Priorities:University of Wisconsin - Madison Student Priorities

Overview

Coming soon: Your Video (Session 5)

Strategy #1: Increase Communication Between Students in Different Departments

Create a buddy system between departments

• Ask departments to volunteer to become program-to-program buddies
• Require departments to list key resources and whether they are abundant, sufficient or scarce in nature
• Match programs to be buddies by balancing resources where this is an abundance in one department and scarcity in the other

Build a Design Curriculuum Intended for Multiple Departments

• There are multiple design curiculuums across campus, but none of them aim at encorporating design thinking across departments
• In industry, students should expect to work through the design process with multiple different people including marketing, engineering, finance, and legal studies majors.
• It is important to begin this interdepartmental collaboration as early as possible

Strategy #2: Boost Interdepartmental Communication Between Faculty

Require tenured faculty to take one class per academic year (not including sabbatical years) outside of their discipline/ department

• The marketing research program in the business school at UW-Madison will research campus classes for professors with linkages to their area of interest outside of their discipline
• A list of classes will be provided to the academic school, and college program heads responsible for the 20 academic centers around campus
• Professors will be required to explore at least four different departments before exploring a class in a department they've previously interacted with as a part of this requirement.

Start a club for Professors

• Create affinity clubs for professors on campus related to entrepreneurship and innovation
• Promote new professorial club through department heads and by presenting them to academic deans across campus

Creating an Interdepartmental Network Centered Around University-Specific Research Interests 

• The idea is to create a forum that increases awareness around faculty research interests and encourages collaboration on respective research 
• Inspired by the success of forums at professional research conferences and professional webinars to promote a consistent dialogue 
• The number one priority concerning faculty members is research projects and publications (especially with tenure-track faculty) because the University of Wisconsin - Madison is a R1 public institution; other involvement is secondary 
• Align existing projects through a designated [web] tool with university-specific information 

Strategy #3: Create Clearer Pathways to Finding Valuable Mentorship

Distinguished Lunches

• The Weinert Center for Entrepreneurship holds Distinguished Entrepreneur Lunches regularly on campus.
• The idea of expanding these "Distinguished Lunches" to involve more cross-disciplinary faculty could prove beneficial in involving a wider range of students across campus.
• The students that get involved with meeting these entrepreneurs and local businessmen, the easier it will be for these students to form important networks.

Social Network for Mentor Matching

• Create a social network platform where mentors and students alike can create profiles. This could create an environment where it is much easier to put yourself out there for potential mentors to see. 
• Possibly create a questionnaire that matches students and mentors with similar interests and life goals.

Strategy #4: Broaden the Idea of Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Innovation Everywhere Lecture Series

• Lecture series to showcase innovation and design thinking in different areas of study to promote crossdisciplinary innovation.
• Easily accessible to people campus wide via convenient locations and Facebook live streaming.
• Provide food and fun atmosphere where people can create lasting relationships and share their passions.

#InnovativeBadger Social Media Campaign

• Promote innovative activities on campus by working with existing clubs and programs.
• Surround Innovation Everywhere Lecture series with constructive dialogue on entreprenuership and design thinking.
• Provide a platform to inspire and define what innovation and entreprenuership are to you.

Related Links

Spring 2017 UIF:

Rachel Acevedo

Hanna Barton

Tayler Nowak

Camille Clark