File:Resized Scott Scholar Image.JPG

2019-10-23T17:33:10Z

Luppala:

Fellow:Lavanya Uppala

2019-10-20T20:58:19Z

Luppala:

Fellow:Lavanya Uppala

2019-10-18T00:55:54Z

Luppala:

Priorities:University of Nebraska Omaha Student Priorities

2019-10-18T00:52:34Z

2019-10-06T22:07:02Z

Luppala:

'''2019 UIF Cohort'''

<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 700; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" id="docs-internal-guid-c8259149-7fff-714c-6cda-ce00975c5ca0">1. Cultivating an Environment for Innovation

The classroom is just one part of the college experience. Participation in learning communities, student organizations, community service projects, internships, jobs, and more are experiences that students often find a lot of value in. Despite this reality, there is one clear difference between academic classes and the other experiences students devote time to: academic credit. We believe students at UNO would like to spend more time in their activities outside of the classroom. However there are several barriers that get in the way. Our goal is to give students the time, space, and agency to pursue their true passions, whether that is found inside the classroom or not. We would like to see academic credit be granted to students for experiences outside of the classroom. We want to redefine the typical ‘curriculum’ and ‘classroom’ a student experiences during college. We believe this will provide students with the time and space to pursue projects and opportunities they are passionate about; without fear of sacrificing performance in traditional classes. In order to create an environment for students to pursue innovative ideas, we need to better empower students to make change. Not only should more students be included in the decision-making process, but they should be driving the decision making process. Students don’t need to graduate in order to make an impact. They can make an impact today. Instead of asking students, “What’s next?”, we should be asking them, “What’s now?”

<span style="font-size: larger; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-weight: 700; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Tactic #1 Interactive Freshman Engagement Fair <span style="font-size: larger; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(Lavanya Uppala)

Through interviews with students from various backgrounds, we’ve seen a near consistent trend where students are unaware of opportunities and resources available in communities other than their own majors. This mainly stems from the disconnect of Scott and Dodge campus, as these two campuses are split by major. In turn, this causes an underutilization or underrecognition of important campus resources, and fractionation of students into major or campus specific cohorts. Therefore, in order to better join the campuses and prevent such a separation, showing students early-on in their college career the variety of resources available on either side of UNO is important. Furthermore, connecting students to these resources freshman year allows them to discover groups that may help them in their future academic, work, or extracurricular endeavors. 

One way of solving this problem is by holding a freshman convocation, engagement, and involvement fair split between the two campuses. Incentivizing students to visit locations that they normally would not want, need, or get to, while also connecting them to clubs, groups, and departments relevant to that location makes them more knowledgeable and prepared for their first year at UNO. Such incentives to visit these fair booths may include prizes such gift cards, t-shirts, or even class credit.

<span style="font-size: larger; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-weight: 700; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Tactic #2 Mavericks For Change Student Group <span style="font-size: larger; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(Cade Wolcott)

We have identified a need to provide more opportunities for UNO students to pursue their ideas and effect instrumental change at UNO and in the surrounding community. One of our proposed solutions is to create a student organization focused on empowering students. We call this group, Mavericks for Change.

Mavericks For Change is a student organization that empowers students to pursue their ideas for improving UNO and the community. This organization focuses on being accessible to any student at any time during their college career. Students learn about design thinking and creating change on campus and the Omaha community. Ultimately, this organization gives students the space, agency, and freedom to create instrumental change at UNO.

Any student at UNO could join this organization at any time. We envision this organization having a dedicated space on campus, perhaps partnering with the Creative Production Lab at UNO, where students can come in, view prototypes and projects that members are working on, ask questions, work on their own ideas, or join a project that they think is interesting.

This group could lead the charge for increasing innovation and entrepreneurship in other student organizations and in the classroom. Members could lead design thinking workshops or host innovation competitions.

This group would provide a space for any student to pursue their passions and ideas, especially ideas relating to improving higher education. We feel that students are often asked, “What’s next?” during their college career. Are they getting a job or are they going to grad school? While these questions are still important, we feel that these questions may prevent students from realizing the impact that they can make right now, before they graduate. This organization would allow students to answer the question, “What’s now?”

In order for this organization to gain traction and have success we would look to identify students across the university that have similar passion for creating instrumental change. We would also need to identify faculty mentors who believe in our mission and respect student agency for change. Recently, we have pitched this concept to people involved in UNO Student Government, the “official” body for student advocacy. The faculty advisor for Student Government has expressed excitement for this type of organization and views it as a necessary complement to the work that Student Government does.

