Priorities:Susquehanna University Student Priorities
Contents
Overview
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
Fall 2019 Pitch - https://youtu.be/Fb30yXi1k9s
Student Priorities
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. We are collaborating on this project together however Liz Ludwig has currently taken charge.
- 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. We are collaborating on this project together, however Andrea Repetz has currently taken charge.
- 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: WORKSHOPS
- Create an event on campus to facilitate innovation and diversity through a workshop experience designed for all backgrounds. We are currently collaborting on this project together however Sam Brumagin has taken charge.
- Host small group collaboration projects between departments in innovative makerspace.
- 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.
- Students outside of the innovation course may be interested in solving a problem on campus during these workshops and proposing it for actual implementation purposes
- Games and Brain-Teasers will be provided at these events as icebreakers
- Host event where students learn how to work through the creative process and students and or faculty in various departments can facilitate workshops.
STRATEGY FOUR: REVITALIZE INNOVATION SPACE
- Innovation Space in Library is currently unused by many students across campus. We are collaborating on this project together as a group.
- Host fun events - innovation movie nights, food "workshops," innovative lectures and speakers, etc.
- Encourage more professors to utilize the space for hosting class.
- Use of innovative tools in the space during class may foster a more exciting learning environment.
- Invite neighboring schools for innovative workshop activities.
- Create more community-based thinking in solving real world problems.
- Invite high school students studying innovation-based courses to learn and collaborate.
STRATEGY FIVE: BRING INNOVATIVE SPEAKERS TO CAMPUS
Encourage more academia involvement in innovation and entrepreneurship on campus by inviting various speakers of different disciplines to further educate students and faculty on campus. We are collaborating on this project together however Donovan Gayles has taken charge.
- Understand the lack of innovative education on campus and the need for outside experts to come in and provide the education
- Create a speaker series similar to the Arts speaker series in which Innovative speakers come in throughout the semester/year during various months to speak to students
- Speakers will be of varying industries and fields to attract students of all majors
- Utilize on-campus creative spaces to have speakers
- Establish and host a TEDx talk on campus.
- Utilize a guest speaker or faculty
Related links
Pitch Video (Fall 2019)
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 - University Innovation Fellows
Susquehanna University Student Priorities
University Innovation Fellows
2015 Fellows: Ethan Eastwood, Alexis Gargin, Pierce Logan Perkins, Tiffany Richards
2016 Fellows: Hana Feiner, Aviel Stein,Rachel Tate
2017 Fellows: [Tonia Hall], Alexandra Haller, Damian Munoz, Daniel Yim
2018 Fellows: Leah Cieniawa, Brianna Murphy, Joseph Morante, Kyle Williams
2019 Fellows: Samantha Brumagin, Donovan Gayles, Elizabeth Ludwig, Andrea Repetz
Related links
