Whether it’s the life-changing discovery of penicillin or X-rays, or the first chocolate chip cookies, innovation often happens by accident. In Leah Busque’s case, genius struck overnight — a “cold winter night in Boston,” to be exact.

“My husband and I were just about to go out to dinner when I realized we were out of dog food for our one hundred-pound yellow Lab,” remembers Busque, who graduated from Sweet Briar in 2001 with a degree in math and computer science.

“I thought: ‘Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a place online where you could go, say you needed dog food, and name the price you were willing to pay?’ I was sure there was someone in my neighborhood who would be willing to help us out.”

Busque immediately bought the domain runmyerrand.com. Within four months, she quit her job at IBM, where she had been a programmer for seven years, to work on the website full time. The company soon moved to San Francisco, and Busque never looked back.

Five years later, what is now TaskRabbit.com has raised nearly $40 million in capital from investors such as Shasta Ventures, Lightspeed Ventures and Founders Fund, and inspired numerous startups to launch in the collaborative and service networking space. The company employs more than 60 software engineers, designers and other professionals, as well as thousands of pre-screened “runners” who bid against each other to perform delivery, house cleaning and other odd jobs in cities across America.

So how does one become an entrepreneur?

“Don’t overthink it, just go for it,” Busque says, noting that the support she received from investors and employees early on was a key factor in her success.

“One of my first advisors, [Zipcar CEO] Scott Griffith, told me something when I first pitched my idea for TaskRabbit to him. … His advice was simple. He said: ‘Leah, I think you are on to something. I think you should see how far you can take it.’ ”

Griffith’s comment has stuck with her to this day. Still a young CEO herself, Busque is now offering the same advice to aspiring entrepreneurs and college graduates. The key to success, she says, is pursuing one’s dream one small goal at a time.

Busque and her Labrador Kobe pose during a stop en route from Boston to San Francisco.

“I encourage all people to do the same — whether they are starting their own business or launching their own career in math or technology. Taking small steps every day towards your goal has proved an effective strategy for me. Every day, I wake up and see how far I can take TaskRabbit in the next twenty-four hours.”

Busque’s strategy hasn’t gone unnoticed. In 2012, Fast Company named her one of the “100 Most Creative People in Business,” and she has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Wired and Time magazine, among others. TaskRabbit was named a finalist in the Crunchies and Mashable Awards and was deemed “The Next Big Thing in Tech” by the New York Times. A few months ago, ABC’s Katie Couric tested the service on her show by becoming a runner herself.

Despite all the recent fame, Busque has stayed grounded, and she comes back east often to reconnect with family, friends and even professors. Sweet Briar math professor Bessie Kirkwood was glad to see her during her visit for the Salt Block Project Awards Dinner hosted by the College’s business department in October, where Busque was named Entrepreneur of the Year.

To Kirkwood, Busque is in many ways still the same young woman from New England — “bright” and “cheerful,” and a natural leader.

“She was SGA president her senior year. I remember hearing her speak at a meeting of the board; she was very poised and articulate,” Kirkwood recalls, adding that Busque’s success isn’t a huge surprise.

“Knowing what good people skills Leah had as a student, her ability to network isn’t surprising,” she says. “I expected that Leah would be quite successful working in computer science. It didn’t cross my mind that she would become an entrepreneur.”

Leah Busque with Hilary Cook ’05 (left) and math professors Jim and Bessie Kirkwood during the Salt Block Project Awards Dinner in October.

Naturally, it has been exciting for Kirkwood to witness how far Busque has come since she left Sweet Briar more than a decade ago.

“It has been a pleasure to see how she has identified the challenges, mastered so many aspects of business, excelled at making connections with people, and been a rousing success.”

Kirkwood’s continued engagement in Busque’s career is nothing unusual at Sweet Briar, where interaction between students and faculty is high, and professors often maintain an interest in students long beyond graduation.

And why wouldn’t they? Busque, as so many alumnae before her, knows that part of the foundation for her success was laid at the small liberal arts college — the other in high school, when math teacher Sarah Sabatini inspired her to pursue a science degree.

