Priorities:University of Tulsa Student Priorities
Contents
- 1 Fall 2020
- 2 Fall 2018
- 2.1 Strategic Priority One: Growing institutional I&E from the top-down
- 2.2 Strategic Priority Two: Growing institutional I&E from the bottom-up
- 2.3 Strategic Priority Three: Spreading Awareness of I&E resources
- 2.4 Strategic Priority Four: Increasing I&E through extracurricular activities
- 2.5 Fall 2017: Strategic Priority:
- 2.6 Related Links:
Fall 2020
Strategic Priority One: Better Teaching Resources - Better Professors
This priority focuses on creating and implementing a module that can be used for future online classes. Many of the professors have received no instruction in how to teach an online class. Curriculum and permission will come from the deans of each college and Interim President Levit.
Strategic Priority Two: TU Houses
This priority focuses on creating new ways to encourage student interactions in a new more virtually world. The idea for "TU Houses" is to create TU's own spin off of the Hogwart's houses to encourage friendly competition, group cooperation, and group experience. Contacts for this project include Interim President Levit, the head RA's for each dorm, and student success coaches.
Strategic Priority Three: TU Pipeline
This priority is meant to aid the weak education system of Oklahoma by offering a direct pathway to admittance to TU for students across Oklahoma. Classes such as Chemistry I, Physics I, etc. will be offered as one semester courses to high schoolers at a to be found price. Contacts will be the deans of each college and Interim President Levit.
Strategic Priority Four: Green TU
Create a "green campus" by continuing our low level consumptions of paper, plastic, and other materials that have occurred with the switch to online classes. Contacts include David Ellsworth of the University Sustainability Committee.
Fall 2018
Strategic Priority One: Growing institutional I&E from the top-down
Institutional I&E does not happen by solely educating the student body. In order to achieve a culture of I&E, a campus must be submerged in design thinking. It is just as important to educate administration, faculty, and staff about the benefits and practices of a creative mindset. Here at the University of Tulsa, we desire to approach the growth of the I&E mindset in the following manner in order to bridge the gap between administration, faculty, staff and students:
Administration, Faculty, and Staff Design Thinking Workshops:
- Short-term Goal: Begin collaborating and brainstorming with influential stakeholders about better way to engage administration, faculty, and staff.
- Mid-term Goal: Develop 15 min design thinking exercises to introduce to faculty meetings.
- We will test these exercises in pop-up meetings and receive feedback so that we can improve.
- Long-term Goal: Create a curriculum that can educate new employees and current employees in a concentrated yearly meeting.
Overall Goal: The desire is that one day the University of Tulsa will brim with students pursuing new solutions to existing problems in their academic, social, and professional lives due to the impact of administration, faculty, and staff demonstrating design thinking.
Strategic Priority Two: Growing institutional I&E from the bottom-up
The goal of this priority is to grow I&E among students. We specifically want to target students from academic backgrounds that are not exposed to I&E very much. How can we incorporate this for students who do not necessarily have the time to take whole courses that are unrelated to their major? Our project to approach this is pop-up classes.
Pop-up classes: These classes will allow students to learn about something they find interesting in an interactive and creative way. Furthermore, these classes will incorporate design thinking through prototype projects linked to the subject being taught.
- Short-term goal: Trial run in one class period by collaborating with a professor and finding a common interest. Get feedback and find what topics students would take a pop-up class on.
- Mid-term goal: Start to incorporate pop-upu classes into curriculum starting with one class.
- Long-term goal: Several pop-up classes are offered and students can receive 1 credit for each class they take. Furthermore, these classes would be available for various different majors so that the design mentality is spread throughout campus and not too specific disciplines.
Strategic Priority Three: Spreading Awareness of I&E resources
Without the awareness of resources, how do we expect students to be able to start or even finish projects? In order to allow students to tap into their full innovative and entrepreneurial potential, they must be aware of resources that could help them start and further their projects. In order to increase the awareness on campus, we plan on the following:
- Short-term goal: Begin drafting a map or brochure with all the I&E resources available and their respective locations.
