Priorities:Elon University Student Priorities

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Priority #1: UIF Involvement with Sankey Hall

Purpose:

Elon University has announced that they will expand the Love School of Business with the addition of Sankey Hall. This building will house two new academic centers focussed on financial education and design thinking. Elon hopes to encourage students from all disciplines to gather in this space and work collaboratively on projects that incorporate design thinking.

Strategies:

• Reach out to Stanford D school faculty while in California to ask which resources they think are necessary in a large design thinking space
• Network with other students to ask about their schools' design thinking spaces
• Talk to students on-campus across disciplines to determine what resources they think that we need
• Work with faculty here to ensure that all disciplines are accomodated in this new space
• Inquire about a UIF internship program that allows trained UIFers to have office hours within the design thinking space

Priority #2: Elon University Crowd Fund

Purpose:

CollegeFundFestival is a one day event run by Enactus at Elon University where creators at Elon and in the community get the resources to fund their ideas. The festival is free to the public and students and showcases entrepreneurial projects ranging from Science and Technology, Art, Culture, Education, Social Good, Wellness, Lifestyle or anything in between. The festival is fun for all ages, with all day activities including music, food, and entertainment. At CollegeFundFestival, attendees vote for their favorite projects, give immediate feedback to creators, and can contribute to the project themselves using crowdfunding. Additionally, the crowd decides on projects to get funded; The top entrepreneurs are guaranteed funding based on voting. 

Strategies:

• Reach out to various sources on and off campus for funding and support for the event. 
• Research other Universities that have a crowdfunding platform already set up. 
• Create a platform or use existing platform. 
• Advertise and connect with all involved Elon parties to create large event with many supporters. 
• Evaluate what could be improved from the event.
• Present proof of concept to school and start to market in Alumni circles. 

Priority #3: Consult With and Work on Current I&E Clubs and Organizations on Campus

Purpose: 

Fortunately, Elon has a lot of programs and organizations that encourages students to explore I&E; however, many of these have either died out within the past couple years, have a lack of leadership or have needed a good push in the right direction. As UIF members we seek to build these programs and organizations back up.

Strategies:

• Identify organizations at Elon that work on I&E. 
• Evaluate their current state and future sustainability.
• Help them build stronger leadership teams by involving ourselves in their programs to spur progress and connect different groups. 
• Connect these different organizations with one another to build their recognition on campus and encourage collaboration without competition.
• Connect these organizations with different resources inside and outside of the school that might be helpful for them. Create a group of presidents and UIF leaders that meets once a semester to discuss the current state of I&E.

Priority #4: Create and Market A University Wide Hackathon

Purpose:

Get more students interested in STEM and the opportunities STEM has in terms of transforming the world. To have students and faculty across disciplines interact with eachother and come to a unique idea together.

Strategies:

• Contact the Department Chair of the Computing Sciences Department.
• Talk to and interact with upper level majors in Computer Science.
• Use outlets of the the Innovation House, STEM Living Learning Community, Maker Hub, and Carpenter Lab to promote the event. 
• Construct publicity & advertising tactics for event.
• Mass publicize event to student body.
• Host event while also publicizing Elon’s University Innovation Fellows to student body.
• Send thank you cards to speakers to hopefully gain a connection with them and gain support.
• Try and get 100+ student and faculty to come to one of the events.

Priority #5: Elon Maker Space Improvements

Purpose:

With the establishment of the Maker Hub in Fall 2015, Elon took the first step towards establishing a dedicated I&E makerspace. However, students still need a space that is effectively staffed, well and reliably equipped, and where they feel comfortable to brainstorm and prototype their ideas.

Strategies:

• Identify what aspects of the Maker Hub are most in need of improvement. 
• Work on training every student staff member on the full arsenal of tools and equipment availble in order to streamline students' making process.
• Improve equipment uptime; especially the 3D printers. 
• Advertise the Maker Hub by integrating the space with traditional class curriculums.
• Connect the space with other incubators in the area.

Priority #6: Elon Innovators Network'

Purpose:

One way to encourage others to take their ideas and dreams to the next level is to show them that it has and is being done! This project would seek to shine a light on Elon’s current and past entrepreneurs.

​Strategies:

• Contact individual currently in charge of Doherty Center Electronic message board TV.
• Research students involved with I&E on campus.
• Email these students asking for a “profile”.
• Feature students on the board and expand to online.
• Establish an Elon Innovators page on various social media platforms.
• Feature students and alumni working on innovative and entrepreneurial projects.

Related Link

Elon University

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University Innovation Fellows

Spring 2017:

Josh Cadorette

Brianna Brady

Nick Smith

James Setzer

Spring 2016:

Elizabeth Jordan

Gabrielle Vance

Sean Webber

Kyle McKinley

William Kakavas

Spring 2015:

Ben Driscoll

Jensen Roll

Matt Snow

Giles Roll