“My time at Sweet Briar, both inside and outside of the classroom, was tremendously empowering,” she remembers. “I felt a constant sense of camaraderie, surrounded by intelligent, determined and engaging people.”

While the fact that it was a women’s college didn’t matter to Busque, she says it enabled her to look beyond the constraints of gender — a philosophy that has stuck with her throughout life.

“My gender has never played a role in my career; I never viewed it as an advantage or disadvantage. I was never a female engineer; I was simply an engineer. I was never a female founder; I was simply a founder,” she says.

“My time at Sweet Briar has been instrumental in the development of that mentality — that gender does not play a role in my career choices and that if I want to accomplish something, that I should go after it. At Sweet Briar, I was constantly surrounded by smart, ambitious and career-oriented women who were determined to pursue their dreams, irrespective of their gender. I naturally took the same approach.”

In fact, the odds that she would attend Sweet Briar at all were slim. It wasn’t just the only women’s college she applied to; it was also the only school outside of New England.

“I remember when I got accepted, my mom and I decided to make the long drive from Shirley [Mass.] to visit the campus for accepted students weekend. As soon as the car hit school grounds, I fell in love with the striking beauty that makes up Sweet Briar’s gorgeous campus,” Busque recalls.

“It was exactly what I wanted my college experience to be like.”

To watch an in-depth interview with Busque, click here.

— Janika Carey

The series, which begins Feb. 18 and airs every Monday night at 9 p.m. on C-SPAN, serves as a comprehensive biography of the women closest to each of the 44 presidents. From Martha Washington to Michelle Obama, it will offer a closer look at the lives and legacies of the first ladies.

In its 20th year on the road, the C-SPAN Bus will stop at key historic places in the first ladies’ lives, from hometowns to universities to presidential libraries, promoting C-SPAN’s educational and political resources for students, teachers and community members along the way. The Sweet Briar visit will be followed by stops at Montpelier and Monticello in Charlottesville.

Aboard the C-SPAN Bus, visitors will learn about the services C-SPAN offers, such as its public affairs event coverage and online resources, including archived video footage going back to 1987. They will also be introduced to the many ways in which they can connect with C-SPAN, including Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, YouTube, XM Radio and mobile apps.

After a special introduction program on Feb. 18, C-SPAN will showcase the first ladies’ lives in subsequent weeks’ episodes as part of the first-ever television series to feature all of the American first ladies. For more information on the series, visit c-span.org/firstladies.

You can follow the Road to the White House with C-SPAN’s political coverage on the C-SPAN networks, C-SPAN Radio and at www.c-span.org.

At Sweet Briar, C-SPAN can be viewed on channel 18, C-SPAN 2 on channel 104 and C-SPAN 3 on channel 105.

Madeleine Coleman ’16 (right) inputs settings on the GigaPan, a robotic device that takes multiple exposures with a mounted camera in order to stitch together high-resolution panoramic photos. Janet Stevens’ biology class used the device to observe changing fall foliage. The course is “Economic Botany,” a Y:1 Program seminar that examines biological properties that make plants valuable to humans. Students also use iPads and photographic technology to study plant communities on campus.

— Photo by Meridith De Avila Khan

Benedict 201, 301 and 308; Fletcher 301, 308 and 314; and Pannell 202 are being transformed into high-tech “smart classrooms” based on a pilot program initiated in 2010. The findings of that investigation inform the renovations currently under way in the classrooms.

The 2010 grant-funded experiment in Benedict 101 essentially allowed faculty and students to test-drive a model learning space to evaluate state-of-the-art instructional technology and furnishings. They kept track of features that enhanced the educational experience and those that did not. The plan is to replicate the ideal 21st-century classroom across campus.

Sweet Briar’s development department is keeping its end of the bargain by raising the money to pay for the initiative. Grants officer Sheila Alexander secured $110,000 from the Mary Morton Parsons Foundation and $200,000 from the Cabell Foundation, provided the College could match the grants. The combined amount will pay for 15 smart classrooms.

So far individual donors have responded, funding 11 of the 15 classrooms through matching gifts. Although development is still seeking commitments for the remaining four, it is anticipated that work on all 15 will be complete by fall 2013.

