hagerman Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation. This gift, the largest to date for the School of Management, is used to generate excitement about innovation, entrepreneurship, and problem-solving in local high schools and all students, instructors, and staff from every major within UM-Flint. The Center offers an easy-to-enter innovation competition (Zillion Solutions), a summer program for high school students, faculty innovation awards, student scholarships, and funding for the student organization Entrepreneurs Society. In addition, it has launched a new program, Student Organization Support (SOS) which helps fund events and enhance the event’s emphasis on innovation. The gift also inspired a new major offered by the School of Management: Entrepreneurship & Innovation Management.
Mission
The Hagerman Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation aims to increase the University of Michigan-Flint community members’, including potential student enrollees, awareness of, and interest in, entrepreneurship and innovation. This will primarily be accomplished through Ignite Innovation, which includes five initiatives:
- Faculty Awards
- Summer Entrepreneurship Institute
- Zillion Solutions
- Interdisciplinary Speaker Series
- Student Scholarships
Within the above framework, the Hagerman Center will emphasize the following:
- Serving Flint
- UM-Flint student participation in center activities, including assisting in the management of the center
- Partnerships with others in the entrepreneurial ecosystem, including key stakeholders such as UM-Flint organizations, UM-Flint faculty and alumni, and the business community
- Connecting potential entrepreneurs and practicing entrepreneurs with the most-appropriate resources
- Applying best practices in organizational management
To learn more about Ignite Innovation, email [email protected].
International Award for Excellence in Co-Curricular Entrepreneurship Programs
The Hagerman Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Michigan-Flint received the 2024 Excellence in Co-Curricular Innovation Award from United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship which is the largest association dedicated to university entrepreneurial education. This recognition underscores the Center’s commitment to spreading an entrepreneurial mindset throughout campus and beyond. You can read the article posted by UM-Flint Now.
The Hagermans
Phil Hagerman is president of The Hagerman Foundation, co-owner of SkyPoint Ventures, and CEO of Forum Health Enterprises. He served as chief executive officer for Diplomat Specialty Pharmacy, which he began alongside his father, Dale Hagerman, at Diplomat. Phil Hagerman always wanted to work with his father and believes he is blessed by being able to do so. His motivation in life comes from wanting to make a difference. “If you have passion and belief, you can make a lot of things happen and move a lot of mountains,” he said.
Phil Hagerman made a $2 million donation to UM-Flint’s School of Management on Friday, January 16, 2015.