A new course in blockchain technology at Emory & Henry College, sponsored by the College’s School of Business, Troy Wiipongwii of the William & Mary Global Research Institute and InvestSWVA, will launch on June 21, 2022. The course will put blockchain technology and its ancillary developments into an accessible context for the economy of Virginia’s Southwest region. The goal of the course’s sponsors is to open avenues into growing scalable businesses in agriculture and energy, in an environmentally sound manner, using the full force of decentralized technology.
Blockchain is a technology that transcends geographic, economic and political boundaries, known today for supporting other technologies such as Non-fungible Tokens, Cryptocurrencies and Decentralized Autonomous Organizations. Emory & Henry’s five-week course, taught by Mr. Wiipongwii, will explore the application of blockchain technology to southwestern Virginia’s drive to expand its economy – integrating the technological with the economic and the entrepreneurial. The course, open to enrolled students and business guests, will prepare participants to communicate effectively about how blockchain can support new growth in the region’s energy and agriculture sectors.
Work on this project began in 2021 with InvestSWVA’s specialty grain initiative, which defines the region as the go-to source for grain products used in the craft beverage industry. InvestSWVA’s Will Payne, who serves as Vice Rector of William & Mary’s Board of Visitors, saw an opening for Emory & Henry’s School of Business to serve as a strategic partner along with the Virginia Department of Energy (Virginia Energy) in incorporating blockchain technology with InvestSWVA’s energy and specialty agriculture projects, enacting a shared focus on entrepreneurship. Following a visit by William & Mary officials to the region for meetings with House Majority Leader Terry Kilgore, Deputy House Majority Leader Israel O’Quinn and Senator Todd Pillion, Payne engaged the university’s Global Research Institute and Mr. Wiipongwii, who previously served as the Director of the Institute’s Blockchain Lab. Emory & Henry College School of Business Dean Emmett P. Tracy and Delegate Israel O’Quinn embraced the concept of a partnership aligning Emory & Henry’s priority to prepare entrepreneurs with regional economic development. Exposure to the fundamentals of blockchain technology introduces a competitive component. In addition to teaching this Emory & Henry course, Mr. Wiipongwii serves as an advisor to InvestSWVA.
“The business school of Emory & Henry College seeks to nurture and deliver entrepreneurs,” said Dr. Emmett P. Tracy, Dean of the School of Business at Emory & Henry College. “The Blockchain Foundations course will help us connect our mission as educators with our priority of encouraging our talent to stay and grow with and in Virginia’s Southwest. The course addresses the priorities of our student base as well, in the realm of taking agriculture and energy startups to new heights, using technology strategically and with full realization of environmental impact.”
“I am fascinated by and dedicated to research and entrepreneurial activities that take a human-centered approach to the design of technology,” said Troy Wiipongwii, affiliated faculty member of the William & Mary Global Research Institute. “I believe this course and the follow-on activities really hit home, putting stakeholders and challenges, not technology, first. I want this course to be about putting blockchain into a real-life, on-the-ground context – not just another blockchain course with more blockchain hype. The Blockchain Lab at the William & Mary Global Research Institute is about stakeholder alignment and rigorous evaluation of real-world applications of blockchain. We are most definitely moving in that direction here, in Virginia’s southwestern region.”
“This course takes rural Virginia into much-needed territory of integrating relevant higher education, powerful technology and economic development,” said Israel O’Quinn, Fifth District Delegate and Deputy Majority Leader of the Virginia House of Delegates and alumnus and member of the Board of Trustees of Emory & Henry College. “Besides being pleased that Emory & Henry is introducing blockchain to this conversation, with Troy Wiipongwii, I look forward to seeing the role courses like this can play in encouraging students to take the entrepreneurial route in our southwest region. I applaud all the partners in this endeavor and congratulate InvestSWVA for helping to make this happen. The time is right for taking economic development efforts in this direction.”
“This course advances the use of blockchain technology in the agriculture and energy industry sectors,” said Will Clear, Deputy Director for Virginia Energy and alumnus of Emory & Henry College. “It will grow entrepreneurs around important issues such as land use planning, energy infrastructure and agricultural sustainability – introducing them to how technology can serve their efforts to build scalable businesses and enjoy rewarding careers. I believe courses like this will produce graduates who will stay here, help our region leverage our legacy strengths and command the right kind of attention from industrial partners.”
“It’s time to tell a different story about Virginia’s Southwest,” said Will Payne, Managing Partner of Coalfield Strategies and Project Lead for InvestSWVA. “This course in blockchain technology, put together through a remarkable partnership, is another step in a better direction for developing the region’s economy – yet it also taps the strengths of generations of entrepreneurs and industrialists who shaped this region and delivered benefits to the entire world. By embracing the idea that blockchain technology can serve the regional call to grow and prosper, we are setting a new stage for rural economic development.”
