uif – The Hilltop Monitor

Rapid Prototyping event unites student groups and addresses issues on campus

Sofia Arthurs-Schoppe — Fri, 19 Apr 2019 18:33:39 +0000

Denver Strong at the Nov. 2018 UIF event. Image courtesy of Sofia Arthurs-Schoppe.

What do approximately 20 engaged students, 10 invested faculty and staff, and an inordinate number of Chipotle burritos have in common? They were all gathered in Yates Gill College Union 221 for a University Innovation Fellows (UIF) hosted Rapid-Prototyping and problem solving event, April 18.

The event was headed by Denver Strong, senior mathematics and physics major, a UIF passionate about invoking change on campus through creative problem solving. With the guidance of Dr. Kelli Schutte, chair of the Business Department and UIF faculty advisor, Strong organized this event to get student athletes and relevant school officials in the same room and talking about the things that matter.

Each individual attending the event was allowed to select their seat at a table with a designated conversation topic. The topics discussed included: academic achievement, counseling, facilities, funding and events. These became the focus of conversation during the event.

These subjects were identified for two key reasons: first, they were deemed to be relevant to all William Jewell College students, but have special significance for student athletes, and second, at a UIF event hosted Nov. 2018, these areas were identified to be in need of positive change.

Post-it notes used during the Nov. 2018 ideation event. Image courtesy of Sofia Arthurs-Schoppe.

During the event Strong imparted onto attendees some of the skills learned during the extensive UIF training process – to be accepted into the program, students must complete an online application, be vetted by officials at Stanford University and then complete a six-week training program culminating in a four day workshop in Silicon Valley, CA.

Strong concentrated on the UIF model of creating rapid change by developing small-scale physical representations of ideas – prototypes – allowing for immediate feedback from potential users, as opposed to waiting weeks for bureaucratic procedures and high-tech models to be constructed. At the April 18 event Strong had groups of students, faculty and staff work together to construct prototypes for solutions to issues affecting athletes on campus.

The event was supported and co-hosted by former Student Senate President Jakob Miller, senior economics and mathematics major, who was exposed to the UIF design thinking process at the Nov. 2018 event hosted at Rock’n’Run. UIF is an organization that has been active on Jewell’s campus for a number of years and has implemented several projects in the Kansas City community, including the popular #OneDayKC event. This year Jewell’s UIF cohort has focused their energy on empowering community groups – including local schools – by teaching them some of the tools learned through the Stanford designed training program.

Jewell student leads high school students in workshop about innovative leadership

Sofia Arthurs-Schoppe — Fri, 31 Aug 2018 14:02:57 +0000

Eighteen students from Orrick High School’s student council were hosted at William Jewell College for a day of leadership and innovation training Aug. 30.

The students started the day at the Tucker Leadership Lab, where they were encouraged to take pride in being leaders and use their positions on the student council to encourage others despite obstacles.

In the afternoon, students were led in an ideation session by University Innovation Fellow (UIF) and senior biochemistry major, Sam Fulte. Ideation is a process of collective problem solving by empathizing with people, identifying the issues they face and then developing detailed plans to address them.

Fulte, who attended Orrick High School, commented that knowing about the ideation process would have added value to her experience there.

“When I went through UIF training I found the ideation process really interesting and it made me think about being in student council back in high school. I wish that I had known about it then because I had a lot of opportunities to apply it,” said Fulte.

Students were encouraged to explore solutions to problems they face without worrying about barriers typically faced by student organizations, such as budgetary, policy or time constraints.

With these guidelines the students were able to identify solutions to issues on their campus, including limited student engagement, use of offensive language and a lack of school spirit.

Orrick High School students ideate ways to increase student engagement in school sponsored activities and events.

Fulte, who approached the sponsors of Orrick High School’s student council in April 2018 about the workshop, believes that understanding the ideation process will help the students beyond their high school years.

“I was impressed by the maturity of the students and the ideas that they came up with, especially the way they spoke about creating change by addressing their school’s culture,” said Fulte. “Now that they know about ideation they can use it for the rest of their lives.”

Following the ideation session, Admissions Counselor Troy Williams spoke to the students about the prospect of studying at Jewell in the future.

Who are the University Innovation Fellows?

Hania Osman — Fri, 24 Mar 2017 15:00:19 +0000

“The University Innovation Fellows program empowers students to become leaders of change in higher education. Fellows are creating a national movement to ensure that all students gain the necessary attitudes, skills and knowledge to compete in the economy of the future.” This is the purpose line from UIF’s website throughout universities in the US.

“The goal is to provide students with the tools to promote innovation as well as entrepreneurial thought on college campuses. said Megan Anderson, a sophomore UIF participant and Oxbridge history of ideas and physics major.

The tools include extensive online training in design thinking, prototyping, and ways of evaluating community resources. Additionally, the program seeks to connect students to each other in order to build a supportive network.”

Photo courtesy of Chandler Eaton.

UIF at William Jewell has had an important impact on the campus and its students. In the past, UIF has had several design and critical thinking workshops on campus. One of their biggest workshop was #OneDayKC, “a 12-hour innovation & entrepreneurship workshop, created to develop & embolden student entrepreneurial spirits.”

“Some of the more prominent projects UIF is working on is the redesign of the first floor of Curry Hall and OneDayKC.” said Denver Strong, a sophomore UIF participant and physics, mathematics and chemistry major. “OneDayKC is a legacy project led more by the senior fellows to get undergraduate students from different colleges in the area, or even across the nation, to help people realize what people WANT done in the society. Last year, a girl from Oklahoma and I walked around KC asking what people thought of alternative energy and the (then) new streetcar. We were recently asked to work on Curry hall, so we are speaking to students on campus about what it should be and will run ideas through administration and see if they agree if it’s plausible”,

Members for UIF are selected through a competitive selection process. Applicants submit an online application along with several video forms. A group interview is then conducted. The group interview consists of all applicants from one school. Once the fellows get selected, they go through intensive training that includes six weeks of assignments, watching videos and collaborating with other members.