The initiative’s underlying philosophy recognizes that quality of learning is influenced and judged by the environment in which it occurs, says President Jo Ellen Parker.

“The classroom should support the energy, creativity and joy of teaching and learning,” she said. “Cleaner, fresher surfaces and colors, flexible and student-centered furnishings, and options that allow each group of students to use the space as organically as possible all help create that positive energy.”

The Margaret Jones Wyllie ’45 Engineering Program is generating a similar energy, also thanks to the power of philanthropy. Using its endowed funding, the program’s design lab suite in Guion 127 will have new wheeled tables for flexible class configurations, new flooring and paint, better storage and dedicated space for student-faculty research, to name a few improvements. Engineering’s computer lab in Guion 08 also received a makeover, as did 014, which houses the circuits/mechatronics and materials labs.

“Students will have a better learning experience because of what we have done,” said engineering director Hank Yochum, adding, “Some things are simple but important.”

Meanwhile, ARAMARK has re-opened the Prothro servery with freshly painted walls, new counters and reconfigured line areas where diners make their meal selections, assemble salads and peruse desserts. The company will roll out other changes as students return for the start of the academic year.

New head chef Steven Jones is overseeing changes that include two action stations that will rotate options such as stir-fry or pasta dishes. Oh, and there will be soft-serve ice cream.

ARAMARK began providing catering and dining at Sweet Briar in the summer of 2011. The renovations are part of the company’s ongoing commitment to the College, said Scott Shank, vice president for business and finance.

“We’re grateful to ARAMARK for its continued investment in our campus in order to enhance the dining program for our students and all community members,” he said.

The $8.8 million dollar project — the money for which is already in hand, thanks to generous donors who designated contributions to support it — also includes renovations to the original library. Anyone familiar with the plans inevitably hastens to explain that “renovations” refers to essential upgrades such as air conditioning, improved ventilation and better lighting. The library is one of the campus’ most important buildings, both in purpose and in architecture.

“Nothing will be torn off of the original Cram structure,” says librarian Lisa Johnston, having personally calmed the fears of many a Cochran devotee.

To the contrary,  some of its grand elements will be restored, including the ability to look through the sweeping round-top windows along the original rear wall. The new atrium design will open the view now blocked by the Dana Wing, and reveal the brick exterior wall that was covered up by the 1960s addition.

The elegant, south-facing gallery adjacent to the Powell Reading Room also will be restored. It will again display art, as it was intended to, as well as provide a pleasant workspace.

The College is working closely with VMDO Architects and the builder, C.L. Lewis, to ensure the project will qualify for federal tax credits for historic preservation. Environmental sustainability also is a priority, influencing decisions about materials, design and construction to make it a “green” as possible, says Scott Shank, Sweet Briar’s vice president for finance and administration.

Ralph Adams Cram, the College’s chief architect during its formative years, dedicated Cochran Library on Founder’s Day in October 1929. It was a time with parallels to today. Then, as now, some desired features of the building were scaled back because of cost constraints, according to former art history professor Aileen Laing (Sweet Briar College and Ralph Adams Cram: Dreams and Reality, 2001).

But the College and Cram were lucky, too. Cochran was nearly complete when the stock market crashed on Oct. 29 of that year. This time around, Sweet Briar was forced to overcome difficulties presented by the recession that began in late 2007.

Laing also notes that Cochran was the last and most architecturally rich building that Cram was directly involved in at Sweet Briar. Nevertheless, proper library spaces of 50 or 80 years ago haven’t always stood the test of time, says Sweet Briar libraries director John Jaffe.

This is particularly true in the application of digital technology. That’s why the 1960s “book storage facility” will become sun-washed “people spaces,” where students can study alone or work collaboratively, always within reach of an electrical outlet and an Internet connection.

“This project will create a library for this generation,” says Jo Ellen Parker, president of the College. “It will enable students and faculty members to work together in new and digitally sophisticated ways. The best academic libraries today provide points of connection between scholars, both locally and globally.”

The new construction won’t add significant square footage. But with so much of the library’s overall holdings in digital form and the addition of compact shelving to house the core collection, less space is required for physical materials.

