Priorities:Susquehanna University Student Priorities

Overview

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Susquehanna University is a private liberal arts college located in the town of Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania. Susquehanna University is dedicated to helping students become proactive leaders through academics, service, and personal assets, which is represented through the University motto “Achieve, Lead, Serve”. Susquehanna allows students to engage and facilitate conversation through our clubs and organizations as well as our Global Opportunities (GO) program, which connects students with the world by establishing a GO academic requirement. While there are opportunities for innovation and entrepreneurship, such as the Entrepreneurship and Innovation minor, the university has room for improvement. 

One of the biggest challenges that Susquehanna faces is the lack of collaboration between the Sigmund Weis Business School and the School of Arts and Sciences. Students focus on individual departmental disciplines and associate the words "entrepreneurship" and "innovation" strictly with business. The main objective of our University Innovation Fellows Leadership Circle is to implement more innovation and entrepreneurship programs on campus and promote interdisciplinary collaboration.

Spring 2015 Pitch -  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6fupPb51eI

Fall 2016 Pitch -  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhbBjd26XYA

Student Priorities

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STRATEGY ONE: INTRO TO INNOVATION COURSE

Develop and introduce an introduction to innovation course catering to all majors and possibly required for incoming first-years to take. 

• Develop class syllabus and research textbooks
• Ideal Start-up date - Fall 2020.
• Integrate various concepts of core curriculum and SWSB learning goals to effectively instruct students in a liberal arts capacity.  
  • Focus on Innovation and or Entrepreneurship as an interdisciplinary focus.
  • Grow exposure of the Entrepreneurship and Innovation minor on campus.
  • Encourage awareness from all majors and class years to the importance of innovation in all fields.
  • Bridge the gap between students of differing majors and encourage group project work with unfamiliar faces.
  • Solve problems on campus through student-eyes.
• Develop a a plan to sustain the course as a foundation of first-year learning for all the years to come, including plans on possible professors who may be teaching the course along with UIF TAs
• Identify resources and funding available to students, faculty, and staff for class projects and class trips/assessments.

STRATEGY TWO: REIMAGINE INNOVATION CLUB

Eliminate innovation and entrepreneurship disciplinary stigma to encourage innovation outside of the classroom - participation in the now 'dead' DICE innovation club.

• Understand current underrepresentation of academic disciplines on campus and incorporate new innovative solutions for departmental engagement including participation in the club - "DICE" - as a part of a class, or outside of academic purposes.
• Create events catered to various disciplines, such as the arts, to encourage creativity and original thinking on campus.
  • Hold campus events to showcase student creations and ideas - and also recruit for the club.
• Utilize on-campus creative spaces to raise awareness of such design spaces to gain further interest in innovation club.
  • Encourage use of new makerspace to facilitate conversation and hold events in the new establishment.
  • Speak to the first-year community about creative spaces and encourage discussion - possibly integrate first year innovation course (Strategy 1)
• Bring organizations to campus to understand current problems in innovation in other academic fields of study.
  • Identify needs on campus and collaborate with local partners to create innovative events pertaining to underrepresented fields of study, such as the arts.
  • Engage local businesses to help students see innovation as a constant process and not commodity based.

STRATEGY THREE: DIVERSITY IN THE ARTS SHOWCASE

• Create an event on campus to facilitate innovation and diversity in the arts.
  • Art showcase.
• Establish an art showcase to show different forms of artistic medium and creative design processes.
  • Art Works
• Host small group collaboration projects between art departments.
  • Individuals from the creative writing department write a creative piece (poetry, short story, etc.) and other individuals from the design or painting department paint about the creative piece or vise versa.
• Create a 24-hour innovation and design event.
  • Students create and design original pieces of art for the first few hours, practice and critique next few hours, perform and showcase creative ideas the last few hours.
  • We have a 24-hour play festival. How can we inspire creators to invent and create original works in 24-hours too?
• Host event where students learn how to work through the creative process and students and or faculty in various art departments can facilitate workshops.
  • Campus-Wide Art Workshop (critique event and how-to innovate and create event)

STRATEGY FOUR: CREATE AND HOST A CULTURAL GALA

• Bring a Ted Talk or motivational speaker on campus to facilitate dialogue and share conversations about diversity on campus.
  • Host speaker to create discourse on diversity and inclusion on our campus (PWI).
• Create Cultural Gala to showcase underrepresented cultures and groups on campus.
  • Performances and readings about culture and diversity during Gala.
  • Students can showcase various artistic medium about cultural differences such as music, art, dance, etc.
• Host Gala where minority students can share their story, culture, and customs at the event.
  • Students engage with peers about their culture, background, and ignorance of certain topics.
  • Create a safe and educational event for students about culture on our campus (PWI).
• Have food and beverages from various cultural backgrounds during the Gala.
• Raffles, drawings, and prizes to support our project.

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Related links

Pitch Video (Fall 2018)

Cohort Change Story Platform (Fall 2017)

https://www.facebook.com/SusquehannaUIF/

Pitch Video (Fall 2016)

Pitch Video (Spring 2015)

Susquehanna University Wiki Page

Susquehanna University Student Priorities

Susquehanna University - University Innovation Fellows

2015 Fellows

Ethan Eastwood  (Spring 2015)

Alexis Gargin  (Spring 2015)

Pierce Logan Perkins  (Spring 2015)

Tiffany Richards  (Spring 2015)

2016 Fellows

Hana Feiner (Fall 2016)

Aviel Stein (Fall 2016)

Rachel Tate (Fall 2016)

2017 Fellows

Tonia Hall (Fall 2017)

Alexandra Haller (Fall 2017)

Damian Munoz (Fall 2017)

Daniel Yim (Fall 2017)

2018 Fellows

Leah Cieniawa (Fall 2018)

Brianna Murphy (Fall 2018)

Joseph Morante (Fall 2018)

Kyle Williams (Fall 2018)