- Mid-term goal: Start passing these out to the freshman during orientation to expose them to innovation and all the resources.
Overall goal: The goal is that the impact of spreading awareness of innovation resources will, in turn, allow students to accomplish their goals and see their projects through to the end, along with increasing the amount of students creating/being involved in projects.
Strategic Priority Four: Increasing I&E through extracurricular activities
Extracurriculars are a fantastic way to make innovation and entrepreneurship interdisciplinary. Student organizations contribute to submerging a campus in design thinking. Students who have ever wanted to pursue an idea without knowing how or who to work with can look at I&E clubs for the answers to their questions.
Spring 2018
Project One: Reconstructing areas in each building into innovation hubs
Currently, the University of Tulsa has each school split up into different buildings organized together and spread across campus. This is a convient setup for walking between classes, but unfortunetly has limited cross-disciplinary interaction between different majors. Each building also has its own lounge area that is currently being under-utilized.
Project Two: Get credit for extracurriculars that contribute to innovation
The goal of this project is do have the University give students credit for extracurriculars involving innovation. This will give students the ability to do innovation work in a busy course schedule. Many students want to work on innovation, but they are double majors or minors and do not have time to truly invest into many extracurricular activities.
Short Term (before the end of fall 2018 semester): Gain support from professors and administrators in each college. Create a plan and outline of how to make the extracurriculars available to all students and how each extracurricular would fit into each major’s graduation plan.
Medium Term (before the end of spring 2019 semester) : Present to President of University of Deans of each colleges.
Medium/LongTerm (fall semester 2019): Have a list of extracurriculars open to all students that count as one hour courses P/F.
Long Term (fall semester 2020): Have the extracurriculars online and part of the source selection plan. Have the classes be worth 3-4 hours and have grades.
Project Three: Connecting Student Groups to Companies in the Region
The University of Tulsa has a number of marvelous number of resources for students to take advantage of. There are a handful of highly educated and extremely motivated faculty who are available to help students in any venture they may engage in. However so, these resources may be limited and some student organizations may need additional guidance to succeed.
Goals and Desired Outcomes
One strategic priority that we hold dear to our hearts is establishing a program to connect Investors and local businesses to students to enable the flow of resources and mentorship. We strongly believe that connecting students to large companies will be highly beneficial for several reasons.
First, and most interestingly, companies in the area will be granted access to the information of students studying Innovation and Entrepreneurship. They will be encouraged to hire students to tackle major challenges that the companies may have. Companies will be incentivized to provide guidance as they will have access to some of the most intelligent and capable pupils.
Secondly, we would like to connect students with ideas to these companies so they may have connections and such when preparing to launch or grow their companies. Initial funding in exchange for equity would be a major key to leading student companies to success. The hope is that companies as such will encourage staff to assist students with any issues they may have. For example, say a student needs legal guidance, a company lawyer can provide basic guidance and resources to help that student.
Third, we hope that companies would allow students to tour their establishments and demonstrate how they operate. Students will become much more engaged with their studies as they can observe how applicable what they are learning is in the real world.
Fourth, our goal is to encourage companies to invest in student organizations by providing gear and supplies that is relative to their industry. Additionally, companies would be encouraged to fund excursions to conferences and other events related to the field that the company is in.
As the University of Tulsa is located in Tulsa Oklahoma, many of the largest companies in the area tend to be oil and gas companies. Companies we aim to partner with include QuikTrip, BOK, OneOK, ONE Gas, Phillips 66 and the Ross Group.
Project Four: Space and resources sponsorships
The goal is to allocate innovation spaces on campus that are funded and sponsered by local companies that are also supporters of innovation.
Short term: Locating available spaces on campus
Mid term: Contacting local companies and recriting potental contributors
Long term: Having materials/supplies sponsered by local companies within our innovation spaces. Having companies design the room around what they believe would benefit students.
