Innovation grants funding projects
More than $488,000 was given to faculty members in order to tap into what Vice Provost Larry Smith calls USU’s “virtually unlimited creative talent,”
The Innovation Fund Awards were given to fund proposals by faculty that a committee, the Dean’s Council, felt would help advance programs and turn innovative ideas into reality according to Smith.
About a year ago there was discussion on how to advance programs and fund new ideas with the tight budget. After talking it over with the academic deans, the Provost’s office decided to have each college and the Provost’s office contribute money into a pot. The faculty of the colleges could then propose innovative ideas they had and needed funding for. After reviewing the proposals, the money would then be given to the ones the committee felt were of the most benefit to the students and faculty.
At the beginning there was some controversy and concern over the budgets being cut to support this plan, but in the end most people were willing to help fund these projects according to Bonnie Pitblado’s experience. She was involved in two projects that were funded.
Ninety four proposals were submitted to the committee said Smith. The Provost’s office decided that in order to stay neutral in their decision process to not submit any proposals. A pre-screening took place and the best were recommended to the deans. The deans took these suggestions and then made the final decision on the ten projects to fund.
While the only central theme to the projects is innovative ideas there are several that deal with international experience, computer technology or distance education.
Students are the main benefactors of these projects. The College of Business received $50,000 to help students, along with faculty, create international learning opportunities to help all understand global business better. Another program in the college is a $28,256 project using web-based conferencing and multi-cultural student teams to help USU students and those students at Hangzhou Dianzi University in China.
Distance education will benefit in part from three new projects. The first will use $27,325 to help faculty combine face-to-face and web-based resources for a greater diversity of course delivery. A new master of engineering will be available due in part to a $57,000 start up from the innovation funds. This program has started with students at Hill Air Force Base and will soon be available to “anyone with high speed internet connection” according to Tamal Bose, department head. The last project will develop interactive programs for engineering students in areas of animation. Also the $8,550 will help online distance education and technical writing programs with stimulated programs.
Writing is a part of all students’ college experience and two proposals will bring about new help for them. The first, known as “Voices: On Stage and In Print,” will be a showcase of student’s work who are enrolled in English 2010. The $16,800 will fund this forum and give students the opportunity to publish their work and read it to others. The second is “Learning Suite” to help students use their writing skills in the digital age.Access to newer practices and environments, student-teacher collaboration and teacher educational workshops will be funded by this $86,357 proposal.
The archeology department will soon have a new program that will give students, undergrad and higher, the opportunity to evaluate public property in an archeological sense. Pitblado said this is a main career for graduating students and having previous experience will help the students obtain jobs, while generating overhead for the university. The $80,400 will help get this business running.
A digital laboratory with state-of-the-art hardware and software will be available for faculty interested in education computer gaming and simulations. This lab will benefit from the $83,500 it received from its Innovation Fund award.
The last project is a research and teaching lab for students to improve techniques of gathering, integrating and interpreting data from wireless sensor networks. The department of computer science will be able to provide this lab with its award of $50,000.
This first time program is currently under evaluation by the Provost’s office Smith said. Progress reports from each proposal will be turned in this month and the overall effectiveness of the program will determine if it is put into place again this year.
“We realize the great potential that exists in the folks here,” Smith said. He said he hopes that the innovative ideas they have will continue to be a part of the university.
-albaugh@cc.usu.edu