<span style="font-size: larger; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Additionally, the following wiki page outlines a similar organization, DIBS, that will be helpful as we implement this proposal.<span style="font-size: larger; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">[http://universityinnovation.org/wiki/How_to_create_the_organization_Dedicated_Individuals_Bettering_Society_(DIBS) http://universityinnovation.org/wiki/How_to_create_the_organization_Dedicated_Individuals_Bettering_Society_(DIBS)]

<span style="font-size: larger; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-weight: 700; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Tactic #3 University wide opt-out cohort <span style="font-size: larger; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(Nathan Johnson)

What if UNO had an opt-in cohort system for first-year students meant to help them build connections to a group of students on campus? Feelings of alienation and lack of involvement were issues that have come up repeatedly during discussions on campus. Cohorts would consist of sets of approximately twenty-five students in the same college who would take several of their general education courses together, participate in a “lab” course focused on developing college survival skills, have opportunities to develop professional skills, and build relationships with classmates due to the significant amounts of facetime. 

We receives interesting feedback from students on this idea. They asked about how these were formed, how they were incentivized, how they were led, what they were focused on, and if there was a current model for this on campus. One thought that a student had was making the trial of cohorts opt-out rather than opt-in. The logic was that highly involved and motivated students are already going to be interested in cohorts, minimizing the potential benefit on the overall student body. Making opt-out cohorts would benefit students who are less likely to generate impactful connections on campus. Incentives come from the additional resources discussed in our prototyping session, such as peer mentoring, smaller class sizes for general education courses, potentially integrated courses, and the social connections, as well as specialized support. Peer mentoring was a fruitful discussion. While such a cohort would likely need some sort of administrative or faculty support, having paid student leaders run significant portions of the cohort would be beneficial to the overall experience. Said student leaders could also gain college credit for their work. Not only does it give older students professional experiences as well as a job, but also helps new students build relationships with students who are well-established on campus. It creates networks that span “generations” of students. Working student-to-student also can create a kind of solidarity and mutual support, as the experiences even of recent graduates are different than those of current first-year students. This idea draws inspiration from the Thompson Learning Community, the Honors Program, and the Freshman Leadership Council on campus.

'''Tactic #4 Applied Innovation Class (50/50)(Elizabeth Haag)'''

After conducting interviews with incoming freshman and faculty at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, we as a cohort have identified some road blockers at our university, which challenge some students to become leaders and innovators within the university system and the Omaha community. One of the significant challenges is the majority of the students that attend our university commute to school and have no reason to remain on campus after their classes have finished. With a vast majority of students commuting to school, we have identified students becoming less interested in becoming involved on campus, in turn, less involved in the community. Another factor we have identified is that there is an innovation program at UNO, but only open to a scholarship learning community. Most students told me that they would take an innovation class if it would count towards their primary or general requirements, and not add to the lessons they already have to take." The idea of a 50/50 innovation class would help bridge the gap of becoming involved in the community while counting this experience as class-credit and learning about leadership and innovation skills. 50% of the "class" time would be spent on learning leadership, innovation, and research skills to count towards requirements for general education. The other 50% of the "class" would be spent working with peers as a group  (ideally from different majors) to partner with a Omaha, non-profit or for-profit company, to address a social-political, sustainable, architectural, ex.. issues by applying skills that they have learned in "class" to the Omaha community. This could be an attainable possibility within the Omaha community by working with the Service Learning Academy within the Barara Weitz Community Engagement Center at UNO. There are many resources at UNO that can make this class possible if we pull them together and divide the gap between these resources, to provide more opportunities for innovational learning for all students here at UNO.

'''2018 UIF Cohort'''

'''2. Reworking the System'''

Affordable and accessible higher education is a major challenge in Omaha, Nebraska. Especially at the University of Nebraska, Omaha (UNO). Many students can not financially afford to attend UNO and end up with a hefty amount of student debt. Those fortunate enough to obtain funds for college either work many hours into exhaustion, or score scholarships and grants. Even with provided funds for college, many struggle to fit into the cookie cutout that the university and many other educational systems desires. To combat this, students need support from mentors, tutors, or other resources to level the playing field for those that can play the game of "standardized education". Currently, there are a few pushes for improvement of UNO's accessibility but don't gain much traction within the university for various reasons.

'''Tactic #1 Design Flaw Course''' (Parker Jensen)

Many students see these issues on campus, however they struggle with implementing a solution with support from a majority of campus. One of our proposed solutions is to develop a class called "Design Flaw" which simplifies design thinking to any disciplinary major. The classes would start simple showcasing common design flaws such as the "Norman Door." After students grasp the concept of defining an issue, they would then be shown how to ideate possible solutions through informative questions such as, "Why is it a bad design? How could you improve it? Who can help you improve it?" Later in the course, students will start noticing broader design flaws such as the educational system in Nebraska, but more specifically, areas that it could be improved upon. This will hopefully end up resulting in students focusing on how to improve not only the university they are attending, but the surrounding community. We would first pitch this idea to many faculty and advisors to get their feedback as we have the layout plan of our curriculum. Sitting down with a chosen professor to teach this course for the first time would be a great time to construct the curriculum to their needs and desires to ensure they can be comfortable and fulfill our vision.