That makes room for an improved and expanded special collections display, an additional high-tech classroom, and a self-service vending café so students won’t have to leave the building for a snack or a great cup of coffee.

The librarians also look forward to the College’s Academic Resource Center relocating to the library, where they can work hand-in-hand with ARC staff to better support students’ needs. But what really makes them beam is the addition of elevators to every floor of the building. It’s “huge,” says Liz Kent, noting they will no longer have to move classes for students who can’t negotiate the stairs.

Work is expected to continue into the summer of 2014. The west wing, portions of which extend into the Fletcher Hall parking lot, should open by May or June 2013.

Shank says it will be some time before any steel goes up, however. “You’ll see dirt being moved, but you won’t see a lot of visible construction going on for a couple of months.”

Two years from now, patrons will see a clear and intentional visual distinction between the past and present. Johnston loves what she sees on paper.

“I think the cool thing about the design is the way the new addition features the historical structure and builds a bridge between the two very different styles of architecture,” she says.

It also preserves the library’s longstanding place as the “vibrant center of intellectual life on campus,” President Parker says. “This renovation and expansion will create a space that reflects the vitality, tradition and beauty of our academic community.”

— Jennifer McManamay

Sweet Briar College will help answer the need for creative thinkers this summer when it debuts BLUR: The Blue Ridge Summer Institute for Young Artists, a program for high school students interested in theater, creative writing and visual art. The program will be held June 19 through July 9 on campus.

BLUR director Dave Griffith says the program was sparked by a conversation among arts faculty at Sweet Briar, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and Endstation Theatre Company about a Newsweek article, “The Creativity Crisis.” The story cites data showing that children in America are less creative than they used to be, while problems such as the economy, health care and the environment are as complicated or more so than ever.

“We agreed that arts education should do more than just encourage self-expression,” Griffith says. “The arts can and should train students to think creatively and work collaboratively to solve problems in any area.”

Ideas to foster creativity among tomorrow’s leaders quickly took shape, Griffith says — and points out that Sweet Briar is the perfect place to host such a program. The College’s 3,250-acre campus, ranked among the most beautiful in the country by the Princeton Review, is home to dynamic programs in the creative and performing arts, including Endstation, a professional theater troupe-in-residence. The VCCA, one of the country’s largest artist communities, is next door.

BLUR’s interdisciplinary focus distinguishes the program and gives the institute its name, Griffith says. The idea is to blur the boundaries between the arts to imagine new ways of seeing, thinking and creating.

Participants will spend three weeks in residence at Sweet Briar, working deeply in one art form — creative writing, theater or visual art — but also collaborating with artists from other concentrations, responding to challenges that will require creative problem solving.

“Students will spend two-thirds of their day in their ‘home’ studio writing, painting, drawing and acting, and the other third collaborating with artists working in a different medium, designing and building collaborative exhibits and performances inspired by the natural landscape and aided by the iPad,” Griffith said.

In addition to the iPad, participants will also receive two hours of college credit for successfully completing the program, and young women who attend BLUR and later enroll at Sweet Briar will receive a $2,000 tuition credit.

The program’s faculty includes accomplished professionals with experience teaching young artists. Griffith, an assistant professor of English at Sweet Briar, and poet Brandon Som will teach creative writing. Kate Plows will serve as director of residential life. All three are veterans of the highly selective Pennsylvania Governor’s School for the Arts.

Angela Sweigart-Gallagher, assistant professor of theater at Lock Haven University and Endstation director of education, specializes in directing youth productions, and multi-media artist Claire Hoch taught in the pre-college program at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design.

Program participants will also be mentored by the cast and crew of Endstation Theatre Company, whose Blue Ridge Summer Theatre Festival runs concurrently with BLUR. This partnership offers all the participants — whether concentrating in theater, writing or visual art — behind-the-scenes experience in staging a professional theater production.

“The goal is to energize, educate and entertain young artists,” Griffith says. “But we also want to expand their horizons. They should leave here seeing art and creativity in a completely new and refreshing way.”

To apply or for more information about tuition, housing and other program details, please visit sbc.edu/blur or send an e-mail to blur@sbc.edu to contact Griffith. Applications are due April 8.