Priorities:Fisk University Student Priorities

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Priorities

Strategy #1: Student Satisfaction and Food Sustainability

From interviews and research with students and stakeholders, we found that we need to reduce food wastage in the cafeteria, while ensuring that students getting choices of all the different quality meal choices they enjoy.

Strategies to achieve this include

  • Meeting with various stakeholders (Dining Management) to confirm validity of claims and brainstorm mutual solutions to the problem
  • Create a way to estimate the amount of students that come into the cafeteria for each meals and use the estimate to better prepare for meals
  • Recycle and/or donate excess food, if any, to those in need in the neighborhood

Strategy #2: Bike Friendly Campus

Our research into opportunities to make Fisk University Bike friendly campus. To make Fisk University bike-friendly, we used a systematic approach. Our key tactics include:

  • The first we identify and reach out to key stakeholders, which include university administrators, faculty, staff, students, and local community members. Additionally, ensure that bike cyclists and cycling advocacy groups are involved.
  • For infrastructure planning we collaborate with campus development teams to design a comprehensive bike-friendly infrastructure plan. This plan includes dedicated bike lanes, bike racks, bike repair stations, and signage.
  • We evaluate the broader impact of the project on the entire university community, including students, faculty, and staff. Consider factors such as reduced traffic congestion, cost savings, improved health, and environmental benefits.

Strategy #3: Innovation Center

Our research into opportunities for I&E in Fisk University turned up a space allocated to innovation in the schools library. It is non-functional and non-furnished but presents to us a blank canvas we absolutely can't wait to get some paint on. This project includes turning that space to a fully functional innovation center. The main goal of this project are:

  • Develop innovative and entrepreneurial mindsets in students through Design Thinking workshops on campus.
  • Mobilize a space that would be available for students to develop certain skillset that could be useful in the nearest future for income and/or recreational purposes.

To achieve this, we hope to employ the following starting steps:

  • Pitch the idea to the school faculty, and receive permission to fully develop the innovation space in a way that it can draw students in.
  • Organize workshops for faculty and students to help build innovation and entrepreneurship.
  • To do this, we hope to start small by incorporating already existing classes and instructors of those classes to present at these workshops when they are available.
  • Fisk University collaborates with companies to help prepare students for general career readiness. We hope to also utilize this to get company representatives interested in developing entrepreneurial mindsets in college students to come participate in workshops.
  • As students need to get Service Learning and Professional Development hours to maintain their scholarships, we could also provide Service Learning and Professional Development hours to students who attend to encourage student participation.

Strategy #4:Increase number of resource persons that come to Fisk to talk about I&E

During our interviews with students and faculty, we also found that:

Fisk University's innovation and entrepreneurship atmosphere could be improved by having more companies, alumni, or current students give talks on innovation as well as holding competitions that foster I&E, personal branding, design thinking, and improvement of students' marketability in the corporate world.

Sub-strategies include:

  1. Reaching out to alumni that are in graduate school or working at companies to come to inspire Fisk students about innovation & entrepreneurship. Hearing someone's story can inspire students to believe they can also achieve greatness. Having more current students and partner companies host design thinking workshops or share professional advice can also boost innovative and entrepreneurial thinking among students.
  2. Innovation week at Fisk University to include elevator pitch competitions, design thinking workshops, hackathons for different majors, business pitch challenges, public speaking seminars, resume & interview workshops, and other personal & professional branding events. Also having a student organization for innovation and entrepreneurship will help to train Fisk students.
  3. Working towards organizing first TED talk at Fisk University to talk about I&E topics that cut across different majors.

Strategy #5: Increase number of mental health workshops and leaders

After interviewing with students, we came to know that the students at Fisk university student's mental health can be improved by doing workshops and calling alumni to come and share their experience and how they coped when they were in college.

  1. Reach out to the alumni to come back to Fisk and help the students with their experience of mental health.
  2. Student leaders can make sure they are speaking for their fellow friends to point out the major issue students are having with mental health.
  3. Faculty can conduct various workshops to empower students regarding mental health.
  4. Maintain the physical and human resources at mental health center to keep student comfortable in seeking help.

Strategy #6: Increase campus accessibility and awareness

After interviewing with students, we came to know that the students at Fisk university are not aware of resources and aid that college provides to them. Benefits like 504 and opportunities for extra-curricular engagements are underutilized. To resolve this challenge on campus, we plan to:

  1. Create and maintain a virtual and interactive map as an extension to school website that helps new and differently abled people navigate campus and also provide assistance if needed.
  2. Provide students with volunteer hours for providing assistance as guide to new or differently abled people on campus.
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