University Innovation Fellows - User contributions [en]

Fellow:Nariman Gathers

2022-03-14T17:14:17Z

Nadia.gathers: New profile

[[File:NariHeadshot.jpg|alt=A photo of Nariman, a nonbinary Afro-Latiné University Innovation Fellow. |thumb|Nariman ]]
NARIMAN GATHERS does process. They turn the mushiness of humaning (being a person) into discrete, discernible task flow. Nariman has used this superpower to help design communications identity at Code2040, build and sustain distributed teams at GitHub, manage incident communications at Slack, and tackle some of the nation’s most pressing issues with the ACLU. Currently, they helm the design ops program at Plaid and teach design process at Stanford’s D.School, Fordham University, Converse College and the New School at Parsons. Nariman is the recipient of the 2022 Converse University Young Alumni Prize and a TedX Speaker. They are a proud plant dad, a champion for neurodiversity, and will cry about friend-shaped objects.

=Related Links=

==== '''Professional Work''' ====
[https://www.nurri.me/ Portfolio]

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jM9Pk6SQHE&ab_channel=TEDxTalks Pretend it's magic: 3 lessons to learn from neuroatypical brains | TEDxStanford]

[[Converse College|'''Converse College''']]

Spring 2016:

[[Sanuja Goonetilleke|Sanuja Goonetiieke]]

Spring 2015:

'''Nariman Gathers'''

[[Category:Student Contributors|n]]
[[Category:Converse_College_(2015_Spring_cohort)]]
[[Category:Converse_College_(2015_Spring_cohort)]]
[[Category:Student Contributors]]
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File:NariHeadshot.jpg

2022-03-14T17:05:31Z

Nadia.gathers:

This is a headshot of Nariman Gathers, an Afro-Latiné University Innovation Fellow.

Fellow:Nariman Gathers

2022-03-14T16:41:31Z

Nadia.gathers: Nadia.gathers moved page Fellow:Nadia Gathers to Fellow:Nariman Gathers: New Fellow name

=Related Links =

[[Converse College|'''Converse College''']]

University Innovation Fellows

Spring 2016:

[[Sanuja Goonetilleke|Sanuja Goonetiieke]]

Spring 2015:

'''Nariman Gathers'''

[[Category:Student Contributors|n]]
[[Category:Converse_College_(2015_Spring_cohort)]]
[[Category:Converse_College_(2015_Spring_cohort)]]
[[Category:Student Contributors]]
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Fellow:Nadia Gathers

2022-03-14T16:41:31Z

Nadia.gathers: Nadia.gathers moved page Fellow:Nadia Gathers to Fellow:Nariman Gathers: New Fellow name

#REDIRECT [[Fellow:Nariman Gathers]]

2015-03-15T01:31:55Z

Nadia.gathers:

Resource:How to Create an Individualized Major

2015-03-15T01:25:06Z

Nadia.gathers:

2015-02-11T14:17:48Z

Nadia.gathers:

Fellow:Nariman Gathers

2015-02-11T14:17:18Z

Nadia.gathers:

[[File:Nadia.jpg|right|Nadia.jpg]]
<div>Nadia Gathers is a University Innovation Fellow at Converse College. In doing so, she works with epicenter leaders at Stanford university and VentureWell to ensure all students graduate with an entrepreneurial mindset. She is a feminist, like everyone should be. When not actively overthrowing the patriarchy, she is a student at Converse College, where she designed the institution's first Social Entrepreneurship curriculum.</div><div> </div><div>Nadia has created a nationally recognized action plan to increase gender diversity in executive suites while increasing profit margins alongside the benefit corporation, Womenetics. She's worked with Buffalo, New York tech start-ups to do the not-so-glamorous dirty work of starting a business. She has developed three award winning business concepts, including a sportswear company tailored specifically to Muslim athletes. She helped create the nation's first environmentally responsive, permanent outdoor video installation, The Front Yard. She's been a facilitator at workshops for at-risk high school students, and coached an all-girls basketball team to a co-ed league championship. Most notably, she once taught a second grader how to read. </div><div> </div><div>Nadia is passionate about catalyzing social movements on a local level. She has worked with numerous organizations, including Z80 Technology Incubator, Girl Develop It, Every Person Influences Children, and the Burchfield Penney Art Center. </div>

Priorities:Converse College Student Priorities

2015-02-11T14:13:04Z

Nadia.gathers:

= Overview =

Converse College was founded on the radical idea that young women deserved a space, designed for them, to pursue higher education. Since that first year, Converse has continued to help those women find their voice, understand their true value, and refine their vision.  As times change, however, so must we. How might we continue to adapt converse’s founding principles in order to serve a new generation of women?

