Difference between revisions of "Priorities:Western Michigan University Student Priorities"

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= Overview of Strategies =
 
= Overview of Strategies =
  
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= Project Pitch Video =
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-366a9176-7fff-155d-1884-330ad60d6338" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Western Michigan University has many opportunities for different types of innovation </span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">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.&nbsp; </span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As University Innovation Fellows, we have gained access to more resources than we knew existed.&nbsp; Here we present what exactly those improvements are, so that we may positively begin to impact the student experience.</span></span></span></span>
  
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{{#Widget:Youtube|id=nbtl7S_imaA}}
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= <span style="font-size:x-large;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Strategy 1</span></span> =
  
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= Strategy 1 =
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== <span style="font-size:large;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Marketing for Campus Connections</span></span> ==
  
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== Innovation Club ==
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<span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><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: pre-wrap;">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? </span><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: pre-wrap;">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.</span></span></span>
  
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<span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:tahoma,geneva,sans-serif;">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.</span></span>
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= <span style="font-size:x-large;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Strategy 2</span></span> =
  
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<span style="font-family: tahoma, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: small;">To build this club, the following tactics should be implemented:</span>
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== <span style="font-size:large;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Improving Campus Culture</span></span> ==
  
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<span style="font-size: small; font-family: tahoma, geneva, sans-serif; line-height: 1; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;">Tactic #1- Begin </span><span style="font-size: small; font-family: tahoma, geneva, sans-serif; line-height: 1; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;">by creating a busines model canvas, and talking to people. &nbsp;</span>
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<span style="font-size:small;"><font 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.&nbsp;</font><span style="caret-color: 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;">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.&nbsp; 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.&nbsp; A lot of students who feel outside of campus culture are not likely to continue their education at Western. </span><span style="caret-color: 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;">&nbsp;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><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><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: pre-wrap;">le. </span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">We intend to create a group of talent seekers who find students at Western with great, new, innovative ideas and then recognize them on a platform like Instagram or YouTube. A student committee nominating and putting the spotlight on their peers.</span></span></span>
  
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<span style="font-family:tahoma,geneva,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-31c57597-af74-7c67-ac29-cc22a7f6e25a"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;">Tactic #2- Register with the University, and begin to advertise to interested students.</span></span></span></span>
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= <span style="font-size:x-large;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Strategy 3</span></span> =
  
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<font face="tahoma, geneva, sans-serif" size="2"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">A club will be a good first step to bring innovation culture to the majority of Western's students.</span></font>
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== <span style="font-size:large;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Interdisciplinary Collaboration</span></span> ==
  
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= Strategy 2 =
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<span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-88ae2527-7fff-86cf-e6bb-dc4825041f1d"><span style="font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">There’s isn’t currently a space on campus that’s inviting and nature heavy, that’s conveniently available to all students.</span><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">There are links to mental wellness studies and gathering students in one place will naturally lead to group socialization. Providing these groups with the tools </span><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">they need to be productive with each other, which is also key to building bridges across disciplines.</span>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 students interactino with each other, leading to a more cohesive and well rounded campus collective. Something like a</span></span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Green 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.</span></span></span>
  
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== Innovation Space ==
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= <span style="font-size:x-large;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Strategy 4</span></span></span> =
  
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<span style="font-family:tahoma,geneva,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">Being a division one university, Western Michigan has a large campus full of often underutilized classroom and community spaces. This availability of space, and input from current students highlights the desire and plausibility for a successfully developed innovation space. Existing labs and spaces are available for student use, though many of the labs are under utilized as they are hard to gain access to. Additionally, these spaces only have potential to serve as innovation spaces; they are not labeled or considered as such by current students.</span></span>
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== <span style="font-size:large;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Reputation</span></span></span> ==
  
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<span style="font-size: small; font-family: tahoma, geneva, sans-serif;">To accomplish this project, the following tactics should be considered:</span>
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<span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><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: pre-wrap;">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.&nbsp; 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 University's reputation, especially when we look to recruit </span><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: pre-wrap;">academically focused innovators. We need to prevent these potential changemakers and those already at Western from looking at other universities because of our less than professional reputation</span><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: pre-wrap;">. Not only are we turning students away from our University, but we noticed that current student 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?&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></span></span>
  
