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Priorities:Western Michigan University Student Priorities

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= Overview of Strategies =

Western Michigan University has many opportunities for different types of innovation on campus, for example, the annual pitch competition, the Innovation Club, and our campus makerspace. While we recognize all of the amazing opportunities for innovation already present here at Western, we have also come to understand the endless potential our university has for growth.  As University Innovation Fellows, we have gained access to more resources than we knew existed.  Here we present what exactly those improvements are, so that we may positively begin to impact the student experience.

~~{{#Widget~~= Strategy 1 =~~6s}}~~

= ~~Strategy 1~~ = Marketing for Campus Connections ==

There is a lack of cohesive marketing of the WMU values within campus and even externally. We are a top 100 research university, but students aren’t always taking advantage of these opportunities. How do we start asking the right questions? The previous UIF group is trying to assuage this need with the Think Big campaign. Helping them continue to grow in this process and supporting the university in this endeavor is the best way to continue to grow in this area. We aim to drum up support and attendance for events like town hall meetings.

= Western Michigan University, like many other colleges, has a variety of student a Registered Student Organizations (RSOs). The innovation culture at Western seems to be segregated to graduate students or those in hands on classes. To challenge this culture and grow the overall definition of innovation on WMU's campus, more students need to be a part of the movement. To help spread the word and draw as many different people from various backgrounds, an RSO offers a simple start up process with the potential for a much more complex organization. As an organization the innovation club will impart the importance of design thinking and help students hone their ideas, mock up their models and fabricate working products.Strategy 2=

== ~~To build this club, the following tactics should be implemented:~~Improving Campus Culture==

<font~~-family:~~ face="tahoma, geneva, sans-serif">C^3 is an initiative to connect students to each other and to peer mentors who can aid in the overall understanding of an individual topic. This helps create an environment of learning and teamwork.  ~~line~~<span style="caret-~~height~~color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 1Arial; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; ~~background~~">Western is a community of well rounded students, focused on expanding themselves beyond the traditional student expectations. Students today are pressured from all angles to improve constantly.  This kind of pressure can cause a lot of students to isolate themselves within their major, becoming disconnected from the rest of campus because they are so focused on trying to keep themselves a float with grades and adulthood.  A lot of students who feel outside of campus culture are not likely to continue their education at Western. <span style="caret-color: ~~transparent~~rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">~~Tactic #1- Begin~~  By creating a culture focused on collaboration and innovation, we will not only improve the lives of students but our university as a who<span style="caret-~~family~~color: ~~tahoma~~rgb(0, ~~geneva~~0, ~~sans~~0); font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-~~serif~~asian: normal; ~~line~~font-~~height~~variant-position: 1normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">le. ~~by creating~~ We intend to create a ~~business model canvas~~group of talent seekers who find students at Western with great, new, innovative ideas and ~~talking to people~~then recognize them on a platform like Instagram or YouTube. A student committee nominating and putting the spotlight on their peers. ~~-Completed(Fall 2015) ~~

= ~~Tactic #2- Register with the University, and begin to advertise to interested students. -Completed(Fall 2015)~~Strategy 3=

== <~~font face~~span style="~~tahoma, geneva, sans~~font-~~serif"~~ size~~="2~~:large;">The Innovation club was registered as an RSO in the Fall of 2015. It is now located in the Makerspace on main campus in the library. The Innovation club strives to offer students a place where they can come to collaborate on projects with other students as well as prototype ideas. Its a place for students to learn new information and skills that will help them in their future.Interdisciplinary Collaboration</~~font~~span>==

There’s isn’t currently a space on campus that’s inviting and nature heavy, that’s conveniently available to all students.<span style="caret-color: ~~tahoma~~rgb(0, ~~geneva~~0, ~~sans~~0); font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-~~serif~~asian: normal; font-~~size~~variant-position: normal; vertical-align: ~~small~~baseline;">~~To greater~~ There are links to mental wellness studies and gathering students in one place will naturally lead to group socialization. Providing these groups with the ~~success~~ tools they need to be productive with each other, which is also key to building bridges across disciplines.Interdisciplinary Collaboration on campus could be highly benefitted by a space that draws students regardless of major or course of study. The escape into nature aspect built in with an open productive space could exponentially augment the ~~Innovation club some good strategies would be~~students interactino with each other, leading to a more cohesive and well rounded campus collective. Something like aGreen Lounge, a greenhouse inspired atrium with links to mental wellness that draws students from a variety of majors, and which also spurs interest in the Finch Greenhouses.