We, as students, are entering a post-grad landscape far different than our predecessors. Steeped in technology, and connected on a massive, global scale, the tools we need to be successful in the world outside Converse’s campus are ever-changing. It is time for us to foster an innovative, creative ecosystem where failure is nothing but a starting point, and problems are nothing but opportunities. 

= Priority One: Spark Student Interest & Create Concrete Value =

Converse has a longstanding tradition of self-governance. A large portion of her students hold leadership positions on campus, and Converse itself is student-regulated, adhering to a traditional honor code. The student body is an active one, fully involved in the creation and ideation of Converse's future.

However, most students simply aren't aware of entrepreneurship and innovation on any scale, especially not on Converse's campus. Engineering students spend only two years on campus, taking the basic courses before heading off to Clemson. Computer science majors are few and far between. What Converse lacks in technical majors, however, it makes up for in its empassioned students. In any given year, students plan fundraisers to help crisis centers and cancer research institutes, organize trips to serve all over the United States, perform institutional research, and design new and exciting clubs to promote student involvement. Converse students aren't uninterested, they simply need to be shown the value.

Prirority one speaks to that process. Entrepreneeurship and Innovation, in this case, are not about venture creation, maker spaces, or new engineering deapartments. They are about the tools and skills an entrepreneur learns that can be applied to every career path once out of Converse's walls. This process is about speaking to the interests of our student body, and introducing them to skills and themes that can help them in all disciplines.  

== PITCHConverse ==

Most pitch competitions revolve around business ideas. PITCHConverse is about community engagement. Students will be presented with a question, anything from "how might we improve the lives of south carolinian children?" to "how might we use technology in new ways on campus?" Solutions to these problems will be presented in a typical one minute format at an event sponsored by the Converse Honors Program and Religious Life. 

PITCHConverse is designed to help students become acquainted with entrepreneurial keywords, themes, and ideas. It also introduces them to facets of the entrepreneurial toolkit, including concise, clear communication skills, and innovative problem solving. Overall, it is designed to be the first major starting block for students to begin their participation in institutional I&E.

PITCHConverse is scheduled for late spring 2015. In the next month, the engaged parties will need to: choose the high level question respondents will be engaging with, begin the advertisement campaign, decide on and reserve a location, and accrue the funding for the prizes.

== Convocation Series ==

Students are required to attend a number of events in different categories every semester in order to develop all aspects of the human spirit. these events span everything from art installations to resume building workshops. The Convocation Series' leadership component seeks to strengthen the professional capabilities of students through participation in student government and career development workshops. We believe that this requirement is an excellent way to introduce students to the world of Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

Through partnerships with organizations like Venture for America, we will bring in lecturers in the fields of I&E to share their stories. If students cannot envision a future in which they apply these skills, they will never decide to pursue them. Females especially suffer from a lack of strong depictions of women in I&E. Bringing in success stories to share everything from the details of education tracks, to what a personal life looks like when entering these fields will provide a basis against which students can begin to envision themselves.

The Convocation series, leadership events in particular,  also includes professional skill development. These events would be great places to introduce skills in technology, communication and creativity. Introducing themes seen in I&E will make the transition to explicit I&E a little easier.

= Priority Two: Foster Entrepreneurial Toolkit =

Once students are aware of I&E on a grander scale, they can start building the skills necessary to be successful. This priority section focuses primarily on building the skills of Innovation and Entrepreneurship applicable to all disciplines.

== Leadership Retreat Training ==

A large portion of Converse's student body holds a leadership position on campus. One a year, these students converge in a multiple day leadership retreat, where they learn the basics of heading the coalitions and student boards they will be taking part in the entire school year. These students are go-getters- they have run for office, started organizations, or serve as extensions of student life.

During this retreat, we proposition that the principles of design thinking are taught much like it was taught to members of the University Innovation Fellows community at the regional meetup in Greenville, South Carolina. Students will be given a high level task, that they can divide into How Might We's, and rapidly move from brainstormnig solutions to presenting their days work. this process, we believe will strengthen their ability to work in high stress situations, communicate with a group, quickly prototype and roll out potential solutions, and learn from failures. Use of this model rather than preaching the tenets of leadership would be an amazing, fast paced way to get these students immersed in I&E culture while also learning tangible skills that will aid them throughout the school year.