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<span style="font-family:tahoma,geneva,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;">Tactic #1: </span><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;">&nbsp;Allocate space. &nbsp;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)</span></span></span>
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= <span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:x-large;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Strategy 5</span></span></span><br/> =
  
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<span style="font-family:tahoma,geneva,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;">Tactic #2: Train leaders to work the room and operate equipment in the safest manner possible. -Completed(Spring 2016)</span></span></span>
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== <span style="font-size:large;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><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: pre-wrap;">Mobile Interfacing</span></span></span><br/> ==
  
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<span style="font-family:tahoma,geneva,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;">Tactic #2:</span><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;">Develop an accountability system to make sure that the spaces are being used and reserved in an orderly way. &nbsp;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.</span></span></span>
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<span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><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: pre-wrap;">Engaging students through their most used devices, their phones, is an area many universities are struggling to catch up with, WMU included. </span><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: pre-wrap;">Students need a way to interact with their Universities in a more streamlined and well designed process than currently available</span><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: pre-wrap;">, something that can do anything from navigating them to class to letting them know which classes to avoid registering for at the same time. Solutions could address issues such as: </span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Dorm access, Digital IDs, paying for things on campus, like BroncoPay, a DegreeWorks revamp, class search/ recommendation/ review feature.</span></span></span>
  
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<span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: small; font-family: tahoma, geneva, sans-serif; background-color: transparent;">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 that the Innovation club is located in is at the center of main campus in the library. Where it is easily accessible to all students and faculty.</span>
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= <span style="font-size:x-large;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Related Links</span></span> =
  
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: tahoma, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: small; white-space: pre-wrap;">To forward the progress of this project the following steps should be considered:</span>
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Graduated Innovation Fellows: &nbsp;[[Christopher Woodward]],&nbsp;[http://universityinnovation.org/Persefoni%20Lauhon Persefoni_Lauhon], [[Zach Crawford|Zach_Crawford]]
  
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: tahoma, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: small; white-space: pre-wrap;">Approach #1: Boost marketing tactics to make more students aware of the existence of the Innovation club and space.</span>
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Fellows: [[Mackenzie Preston|Mackenzie Preston]], [[Jill Puckett|Jill Puckett]], [[Nathan LaWarre|Nathan LaWarre]], [http://universityinnovation.org/wiki/Daniel_Mozel Daniel Mozel], [http://universityinnovation.org/wiki/Andreas_Hobelsberger Andreas Hobelsberger], [http://universityinnovation.org/wiki/Megan_miller Megan Miller], [http://universityinnovation.org/wiki/Saleh_Mohamed Saleh Mohamed]
  
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: tahoma, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: small; white-space: pre-wrap;">Approach #2: To excite students about learning and the club host pop-up classes. A good way to discover what the student body is interested in is to hold surveys. This could be one strategy to market the Innovation club and space as well.</span>
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Candidates: [[Aisha Thaj|Aisha_Thaj]], [[Caylee Prater|Caylee_Prater]], [[Cate Troost|Cate Troost]]
  
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: tahoma, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: small; white-space: pre-wrap;">Approach #3: Acquire additional funding to keep materials and tools well stocked. This could be done through fundraising or company sponsorship.</span>
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University:&nbsp;[[Western Michigan University|Western_Michigan_University]]&nbsp;
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[[Category:Student Priorities]]
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<span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: small; font-family: tahoma, geneva, sans-serif; background-color: transparent;">[[File:WMU Ergo Lab.jpeg]]</span>
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[[Category:Student Priorities]]
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<div><br/></div>
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[[Category:Western_Michigan_University]]
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[[Category:Student_Priorities]]
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= Strategy 3 =
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{{CatTree|Western_Michigan_University}}
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== Interdisciplinary Senior Design<br/> ==
 