Fall 2017: Strategic Priority:
Project One: Innovation Spaces
1. Short term (within the semester): Pop-up design workshops all over campus. Colleges, also ACAC, Old U, etc.
2. Medium term (within two years): Permanent Innovation Hubs in multiple departments
3. Stretch goal! Create a permanent, physical innovation space that is not associated with any college or department. A TU Maker Space. Build a place to collaborate with students from all majors to solve problems at TU, in Tulsa, the world. Enact social change, practice tech entrepreneurship, participate in national competitions. Make innovation, entrepreneurship, and prototyping resources available for all students. Consult local orgs (36 Degrees North, Fab Lab Tulsa, etc.) to help design this space.
Project Two: Foster Connections
Create more connections between TU students and Tulsa entrepreneurs, incubators, resources.
- Arrange visits to TU from more Tulsa startup leaders. Tech lunches, speaking engagements.
- Arrange student trips to 36N, Techlahoma, Fab Lab, other area resources.
- Promote networking opportunities to facilitate unlikely collaborations from chance encounters
Project Three: I&E for Grad Students
- More research needed
- Self-study option
- Advanced Governor's Cup?
Project Four: Undergrad I&E courses separate from I&E Minor
Begin Project Spring of 2018 Fall 2018.
- Train UIF students, other interested in Design Thinking, creativity methodologies to spread to other students.
- Begin with one hour course-Intro to I&E 1001, UIFers design the course
- Incorporate original ‘training’ material-TED Talks, mini challenges, interviews to gain perspective about campus ecosystem
- Take advantage of faculty members’ input on a potential course-how would they answer questions such as:
- What is innovation to you?
- How can students excel with a design thinking mindset?
- Where are the weak spots in the world of education? Where are the strengths?
- How does cultivating an I&E environment become tangible at TU?
- Learn to develop more complex curriculum- offer a permanent course for all majors available for all undergraduate students
- Allow this course to appear on the course catalog for all schools, offering it in the summer term as well
Potential Project: NOVA Students
- Assist NOVA(an innovation program for all studies) students with their individual projects
- Help to brainstorm/prototype
- Introduce design thinking to jumpstart ideas
- Be sure to not intrude on pre-existing work, but enhance it
- Delegate really small jobs to each member
- Collaborate between projects
- Deadline is mostly year-round
- Assist current NOVA students
- If helping student, follow their personal agendas to keep on track
- Get acquainted with new members
- On campus//off campus events to promote the group and find fellow innovators
- Glassblowing
- Tulsa Art Crawl
- Studio Blue socials
- h. Provide UIF insight
- Prototype to learn flexibility, not a standard
- Perspective is important..don't lose sight of other’s sights
- Look at the big picture
- Give workshop to NOVA students-food, prizes, challengesi. Encourage NOVA friends to apply for UIF
- October 30 for Spring 2018 session
- They have a good understanding of innovation-training can only improve this mindset
- Projects galore-individual, leadership circle, outside input
Potential Project: Oklahoma Young Entrepreneur Awards
- Second year of operation
- Headed by Dallas Elleman and communications handled by Caroline Rodgers
- Looking to expand, by way of more high schools or introduce to TU
A. November 30-deadline for teams to apply
- $50 fee waived, gives all teams a FREE opportunity to participate
B. Introduce OYEA to TU
- Allow teams to give a pecha kucha presentation
- Can be presented on ideas previously used in a course
- Potential to form teams comprised of students hailing from all the schools of study
- Would not require a lot of extra time outside class
- Network with faculty and employers (judges) during event
C. April 14, 2018 -Date of competition
- Teams present solutions/prototypes to ideas/issues they are passionate about in front of judges-TU faculty, local business partners, esteemed alumni...
- Held on TU’s campus-cultivating an innovative campus with students who may one day be undergrads at TU!
- In the Great Hall of the Student Union-make the space open to the public to see the presentations, attend the workshops and get inspired
Related Links:
Fall 2018
Spring 2018
Fall 2017
Related links
