The CIC2020 Proseminar is a course in civic entrepreneurship and leadership development that takes place in a community context through significant engagement with leaders from business, political, social services and cultural sectors in the Southern Tier. Through individual and group research, students examine the roles of both students and mid-sized universities in community and economic development based on forecasts of the factors that will be necessary to create thriving communities in the 21st century. Each year the selection of an interdisciplinary team of student participants is campus-wide through a competitive process.
On May 7th, 2010, the cohort presented Leading from the Confluence, an inclusive framework that suggests expanding various concepts in an effort to promote the attraction and retention of young talent in the Southern Tier of New York. Recommendations for inciting a collaborative, innovative environment include strengthening five main factors: the relational development of university/community partnerships; a common culture that plays off of the Partnership for Knowledge Entrepreneurship’s suggestions to connect, engage, educate and innovate; a sustainable locale with a vibrant quality of life; the opportunistic engagement and retention of young professionals that empowers and utilizes the social capital at hand and a prospering sense ofentrepreneurial ubiquity in current and future regional plans for economic development.
Where did CIC2020 take the Proseminar students in 2010?
Click on the subjects below to see pictures from the sessions.
Week #2: University Research and Development
Week #3: History and Culture
Week #4: Arts & Enterprise
Week #5: Housing and Real Estate
Week #6: Governance
Week #7: Law and Finance
Week #8: Sports and Events
Week #9: Business and Industry
Week #10: Media & Promotion
Week #11: Healthcare
What were the objectives for the course? (Proseminar in Civic Entrepreneurship)
1. Examine the present and prospective role of universities in fostering the economic, social and environmental change that makes regions competitive in a global economy.
2. Explore the role of universities and their students in academic capital formation and marketing of innovation in the knowledge economy.
3. Explore significant leadership development strategies of key area employers for an understanding of higher education in various economic sectors as reflected in new conceptualizations of human resources as the strategic management of intellectual capital.
What were the objectives for the research project? (Leading from the Confluence)
1. Identify and inventory significant university-community partnerships in civic and business entrepreneurship, leadership instruction and innovation.
2. Work with Young Professionals Organizations in the Southern Tier to determine critical workforce needs among area employers in comparison of the perception of opportunities among graduates and new hires in order to profile the region’s capacity as a ” talent magnet” for the strategic attraction/recruitment, hiring and retention of educated young adults.
3. Demonstrate an intelligent, collaborative network of young talent or “superenclave” as the capstone project for the course in order to develop recommendations on ways to make the Southern Tier a destination for those seeking a creative and innovative culture.