= Strategy ~~#1: Start pop up classes to get students more involved and excited about the club.~~4=

== ~~Strategy #2: Create a fund to lessen the financial burden of student projects.~~Reputation==

~~Strategy #3: Market~~ As students and faculty alike, we can all agree that Western is a place that has served as a cornucopia of academic expansion for students across all disciplines.  That being said, there is still a misconception that students are more proud of their extra curricular Saturday nights than of their academic prowess. The nickname of “Wastern” can be incredibly detrimental and damaging to the ~~club~~ University's reputation, especially when we look to ~~a greater audience~~ recruit academically focused innovators. We need to ~~increase~~ prevent these potential changemakers and those already at Western from looking at other universities because of our less than professional reputation. Not only are we turning students away from our University, but we noticed that current student ~~participation~~accomplishments are being swept under the rug as talk of boozy tailgates take center stagae. Internally, WMU needs more recognition of its students for the great work they are doing. Some colleges within the University currently spotlight their students on Instagram pages and others have professors nominate their best students for a scholarship or award.But what about those students who are working on their brilliant ideas on their own, and only can be recognized by their peers?

= Strategy 2 5 =

== ~~Innovation Space~~ Mobile Interfacing ==

~~Being a division one university~~Engaging students through their most used devices, their phones, is an area many universities are struggling to catch up with, ~~Western Michigan has a large campus full of often underutilized classroom and community spaces~~WMU included. ~~This availability of~~ <span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space~~, and input from current students highlights the desire and plausibility for~~ : pre-wrap;">Students need a way to interact with their Universities in a ~~successfully developed innovation space. Existing labs~~ more streamlined and ~~spaces are~~ well designed process than currently available ~~for student use~~, ~~though many of the labs are under utilized as they are hard~~ something that can do anything from navigating them to class to ~~gain access~~ letting them know which classes toavoid registering for at the same time. ~~Additionally~~Solutions could address issues such as: <span style="white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, ~~these spaces only have potential to serve as innovation spaces~~0); ~~they are not labeled or considered as such by current students~~">Dorm access, Digital IDs, paying for things on campus, like BroncoPay, a DegreeWorks revamp, class search/ recommendation/ review feature.

= ~~To accomplish this project, the following tactics should be considered:~~Related Links=

~~Tactic #1:  ~~Allocate space.~~ [[Christopher Woodward]], ~~Identify which spaces could be available for innovation and have an in depth understanding for what will need to be done to each for it to be functional. -Completed (Spring 2016)<~~[http:/~~span><~~/~~span><~~universityinnovation.org/~~span>Persefoni%20Lauhon Persefoni_Lauhon], [[Zach Crawford|Zach_Crawford]]

~~<span style="vertical-align~~//universityinnovation.org/wiki/Daniel_Mozel Daniel Mozel], [http: ~~baseline; white-space~~//universityinnovation.org/wiki/Andreas_Hobelsberger Andreas Hobelsberger], [http: ~~pre-wrap; background-color~~//universityinnovation.org/wiki/Megan_miller Megan Miller], [http: ~~transparent;">Tactic #2: Train leaders to work the room and operate equipment in the safest manner possible~~//universityinnovation. ~~-Completed(Spring 2016)<~~org/~~span><~~wiki/~~span>~~Saleh_Mohamed Saleh Mohamed]

Tactic #2:Develop an accountability system to make sure that the spaces are being used and reserved in an orderly way.  A system easily available for students to reserve the spaces for limited time and have a system to ensure that the spaces are well kept is a necessity to encourage participation.[[Cate Troost|Cate Troost]]