'''Tactic #2 Mav-Match'''  (Nico Lindell)

Many students are daunted by their first year of college. Here at our university, we have a scholarship program called the Thompson Learning Community which provides mentors for each student. Many of these students have stated that the support of said mentors is what kept them in college. The Thompson Learning Community has a graduation rate greater than 90 percent. With Mav-Match, each first-year student will be paired with a social college to help they with their college experience. This app could also be useful for meeting new people on campus to grow each student’s personal network. We have already constructed an early prototype of this idea. To improve it for the next iteration, we would implement our feedback, and possibly create a rough draft of a working app.

'''Tactic #3 Collaborative Coursework '''(Parker Jensen)

Classwork here at UNO lacks many hands-on skills found within the career’s students are preparing for. Some courses do offer internship course work, or hands on learning, however, lectures tend to be the popular teaching style for many classes. These are great in some instances, but not amount that they are seen on campus. Collaborative coursework gives students the opportunity to delve into unknown subjects/paths of thinking through the academic lens. This could look like two dissimilar courses working on one project together, or even one class teaming up with a student org. This would offer the so desired hands on learning experience that many students seek. Not to mention, the collaboration between different resources on campus would greatly improve many aspects here at UNO. To start this, we would connect with the innovation and entrepreneurial professors and faculty on our south campus to pitch the idea and find out which class we can implement at, "Collaborative Team Up" activity. We would then use that as a jumping spot to create a whole curriculum for two class or a class partnered with a student organization to ensure they are gaining the skills we are focusing on.

'''Tactic #4 UIF Continuation '''(Nico Lindell)

As the first cohort from the University of Nebraska at Omaha partaking in the University of Innovations Fellowship program, we find it extremely important to continue the cycle of likeminded students to develop the skills that are gained in this program so that each succeeding cohort can continue our teams long term goals as well as leave a legacy behind for themselves in further improving our campus. We would first spread the word in hopes of exciting next year’s cohort and help direct them towards the resource they need to improve their chances and  skills needed for this opportunity. We would also talk with the staff that supports us right now to set up a long-term commitment in place for each group that goes through this process.

[[Category:Student Priorities|u]]

School:University of Nebraska Omaha

2019-09-27T03:38:56Z

Luppala:

Campus OverviewPromoting student innovation and entrepreneurship: The University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) is gradually growing their Innovation and Entrepreneurship (I&E) learning opportunities through the offering of different courses. This includes majors that allow students to have more flexibility in choosing their preferred classes. Currently, the campus offers several events that inspire students to improve their skills in I&E. UNO also hosts many student organizations and regular competitions that utilize the students' innovation and entrepreneurial skills and has dedicated workshops and studios for I&E iterative prototyping, designing, and creating. However, many of these spaces are unknown or restricted to a select group of students and/or faculty. Criss Library, UNO's main library on campus, is the home of the Creative Production Lab. This Lab is open to all students and faculty to utilize with a reduced cost for certain materials if needed; in addition, the Scott Technology Center is being developed as a startup incubator space.Encouraging faculty innovation and entrepreneurship: Many undergraduate students ideate and develop capstone projects their senior year, where each project may take a form that is specific to the major or field that it takes place in. With the gradual improvement of I&E overall on campus, students can easily find assistance from innovative and entrepreneurial staff and faculty. The community at UNO is motivated by the staff and faculty behind each club, organization, or class as the students take the wheel in the process of successfully creating change in some meaningful way. For example, the student government is coached by staff, pushing them to implement positive change on campus. Faculty are also supported by administration with access to specialized workshops, seminars, and community connections by different academies. The Center for Faculty Excellence exists to support UNO faculty through instructional assistance, professional development, and leadership opportunities. Actively supporting the university technology transfer function:Currently, UNO does not have a dedicated technology transfer office. However, UNO students and faculty are able to use the University of Nebraska Medicine’s UNeMed technology transfer office due to the partial integration of the two campuses. UNeMed manages intellectual property and invention notification services for UNO.Facilitating university-industry collaboration:There are many creative spaces surrounding UNO that are open to the public for collaborating and practicing I&E skills. UNO is home to a collaborative meeting ground in a building called the Community Engagement Center that brings in neighboring nonprofits, organizations, and business to allow exposure to the student population. In turn, this creates opportunities for collaboration through internships and job opportunities. Housed within the Community Engagement Center is the Student Services and Leadership Collaborative. This department hires student workers to lead volunteer days, operate the Maverick Food Pantry, and to serve as interns at local nonprofit organizations. In their internships, students work with their nonprofit to identify and address a need of the agency. Job fairs are thrown frequently over the course of each year that connect students to new businesses and organizations. Many smaller community businesses or startups attend these job fairs which allows for each student to have a sense of change within their new position. The Startup Collaborative sponsors a Start-Up weekend every year where students work in teams to pitch ideas and develop business plans. This community organization also provides resources for helping students develop start-ups. UNO also has mentoring programs such as the Success Academy, Thompson Learning Community, or Walter Scott Jr. Scholarship that help guide students through the college experience and beyond during their time at the university.Engaging with regional and local economic development efforts:With recent budget cuts for UNO, many staff and students have had to adapt to save money where possible. UNO has always been greatly involved with the local community via events, fundraising, partnerships, and other initiatives. UNO is a great helper in the field of community service in strengthening our bonds with the surrounding community in hopes of improving our economic support. The Center for Public Affairs Research, the lead agency for the Nebraska State Data Center, along with several government-oriented research labs are housed on campus. Both groups produce data and reports for use by government and non-governmental organizations to be used in community development. 
[[Category:Universities]]

