Program Overview
The Product Prodigy Institute is a two semester-long program spanning spring and fall semesters that takes students from underprivileged and underrepresented backgrounds through the process of learning the skills to launch their own venture.
Product Prodigy Institute is focused on closing the opportunity gap for first-generation college students. The Product Prodigy curriculum develops students’ entrepreneurial skills and supports the students on their journey to launch so that each student reaches their full potential through higher education and excels in their professional careers.
Product Prodigy Institute immerses students in an intense and supported environment that gives them marketable job skills and cutting-edge entrepreneurial training. The program focuses on social impact through a combination of product management training and human-centered design.
See below for application information.
This pledge was created by students during the opening retreat under an exercise about how to build a team and how to create a constitution.
Our impact, in students’ words:
The work that the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement is doing at UT Austin is so important for the institution as well as the students. Within Product Prodigy, I was able to access resources that allowed me to secure my first major big corporate internship as well as receive a job offer for a full-time position in my senior years.
The communication, branding, and design and leadership skills prepared me for the field that I entered into and gave me the confidence to go forth and pitch myself to recruiters without fear. Furthermore, the business that I have created within this class has not only garnered the University press in the Media but has helped me develop a living case study of what I learned within the class.
With this business, my co-founder and I have been able to have important conversations about diversity issues like hair and advocate for equity and empowerment of under-represented curl textures through the media and our actual product.
– Ariel Lee, Product Prodigy 2019 Cohort, Co-founder of Remane
Info Sessions
We will be hosting info sessions in the spring of 2021 via zoom for students interested in joining the fall 2021 cohort. Please check back here for details at the start of the spring semester.
Here are our upcoming information session dates, if you miss any of them, you can watch a recording we will make available here.
- 2/4/21 11 AM Central
- 2/18/21 6 PM Central
- 3/11/21 6 PM Central
- 3/25/21 12 PM Central
- 4/8/21 6 PM Central
In the meantime, please email us for more information at inclusiveinnovation@utexas.edu.
Apply
Thank you for your interest in joining the Product Prodigy Institute!