Changes

=South Plains College=

In 1958, the college opened its doors primarily as a two-year academic transfer institution, the first such college in Texas in over ten years. South Plains College(SPC) encouraged the expansion of community colleges in Texas, arguably the most significant development in Texas' higher education in the last half of the twentieth century. SPC has continued to grow and expand, opening an extension at Reese Air Force Base in 1970, and a technical branch in Lubbock in 1973. In 1977, the college acquired and refurbished the West Texas Hospital building in downtown Lubbock, and in the fall of 1978 established the Lubbock Campus at that site. With the closing of Reese Air Force Base in 1997, the college acquired, through public conveyance, six educational buildings at the base. In 2019, SPC acquired a new building in downtown Lubbock aptly named the Downtown Center, which is now open for Art and Science classes. The academic building includes 46 classrooms, and students have access to all services that are needed to succeed in an ever-changing world. Thus, South Plains College continues to develop the unfolding intellectual environment of a community that is taking responsibility for the future.

* National College Aerospace Scholars (NCAS)

Though there are some faculty that are no strangers to entrepreneurship and thinking with an innovative mindset, this does not appear to be something that is really pushed on campus. Part of our goal is to change this mindset and introduce a new way of thinking for all the staff and faculty. We want there to be a push in the direction of I&E. If our focus is only on seeing our students graduate and transfer to 4 year universities or start a job after getting their certificate, we will not move forward. So we need to have a strong push for I&E amongst the facutly. If we instill this mindset in the people running things, then we can guarantee it will trickle down to our students, opening up a new way of thinking for everyone that passes through SPC. 

As of right now there are no policies in place supporting IP Policies at SPC. We do not have a technology transfer office, and from my research I found nothing in regards to intellectual property of students, and supporting the transition from IP to patenting and marketing the actual product. This is something that will need to be addressed over the long haul. 

<span style="font-size: medium;">Though we do not have as many resources on campus as other schools, we have the Maker Space! This is a room set aside for innovation, collaboration, and prototyping. This room was made possible by the Fellows at SPC. So far this room has been used as an example to faculty of what a mobile classroom can look like. Also, it is full of prototyping materials which allows S.E.A.R.Ch club to hold design thinking workshops at least once per semester.</span>

<span style="font-size: small;"><big>One of SPC's main goals is to assist in the economic development of the surrounding area. In 2008 SPC commissioned Economic Modeling Specialists, Inc. to do a study trying to find the socioeconomic impact of SPC on the surrounding areas. The results were very promising, with SPC stimulating the economy by about 2.3% of the total income. However, these results stem mainly from student spending and employment of former students in the area. If our students were to create a lasting impact on the community through innovative ideas and products, the stimulation of the economy by SPC would increase substantially.</big></span>

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1FpJBDMeBYKtEiyDJ_22RlNmXwD9kP8_Iq1xddFKrcyQ/edit?usp=sharing

<span style="font-size:large">[http://universityinnovation.org/wiki//User:Jdavis86 Joshua Davis]</span>