Forum

As in past years, first-year Honors College students created more than 50 social innovation projects this fall to help improve the lives of others. As they demonstrated our mission—Curiosity. Knowledge. Purpose.—through their projects, they also learned to work together to refine, articulate, and present their ideas in a compelling and persuasive manner. 

Every semester, first-year Honors College students join together in the interdisciplinary mission course, the Forum. With a strong focus on critical thinking, problem-solving, collaboration, creativity, and public speaking, the Forum provides first-year students an opportunity to develop invaluable skills while working with their peers from a variety of academic backgrounds. By focusing on the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals, students tackle real-world issues with business and technology applications.

The Honors College mission course, the Forum, challenges first-year students to develop projects designed to address societal issues that could also become sustainable, profitable ventures. The Fall 2016 Forum was extraordinary—approximately 70 social innovation ideas were created and from those 14 were chosen to be presented to peers and a panel of judges who work with startups and Fortune 500 companies alike.

First-year students who took the Honors College Forum this fall created more than 50 exceptional social innovation projects—14 teams were chosen to present their projects in front of the full Forum gathering and a panel of professional judges from academia and industry.

The Honors College Forum, taken by half of the Honors College student body in fall 2015, focuses on social innovation to help set our students on a path toward a career with purpose. Students gather for lectures with guest speakers and also work in small seminars and still smaller teams to create truly innovative ideas for tackling some of the world's greatest challenges.

The Honors College Spring Forum resulted in more than 50 exceptional project ideas with social innovation at their core. From among those projects, 13 were chosen to be presented in front of peers and a panel of professional judges from academia and industry.

Another Honors College Forum has concluded this spring and with it came more than 50 extraordinary project ideas focused on social innovation. Students gathered for lectures and presentations with guest speakers, studied in small seminars, and worked in interdisciplinary project-based teams to create detailed plans for change-making products, services, or initiatives.

As all Honors College members have before them, first-year students demonstrated our mission this spring by creating more than 50 extraordinary social innovation projects intended to improve the lives of others, while they also learned to work together to define, shape, and articulate their ideas. Their peers selected just 12 project teams to present at the Forum plenary on a single night before a panel of judges from business and academia.