~~One of the main functions of innovation spaces are bringing students together to collaborate and improve on each other's ideas. College specific spaces do not encourage this communication across majors. This is why the space is located at the center of main campus in the library. Where it is easily accessible to all students and faculty. To forward the progress of this project the following steps should be considered: Approach #1: Boost marketing tactics to make more students aware of the existence of the Innovation space. Approach #2: Acquire additional funding to keep materials and tools well stocked. This could be done through fundraising or company sponsorship. Approach #3: Get a space in the soon to be built Innovation center. This would allow for a space in the most prime area on campus for ideation and innovation. ~~~~[[~~File:WMU Ergo Lab.jpeg~~Western Michigan University|Western_Michigan_University]]~~<div> </div>= Strategy 3 =~~ ~~== Interdisciplinary Senior Design ==~~ Senior engineering students at WMU must complete a senior design project as a requirement for graduation from their program. Currently, students only work with other students within their respective major or department. Project presentations occur twice a year in April and October. Completion of a senior design project indicates successful acquisition of major specific knowledge as well as real world application skills. However, the structure of post-graduate corporate America isn’t organized into teams by college major. It is full of interdisciplinary creative groups expressing entrepreneurial and innovative tendencies towards specific challenges. Multiple discipline collaboration within the College of Engineering & ~~Applied Sciences and beyond during senior projects encourages the continued development of innovation and entrepreneurial skills as students enter the workforce.~~ To accomplish this, the following tactics should be considered: Tactic #1:Encourage the acceptance of interdisciplinary projects as viable and long lasting topics for senior design presentations rather than the result of a last minute group and idea formation. Tactic #2: Meet with and discuss the process involved in approving senior design projects with faculty in charge. Getting an understanding of the requirements allows parameters to be set so that the proper balance of innovation and knowledge recitation can occur. Tactic #3: Gain student interest. Spread the word about possible senior design collaborations between majors to future seniors to prove the existing interest to faculty and decision makers in charge of approval. [[~~File~~Category:~~Wmu senior design.jpg~~Student Priorities]] ~~= Strategy 4 =~~ ~~== Focus on ''Intra''preneurship ==~~ Overview: Due to the campus culture at WMU, “entrepreneurship” seems to only be a buzzword. To many students, entrepreneurship only means starting a business from scratch. While this is true, it is not fully representative of the entire scope of entrepreneurship and innovation. The other portion is often called intrapreneurship, or innovation that occurs within existing industries. Tactic #1: While students within the College of Engineering & Applied Sciences are constantly building, creating, and designing solutions, few realize how much innovation is actually occurring, and how the lessons they are learning can be applied to their future career. One option is to bring in industry leaders to speak about how they use design thinking and innovation in their workplace. This could stress the importance of entrepreneurial thinking as a whole, independent of whether the student wanted to open a business or enter the workplace. Tactic #2: WMU could also offer intrapreneurship workshops to highlight the skills necessary to be successful in particular industries. Focus would be on the approach and application of the design cycle within the restraints of a company. Tactic #3: Entrepreneurship can be introduced to all students in introductory courses. While the Industial Engineering department as well as the Business College do a good job of exposing their students to entrepreneurship many other departments have lots to gain by introducing this concept to students in the early stages of their academic career. ~~= Strategy 4 =~~ ~~== Entrepreneurship and Innovation Resource Introduction for Underclassmen ==~~ Overview: In talking to younger students on campus, we found that many did not know about the opportunities that were readily available to them. By not knowing about the opportunities, they were unable to take advantage of them, completely defeating the purpose of the opportunities at all. We believe that students should know about all opportunities available to them so that if they are interested, they can partake in entrepreneurship and innvoation activities on campus.  Tactic #1: Tabling at admitted student events. By being present at events for students before they even attend classes, opportunities such as the Innovation Club will be more prevelant in students' minds when they do get to college. This is especially true for students who try everything before classes start because they won't be too busy to learn more in the first place.  Tactic #2: Better marketing tactics for things like the library makerspace and the Innovation Club. By having more marketing materials and ambassadors for entrepreneurship and innovation around campus, students will be exposed to opportunities that they wouldn't have otherwise known about. Particularly with ambassadors, students would be able to ask questions and learn more about their options than with traditional flyers.  ~~=== Related Links: ===~~ ~~Graduated Fellows: ~~[~~http~~[Category:~~//universityinnovation.org/Persefoni%20Lauhon Persefoni_Lauhon], [[Zach Crawford|Zach_Crawford~~Student Priorities]] ~~Current Fellows: ~~[[~~Mackenzie Preston|Mackenzie Preston]], [[Jill Puckett|Jill Puckett]], [[Nathan LaWarre|Nathan LaWarre]]~~ ~~University~~Category:~~ [[Western Michigan University|~~Western_Michigan_University]] [[Category:~~Student Priorities|wStudent_Priorities]]{{CatTree|Western_Michigan_University}}

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