VILLANOVA, Pa.—The Center for Innovation, Creativity, and Entrepreneurship (ICE Center) at Villanova University awarded a memorial Meyer ICE Award to Steve Jobs, co-founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Apple Inc., to celebrate a lifetime of creative and innovative excellence and for inspiring generations of inquisitive and curious individuals.

Inspired, designed, and endowed by Patrick Meyer ’74 VSB, the Meyer Innovation and Creative Excellence Award was created in honor of the Meyer family (Patrick '74, Edward '86, and C. Paul '30) to recognize a spirit of innovation and creative excellence that enhances VSB and Villanova University.

To honor the creative legacy of Steve Jobs, Patrick Meyer has donated additional funding to the ICE Center and hopes to encourage others to do the same in order to support the ICE Center's mission to embed creative problem solving and opportunity recognition skills more deeply in the Villanova community.

"Steve Jobs’ commitment to excellence has been an inspiration for so many. His work and spirit embody what the Villanova ICE Center stands for,” says Meyer. “His simple, yet encouraging words, ‘The difference between a leader and a follower...is innovation!’ resonates among Villanovans past and present." 

Patrick Maggitti, PhD, assistant professor of Management and Entrepreneurship and the Carmen and Sharon Danella Director of the Center for Innovation, Creativity, and Entrepreneurship, reflected on the CEO's passing: "Steve Jobs modeled an innovative spirit that is important for all of us and for Villanova's emerging leaders of tomorrow. Our Villanova ICE Center embraces and fosters these creative skills within our community and in the students we graduate into the world."

The honorary award will be publicly conferred by Dr. Maggitti at an event during the Global Entrepreneurs Week, November 14-17 at Villanova University.

The Center for Innovation, Creativity, and Entrepreneurship (ICE Center) is at the forefront of Villanova University's strategy to foster cross-college and interdisciplinary opportunities for the collaborative pursuit of knowledge. The ICE Center advances the Augustinian vision by embedding creative problems solving and opportunity recognition more deeply in the Villanova culture through the development and promotion of initiatives in the related areas of creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship.

About Villanova University: Since 1842, Villanova University’s Augustinian Catholic intellectual tradition has been the cornerstone of an academic community in which students learn to think critically, act compassionately and succeed while serving others. There are more than 10,000 undergraduate, graduate and law students in the University’s five colleges—the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the Villanova School of Business, the College of Engineering, the College of Nursing and the Villanova University School of Law. As students grow intellectually, Villanova prepares them to become ethical leaders who create positive change everywhere life takes them.