Priorities:University of Delaware Student Priorities

Encouraging Collaboration Between Engineering and Business

Engineers tend to be interested in innovation, but do not have an interest in entrepreneurship. They would rather pass this responsibility on to someone else. This separation of interests is not inherently problematic, as members of teams typically have different areas of expertise. Engineering and business students can have great success founding companies together. The issue on campus is that there is very little collaboration between these fields. Technical clubs and business clubs do not interact much.

To that end, a project that can help tackle the issue would be to form an Innovation Council. This council would exist to share opportunities between the many clubs that otherwise do not interact. The council would meet once per month in a setting where members from different registered student organizations (RSOs) could meet each other and make connections. The council could also establish a showcase session, at the beginning of eac year, where different groups can present their projects to potential collaborators.

Project 1: Innovation Council to Organize Innovation Centric RSOs

Eliminating Fear of Judgment

On campus we have found many students have a fear of judgment. This is evident by watching a lecture.  Students during the lecture will not answering questions when the answer is obvious. This fear translates into not coming up with new innovative ideas. The students body is afraid that someone may think their idea is sill or will not work. Since the students are so afraid it decreases all of the schools innovation and entrepreneurship.

Project 2: Set up a 10,000 pitch day. Everyone on campus is forced to talk about an idea they are passionate about. The pitch can be a startup or a change you want to see.  During a few hours of the day everyone will be forced to talk about their idea. This will help the students get over their fear of being judged.

Fostering an Environment and Influence Among Peers

It's quite a known fact that environment has a large influence on students and the way they might approach activities outside of the classroom. Focusing on the environment within UD, we believe that students need to be surrounded by the peers that strive to do that same things they aim to do. Whether that's excel in the classroom, to start a new RSO, or to pursure groundbreaking research, we believe that you become the average of the top 5 people that you hang out with. As a result, we'd like to propose an initiative that would provide a place for students to immerse themselves among peers they want to be influenced by in their area of interest, an environment where students feel as if they were all working towards similar goals and shared ambitions. 

Project 3: Revive the Delaware Design Institute and develop progress in moving it forward. We believe that the DDI is a place for students to pursue and explore interdisciplinary collaboration, a place to understand and employ design processes on impactful projects. The DDI will serve as an institute that supports, promotes, and fosters design as a tool to interdisciplinary collaboration.

Milestones

• Re-establish the steering committee and committed faculty along with administrative support
• Begin re-recognition of DDI as a campus initiative
• Secure a space on campus to act as the grounds and head space for DDI
• Ensure the Integrated Design Minor courses are available for students to participate and take