2022 Cohort
20
edits
Changes
Outlined Strategic priority 1 & 4 for 2022 cohort
''Project Leaders: Aliesha Brown & Nicholas Swanger''
The transition from high school to college is a daunting experience. New students have a week to adjust to a new roommate, explore an entirely new environment, set themselves up for academic and social success, and simply figure out how thrive independently. Additionally, one of the UNF President Limayem's goal is to improve student retention, and to effectively address this issue, we believe that students need to have a strong social support network.
Past the first year, students are locked into their "departmental silos", and collaboration between students is restricted to the group projects, which many students dread, or an opportunity such as a fellowship that allows similarly-minded students to connect. Without appropriately developing the framework that connects students with one another, students are missing out on valuable experiences and lessons for their future professional and personal success.
To address these issues, we wish to establish a mentorship network between students to provide support at critical transition points, primarily for incoming freshman. We believe that this program can be expanded to tackle other related issues such as faculty-student collaboration through linking mentors with faculty mentors, and it we also hope to expand it to other departments and areas to help address UNF's low student retention.
''Project Leaders: Aliesha Brown, Nicholas Swanger, Emma Dvorovy, Katherine Evans, Mohamed Elbatouty, Jalen Echenique, Jeffery Perera''
When asking others about the terms "innovation" and "entrepreneurship", many students seem to have the incorrect mindset that these are limited to certain fields; students assume that entrepreneurship is restricted to those pursuing business degrees, and, similarly, they assume that innovation is limited to STEM majors. Without changing this mentality and encouraging the UNF I&E culture inclusive of other majors, it will be more difficult to gain traction in future endeavors, and we believe that many students will be discouraged to pursue the opportunities we hope to create.
The underlying goal for our initiatives and projects are to create a shift in this mindset to one that:
* Promotes innovation and entrepreneurship in every major and department
* Communicates with faculty to promote innovative opportunities within classes
* Encourages collaborative social and academic environments on campus
* Empowers students to believe they can innovate and change the world<br />
<big><big>'''UNF 2021 UIF Cohort Strategic Priorities'''</big></big>