= Priority Three: Increase Community-Converse Partnerships =

Converse is a small institution that, as mentioned earlier, doesn't have a mountain of technological resources ready to deploy at a whim. However, we are surrounded by other members of the University Fellows community in close proximity to our own institution.

== UI Fellows Coalition ==

By tapping into resources like furman, Clemson, and Wofford, our students will hopefully be able to not only learn what Entrepreneurship and Innovation movements look liek at our own school, but also at others. In planning regional events, and pushing students to resoures that Converse may not be able to produce on its own, students will be able to interact with a number of communities right outide their window. This four school coalition will seek to support and expand any movements we make at our own institutions. 

= Priority Four: Create Pipeline for I&E Students  =

Once a student has decided that I&E is the way for them to go, there are no concrete steps for them to take. In developing students passionate about this movement, we must also understand that they require a path necessary to follow once they are dedicated. Priority four is tasked primarily with the development of concrete institutional pathways through which these students can easily navigate. 

== Interdisciplinary Programming ==

Converse already offers team taught courses, bridging disciplines like english and bioogy to give students a new perspective in various topics. We offer that business focused students pair up with students in other disciplines to form new solutions for problems outside profit expansion. As a school with a history in social entrepreneurship, solving problems in innovative, business focused ways would be a natural progression in programming. Much like Extreme by Design, these programs cold be tailored to help externally contracted entities like the Rape Crisis Center, the regional school system, or local nonprofits. 

== Course Offerings ==

Social Entrepreneurship was the only class offered in Innovation and Entrepreneurship. As we expand the horizons of individual students, the course offerings must expand as well.. At a small instituion, this is often tricky. However, using the tools we showed earlier, we can find ways to make I&E classes open and inclusive, to require GEP, and multidiscipline curse requirements. 

== Social Entrepreneurship Minor ==

As an Algernon Sydney Sullivan School, we offer that Social Entrepreneurship deserves a concrete place in our institutions curriculum. By instituting a Social Entrepreneurship minor and the courses involved, a support system is established for those students looking to more fully explore in the field. This process will develop faculty who are knowledgeable in the subject,  as well as explicit pathways for individuals to follow once they are invested in I&E. 

= Related Links =

[[Converse College|Converse_College]]

Landscape Canvas: [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1JVaZ9GOkZr8fR-M77oq20ffKLskqlyEIz68s3UN2Ahk/edit#gid=0 https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1JVaZ9GOkZr8fR-M77oq20ffKLskqlyEIz68s3UN2Ahk/edit#gid=0]

Business Model Canvas: [https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/1tOhh8s1tTxbIJS6XLpmX_CkDbZBkq5iGWYdCfV98eBE https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/1tOhh8s1tTxbIJS6XLpmX_CkDbZBkq5iGWYdCfV98eBE]

2015-01-30T04:08:03Z

Nadia.gathers:

[[File:20081203 CON-logo1 type.jpg|thumb|right]]

= Converse College =

Converse College is an all-women’s college in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Founded in 1889, Converse continues to adhere to its founders ideals, seeking to provide a comprehensive liberal arts education to young women from across the globe. It has received press in past years for lowering its tuition by 43 percent. In 2014, it ranked 23rdamong Regional University South’s college rankings.

== Social Entrepreneurship  ==

As an Algernon Sydney Sullivan school, Converse has a longstanding tradition of service to others. In recent years, this focus has continued on to social entrepreneurship.  A select number of collegiate courses are dedicated to Social Entrepreneurship’s applications in the surrounding community, and worldwide. Particularly interested individuals can choose to attend the Sullivan Social Enterprise retreat in the fall or spring sessions. Converse has also sent a team to the foundation’s social venture competition. Converse continues to increase its Social entrepreneurship offerings, from courses and seminars to exploratory learning trips.

== Future ==

In 2014, Converse funded its first university Innovation Fellow, Nadia Gathers. Funding this program has put Converse’s dedication to constant growth and institution-wide innovation at the forefront. It joins other upstate universities in the program, including Wofford, Clemson, and Furman.

Although it’s entrepreneurial ecosystem is in its infancy, Converse’s dedication to fostering female leadership and excellence primes it for a revolution in the space.