Priorities:Southern Methodist University Student Priorities

Overview

Southern Methodist University is a private research university located in Dallas, Texas. SMU is nationally renown for the Cox School of Business and Meadows School of the Arts. Both schools offer many courses and programs for Entrepreneurship. The Cox school of business is home to the Caruth Institute for Entrepreneurship and Meadows has gained notice for it's innovative Arts Entrepreneurship program. In recent years, the Lyle School of Engineering has been climbing in the rankings and known around the state of Texas as an elite engineering school for it's quality education and focus on Entrepreneurship and Innovation. 

SMU is home to two different interdisciplinary spaces for ideation and venture acceleration, The Deason Innovation Gym (Lyle School of Engineering) and The Cube. The innovation Gym is an on-campus makerspace, where students from all across the school can gain 24 hour access. The Gym has most any tool imaginable, including a laser cutter, vinyl cutter, cmc router, and 3 3d printers. Students work on personal and class projects as well as participate in multiple programs run out of the gym. 

Although SMU has many resources to foster innovation and entrepreneurship, most programs are run out of separate schools and see/ offer very little crossover between students in other schools. Some programs, such as those run through Big Ideas, are campus wide initiatives, but they struggle to recruit students due to fragmentation throughout the schools. In many ways, the I&E resources all fight for the same students. There needs to be a way for students to better connect to the existing programs.

Additionally, there are gaps seen in the survey of campus resources. More programs devoted to spinning out ideas are necessary, a technology transfer overhaul is a must, and extra-curricular student run design programs are necessary for greater student devotion to entrepreneurship and innovation. Administration and faculty are devoted to continue making SMU a birthplace of innovation. There are hurdles to overcome, but there is enough backing to push SMU to the forefront in entrepreneurship and innovation. 

Strategy #1: Create an Umbrella Organization for all I&E resources

Tactic #1: Design the Organization and create a "business plan"

Description: Student resources are widely available but not easily accessed by many students due to the fragmentation and lack of collaboration across schools. An organization that overseas the entrepreneurial and innovative resources on campus needs to be formulated. Students need a way to connect to all of the programs and classes offered all across the school. In order to accomplish this, a step-by-step plan needs to be compiled so that administrators will have a full picture of the organization's benefits and inner workings. 

Team Leader: Jonah Kirby

Milestones:

Identify the needs around campus and form basics of the organization - 2/1/15

Talk to administration and faculty about preliminary plans - 2/15/15

Finalize the details of the organization and compile into a business plan - 3/8/15

Tactic #2: Court Adminstration, Faculty, and Donors

Description: In order to create a new organization, administration, faculty, and donors must be contacted. It takes massive support to make this much change.

Team Leader: Jonah Kirby

Milestones:

Schedule meetings with every school's dean and other administration - 3/15/15

Meet with everybody and revise plan based on their comments - 4/12/15

Acquire the necessary support and money to start the program - 5/17/15

Tactic #3: Create the organization and website

Description: Launching the website and founding the organization will take a lot of work, but will make a lasting change on the SMU campus. The milestones set in the previous tactics are difficult to estimate because this organization hinges on approval which can be a slow and arduous process. Once the proper support is attained, the website and organization will launch. 

Team Leader: Jonah Kirby

Milestones:

Launch the beta/ prototype website - 8/1/15

Begin adding programs, classes, and other resources to the website through an approval process - 9/1/15

Find staff to run the program - 10/1/15

Test the website and user experience with students - 11/1/15

Launch the organization and make the website public - 1/8/16

Other

Although spaces are available already, there need to be design and incubating spaces all around campus in order to not ostracize students who don't live or study near existing spaces. Creating spaces will require a lot of funding and direction from the umbrella organization cited in Strategy #1.