School:University of Nebraska Omaha

2019-09-27T03:38:24Z

Luppala:

<span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 700; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Campus Overview<span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 700; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Promoting student innovation and entrepreneurship: The University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) is gradually growing their Innovation and Entrepreneurship (I&E) learning opportunities through the offering of different courses. This includes majors that allow students to have more flexibility in choosing their preferred classes. Currently, the campus offers several events that inspire students to improve their skills in I&E. UNO also hosts many student organizations and regular competitions that utilize the students' innovation and entrepreneurial skills and has dedicated workshops and studios for I&E iterative prototyping, designing, and creating. However, many of these spaces are unknown or restricted to a select group of students and/or faculty. Criss Library, UNO's main library on campus, is the home of the Creative Production Lab. This Lab is open to all students and faculty to utilize with a reduced cost for certain materials if needed; in addition, the Scott Technology Center is being developed as a startup incubator space.<span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 700; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Encouraging faculty innovation and entrepreneurship: Many undergraduate students ideate and develop capstone projects their senior year, where each project may take a form that is specific to the major or field that it takes place in. With the gradual improvement of I&E overall on campus, students can easily find assistance from innovative and entrepreneurial staff and faculty. The community at UNO is motivated by the staff and faculty behind each club, organization, or class as the students take the wheel in the process of successfully creating change in some meaningful way. For example, the student government is coached by staff, pushing them to implement positive change on campus. Faculty are also supported by administration with access to specialized workshops, seminars, and community connections by different academies. The Center for Faculty Excellence exists to support UNO faculty through instructional assistance, professional development, and leadership opportunities. <span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 700; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Actively supporting the university technology transfer function:Currently, UNO does not have a dedicated technology transfer office. However, UNO students and faculty are able to use the University of Nebraska Medicine’s UNeMed technology transfer office due to the partial integration of the two campuses. UNeMed manages intellectual property and invention notification services for UNO.<span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 700; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Facilitating university-industry collaboration:There are many creative spaces surrounding UNO that are open to the public for collaborating and practicing I&E skills. UNO is home to a collaborative meeting ground in a building called the Community Engagement Center that brings in neighboring nonprofits, organizations, and business to allow exposure to the student population. In turn, this creates opportunities for collaboration through internships and job opportunities. Housed within the Community Engagement Center is the Student Services and Leadership Collaborative. This department hires student workers to lead volunteer days, operate the Maverick Food Pantry, and to serve as interns at local nonprofit organizations. In their internships, students work with their nonprofit to identify and address a need of the agency. Job fairs are thrown frequently over the course of each year that connect students to new businesses and organizations. Many smaller community businesses or startups attend these job fairs which allows for each student to have a sense of change within their new position. The Startup Collaborative sponsors a Start-Up weekend every year where students work in teams to pitch ideas and develop business plans. This community organization also provides resources for helping students develop start-ups. UNO also has mentoring programs such as the Success Academy, Thompson Learning Community, or Walter Scott Jr. Scholarship that help guide students through the college experience and beyond during their time at the university.<span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 700; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Engaging with regional and local economic development efforts:With recent budget cuts for UNO, many staff and students have had to adapt to save money where possible. UNO has always been greatly involved with the local community via events, fundraising, partnerships, and other initiatives. UNO is a great helper in the field of community service in strengthening our bonds with the surrounding community in hopes of improving our economic support. The Center for Public Affairs Research, the lead agency for the Nebraska State Data Center, along with several government-oriented research labs are housed on campus. Both groups produce data and reports for use by government and non-governmental organizations to be used in community development. 
[[Category:Universities]]