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<span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-family: tahoma, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1; background-color: transparent;">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.</span>
 
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<span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-family: tahoma, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1; background-color: transparent;">To accomplish this, the following tactics should be considered:</span>
 
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<span style="font-family: tahoma, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;">Tactic #1:</span><span style="font-family: tahoma, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 1; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;">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.</span>
 
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<span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:tahoma,geneva,sans-serif;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-06e93d6c-afbc-2575-f879-a0406ebd8741"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;">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.</span></span></span></span>
 
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<span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:tahoma,geneva,sans-serif;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-06e93d6c-afbc-2575-f879-a0406ebd8741"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;">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.</span></span></span></span>
 
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[[File:Wmu senior design.jpg]]
 
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= Strategy 4 =
 
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== Focus on ''Intra''preneurship ==
 
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<span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:tahoma,geneva,sans-serif;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-c563e44d-afbf-5636-7b4a-31e6f4d486e8"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;">Overview: </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;">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 </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;">intra</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;">preneurship, or innovation that occurs within existing industries.</span></span></span></span>
 
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<span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:tahoma,geneva,sans-serif;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-c563e44d-afbf-5636-7b4a-31e6f4d486e8"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;">Tactic #1: </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;">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.</span></span></span></span>
 
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<span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:tahoma,geneva,sans-serif;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-c563e44d-afbf-5636-7b4a-31e6f4d486e8"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;">Tactic #2: </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;">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.</span></span></span></span>
 
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<span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:tahoma,geneva,sans-serif;"><span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;">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 e</span></span></span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: tahoma, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: small; white-space: pre-wrap;">ntrepreneurship many other departments have lots to gain by introducing this concept to students in the early stages of their academic career.</span>
 
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=== <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); white-space: pre-wrap; font-family: tahoma, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: small; background-color: transparent;">Related Links:</span> ===
 
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Graduated Fellows:&nbsp;[http://universityinnovation.org/Persefoni%20Lauhon Persefoni_Lauhon], [[Zach Crawford|Zach_Crawford]]
 
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Current Fellows:&nbsp;[[Mackenzie Preston|Mackenzie Preston]], [[Jill Puckett|Jill Puckett]], [[Nathan LaWarre|Nathan LaWarre]]
 
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University:&nbsp;[[Western Michigan University|Western_Michigan_University]]
 
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[[Category:Student Priorities|w]]
 

Latest revision as of 21:01, 5 June 2020

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.

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.

Strategy 2

Improving Campus Culture

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. 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.  By creating a culture focused on collaboration and innovation, we will not only improve the lives of students but our university as a whole. We intend to create a group of talent seekers who find students at Western with great, new, innovative ideas and then recognize them on a platform like Instagram or YouTube. A student committee nominating and putting the spotlight on their peers.

Strategy 3

Interdisciplinary Collaboration

There’s isn’t currently a space on campus that’s inviting and nature heavy, that’s conveniently available to all students.There are links to mental wellness studies and gathering students in one place will naturally lead to group socialization. Providing these groups with the 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 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 4

Reputation

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 University's reputation, especially when we look to recruit academically focused innovators. We need to 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 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 5

Mobile Interfacing

Engaging students through their most used devices, their phones, is an area many universities are struggling to catch up with, WMU included. Students need a way to interact with their Universities in a more streamlined and well designed process than currently available, something that can do anything from navigating them to class to letting them know which classes to avoid registering for at the same time. Solutions could address issues such as: Dorm access, Digital IDs, paying for things on campus, like BroncoPay, a DegreeWorks revamp, class search/ recommendation/ review feature.

Related Links

Graduated Innovation Fellows:  Christopher Woodward, Persefoni_Lauhon, Zach_Crawford

Fellows: Mackenzie Preston, Jill Puckett, Nathan LaWarre, Daniel Mozel, Andreas Hobelsberger, Megan Miller, Saleh Mohamed

Candidates: Aisha_Thaj, Caylee_Prater, Cate Troost

University: Western_Michigan_University 

Related links

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