The office, created in April, serves as an umbrella organization for existing entrepreneurial and technology transfer programs, including the Dartmouth Entrepreneurial Network, the regional technology center and the technology transfer office. Davis is working with associate provost Tillman Gerngross to develop the office's role on campus.
They plan to create "venture incubator" positions to support new business ventures, as well as roles that will oversee the creation of the office's long-term programs, Davis said.
The office serves students and faculty, although it currently sponsors few activities for students.
It has organized roundtable meetings with students and faculty to hear their ideas and will hold regular office hours in the fall to advise students and brainstorm further, Davis said. The office plans to add more services for students in the future.
Davis also met with student leaders and Career Services director Roger Woolsey to discuss their plans for facilitating student entrepreneurship.
"How do we work together to help students who want to enter into entrepreneurial ventures as opposed to traditional consulting and investment banking?" Davis said.
Getting the proper support for student entrepreneurs is vital to their success, said Riley Ennis '15, co-founder of the Dartmouth Entrepreneurial Society and Mitosis, a student group that promotes entrepreneurs.
Davis is helping Mitosis obtain support from the College, which is essential to the group's survival.
"If the school tries to top-down create things, they're not going to be successful, as they never are, so they should actually listen to the students," Ennis said. "If we say we need help with this, they should support that."
Davis said students, faculty and alumni have reached out to the office with their ideas.
In another meeting, Davis met with College President Phil Hanlon and Board of Trustees member Bill Helman to review the office's plans.
"He's very excited about entrepreneurship for Dartmouth and energizing these activities for Dartmouth students as the stakeholders," Davis said of Hanlon.
The Rockefeller Center is shifting its focus to provide more social entrepreneurial activities for undergraduates, said program coordinator Thanh Nguyen, adding that an entrepreneurial focus relates to the center's emphasis on citizen leadership and problem solving. The center offers co-curricular programs to complement the College's public policy courses.
"What we're looking to do is develop leadership so that students have skills for it, so they understand it in the context of a team, an organization how to mobilize people and utilize resources," Nguyen said. "Entrepreneurship is one way of doing that."
The center will provide students with more opportunities for social entrepreneurship activities during sophomore summer and through junior year. The D-Plan allows students to use the entrepreneurial skills they garner in off-term internships or other off-campus experiences, Nguyen said.
Last weekend, the center hosted a two-day workshop led by Henrik Scheel, founder of the Startup Experience.
Sarah DeLozier '15 said the workshop's opening lecture, in which Scheel discussed viewing large world problems as opportunities for social entrepreneurship, was inspiring.
Scheel stressed the importance of adapting to changes, saying the promise of a four-year education followed by entering the workplace and advancing through job positions no longer exists in the changed marketplace.
DeLozier said his advice was helpful to hear as a college student.
"My one criticism is that he made everyone leaving believe that they could be entrepreneurs and that it is a personality thing," DeLozier said. "He didn't really talk about the risks involved."
Fall events are still being organized, and Nguyen said he did not know specific details about upcoming entrepreneur-related events.
The Rockefeller Center hopes to collaborate with the Office of Entrepreneurship and Technology Transfer, but future plans will depend on how the office's activities develop in the coming terms, Nguyen said.