“UIF has given me a framework for pursuing new ideas by providing me with knowledge about innovation and entrepreneurship that I would not have gained otherwise” said Anderson. “Additionally, I now know students from across the country and around the globe who have similar goals for their campuses. These connections are inspiring and serve as great resources for learning from others.”

Photo Courtesy of Chandler Eaton

UIF fellows from William Jewell flew to California during the week of spring break to share their projects and meet other fellows.

“[It was] an opportunity for newly-initiated fellows to meet each other, collaborate in person and learn from people at places such as Google, Stanford’s design school, and Microsoft” said Anderson. “Additionally, the fellows from Jewell had the opportunity to tour IDEO.org, Airbnb, Apple and Tesla. These companies have unique philosophies on innovation and design, and the opportunity to speak with representatives about company dynamics, changes, and future visions gave me real-world perspective that I didn’t even realize I lacked “, said Anderson.

Photo courtesy of Chandler Eaton.

Strong explained how California’s trip impacted him, “Going to California allowed us to work together in different ways, taking good things out of the bad and learning the good things in whatever group you end up in” he said. It’s a very hands-on and intense creative learning style through creative thinking and interacting with others who may not share the same views. While we were there, we got to tour a lot of big name places and see how some of them worked such as how work goes down and the actual level of collaboration that is there. Also, NETWORKING. We meet so many new people… and get their information. Then, we can actually put things into action here and elsewhere. We can get new ideas from others or help them implement and support their projects as well.”

University Innovation Fellows members announce five projects to promote positive change at Jewell

Alyssa Young — Sat, 21 Nov 2015 03:30:01 +0000

University Innovation Fellows (UIF) is a program that trains college students to foster creativity and change at their schools. The program has trained students on over 100 campuses across the nation. Fellows hope to create a lasting impact on their campuses.

At William Jewell College, there are UIF members ranging in year and discipline. Landon Young is the overseeing faculty of Jewell’s Fellows. They are all working on different projects to promote positive change on our campus, utilizing the training they have received as members of the program.

“I joined UIF to make the connections and learn to think through a different lens,” said Gretchen Mayes, junior accounting and communication major.

Mayes and the rest of the UIF team are working to expand the entrepreneurial and innovative mindset on campus.

Macy Tush, sophomore physics major, is focusing on the connections between students and faculty. She hopes to highlight the passions that WJC faculty have and share them with students so we can be more informed about what goes on in their lives outside of Jewell.

“We have some incredible professors here at Jewell. However, there is a disconnect between professors and the success they are having outside of the classroom and the students that are not in their discipline,” said Tush.

Tush’s project is to implement a way to bridge the communication gap in order for students in all disciplines to be familiar with the faculty and feel comfortable going to them for help.

Ben Shinogle, junior English and political science major, has geared his project toward solving the programming miscommunications between student leaders and the rest of campus. Shinogle has found that, in his experience, a very small percentage of the student body consistently shows up to scheduled events on campus.

“This is concerning to me; after all, social activities and celebrations are a central component to college life,” said Shinogle.

Through some thorough analysis, Shinogle has come up with ideas as to why this problem continues to occur.

“After dozens of interviews, my thinking regarding the problem has evolved significantly and I have several ideas of varying sophistication in mind,” said Shinogle.

Shinogle believes the problem may stem from student apathy towards programming or overbooking students with too many events. He plans to put these hypotheses to action in order to try to solve the issue.

Alex Holden, junior economics, communication, psychology, philosophy major and ACT-In major, has chosen to perform quantitative psychology research on student happiness at the College.

“I’m happy at Jewell, and I want everyone else to be happy,” said Holden.

Holden is looking at possible causes for student unhappiness and wants to know what keeps students happy at Jewell. He will use this information to come up with a solution to increase happiness at the College.

Trevor Nicks, senior biochemistry major, is interested in the way that WJC prepares its students for the world and how students are taught during their time at the College.

“I originally joined UIF because I thought it would provide me a platform on which I could speak about public education inequality in the state of Missouri, something I’m very passionate about,” said Nicks.

For his project, Nicks is utilizing edx.org, an online learning platform created by Harvard and Massachusetts Institution of Technology. He is going to use this program to create specialized learning experiences for Jewell students who take part in independent studies.

“[edx.org] is a way for people to gain an in-depth understanding of their degrees’ content but also have a broad knowledge base and skill set,” said Nicks.

So what is the point of becoming a fellow?

Fellows at Jewell find that UIF pushes them out of their disciplines and requires them to interact with students and faculty with whom they would not otherwise be involved. This is not limited to on-campus interactions.

“We went to Virginia for a meet up with the other fellows, and I met people from Portland, Canada, South Dakota and the East Coast. Instead of knowing people regionally, I am meeting people from around the continent,” said Holden.

Fellows also look at our campus in a new light in order to make sustainable change at our school.

“We are trained to look at campus in a new and innovative way. This gives us the ability to find creative ways to make our campus better,” said Tush.

UIF provides students with opportunities for progress and the chance to meet other people who share their passions.

“What I really enjoy about UIF is the opportunities it provides me with. Already I’ve met students from around the world and employers from all over the country that are passionate about innovation. The conversations I’ve had with them and the resulting projects and thoughts have been my favorite part of UIF,” said Nicks.

In order to become a fellow, an application and faculty recommendation are required. After the applications are reviewed, certain applicants will move onto an interview round. To learn more about UIF and the opportunities it can provide, go to universityinnovationfellows.org.