TAUNYA PHILLIPS ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT

AFTER 25 YEARS AT UK

Taunya Phillips, Director of the Office of Technology Commercialization (OTC), has announced her retirement from University of Kentucky (UK) beginning August 1 after 25 years of exceptional service and dedication to UK and Kentucky. In addition, she will be taking on a new and exciting role as an Assistant Vice President at Wayne State University, where she has been tapped to lead their build-out and growth of the commercialization activities for a university that is fast-growing its research capacity.  

Taunya has a long history with UK, which started with her admission to UK, where she received a B.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Kentucky and later completing an MBA. After Taunya’s return to UK 25 years ago, she worked in various positions in economic development and commercialization. She was promoted to Director of the Office of Technology Commercialization in 2021. In this role, Taunya oversaw a team managing the University’s intellectual property, licensing and startup portfolios. During her time in OTC, she created and led the UK Women Innovators Network (UKWIN) to increase the number of UK women participating in innovation. During her professional career, she served on numerous boards including the College of Engineering Dean’s Advisory Council, the Midwest University Research network (MRUN) board and was a past president of the UK Alumni Association board of directors.  

“Taunya is an incredible professional, mentor, and leader and a better friend. She has meant so much to so many people at UK and within the UK Innovate team,” said Ian McClure. “I will forever be grateful to Taunya for her leadership, partnership and friendship as we collaborated to grow OTC and UK Innovate. Her service to UK and its innovators and technologies will have a lasting impact on the university and the Commonwealth. She will do amazing things at Wayne State University, I’m sure of it.” 

"Reflecting on my 25 years at the University of Kentucky, I am filled with immense gratitude and pride. It has been an honor to work alongside such dedicated and innovative colleagues and to contribute to the growth and success of our commercialization efforts,” said Taunya Phillips. “I am excited for the new opportunities and challenges that await me at Wayne State University and I look forward to continuing to foster innovation and collaboration in this next chapter of my career. Thank you to everyone at UK for your support and friendship throughout the years." 

Taunya has been a leader, a learner and a mentor and we are incredibly grateful for everything she has accomplished in her time at the University of Kentucky over these past 25 years. We wish Taunya the best in her retirement and in taking on her new role at Wayne State University. 

AUTM CENTRAL REGION MEETING

UK Innovate staff hosted, moderated, spoke and attended the AUTM Central Region Meeting, July 15-17, in Louisville, Kentucky. Topics covered Intellectual Property (IP) strategies, university-Venture Capital (VC) relationships, data licensing and more. Thanks to AUTM and everyone who worked on making this event a success.

UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY (UK) VISITS NIKE HQ

Landon Borders from UK Innovate, along with UK personnel Jon Mills, Nathan Rudder and Kwame Agyemang, visited Nike HQ in Beaverton, Oregon, on July 1. They met with Nike's design, development and innovation teams to explore new partnership opportunities with UK. Thanks to the Nike team for their kindness and hospitality!

GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY

VISITS UK

UK Innovate's Social Innovation held an engaging session with George Mason University on June 13-14 as part of the NSF Accelerating Research Translation (ART) grant, which aims to create climate-ready communities in Virginia. During this session, Serenity Wright, Senior Associate Director of Social Innovation, explored data analytics, provided support for building social innovation infrastructure and conducted training for commercialization.

BIO 2024

On June 3-6, UK Innovate’s Chelsea Ex-Lubeskie, Innovation Connect Manager, and Holly Clark, Senior Commercialization Manager, attended the 2024 BIO International Convention in San Diego. The UK team had over 40 meetings with pharmaceutical, biotech and service provider companies, aiming to strengthen existing relationships and forge new ones. They discussed the university's research strengths, expertise, capabilities and technologies available for licensing or partnership.

COMMERCIALIZATION MANAGER

Looking to make an impact in the technology commercialization field? Join the UK Innovate team as a Commercialization Manager! In this role, you'll support the medical device, diagnostics and health technology sectors by managing the commercialization process for innovators, coaching innovators on commercialization strategies and developing and refining commercialization plans.

Deadline to Apply: 08/11/2024 

UK INNOVATE

OFFICE OF TECHNOLOGY COMMERCIALIZATION

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