The Online Reflector

New grant money has been secured to fund several student-run firms in many different areas of study at the University of Indianapolis. The grant will be divided among the English, art and design, theatre and experience design departments.

According to Acting Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Jennifer Drake, members of all the involved departments had been coming to her with ideas for things that they wanted to do in the future.

“There had been a lot of ideas being presented to me with the idea that actually doing projects is the best way to develop certain skills,” Drake said.

According to Drake, the money to fund the projects came from the College of Arts and Sciences Engagement Fund.

“I asked for specific proposals from the faculty members proposing the ideas and then distributed the money accordingly,” Drake said.

Drake said that all of this started because of Top Dog Communication. Top Dog is a student-run public relations firm that works with nonprofit organizations.

“There were several departments in the College of Arts and Sciences who were all coming forward with really interesting ideas for student-run firms based on Top Dog Communication,” Drake said.

Assistant Professor of Communication Rebecca Deemer, who is the faculty adviser for Top Dog Communication, was named Distinguished Professor of Service Learning last year for her work with Top Dog. According to Drake, part of Deemer’s job was to support the development of student-run firms in other areas of study.

“Simultaneously with that, all these faculty from different departments were expressing interest in making student-run firms after they heard what Rebecca was doing with Top Dog,” Drake said. “It fit their needs or interests in a variety of ways.”

After several faculty members from different departments came to her with these ideas, Drake went to the provost to ask for the funding.

“I asked if there was money to seed these initiatives, because it was such a kind of grass roots emergence of these really creative ideas,” Drake said. “I thought it would provide students with fantastic opportunities to apply everything that they are learning, and to really engage in creative projects in a way that would bring new students to campus.”

Assistant Professor of English Kevin McKelvey said that many of the ideas that the English department had were in the works for a while, but have been awaiting the funding.

“A lot of these ideas are things that we have had for many years,” McKelvey said.

The English department will create Etchings Press, which will print the UIndy literary magazine, “Etchings,” twice a year and have a reading prize and a chapbook contest. The English department also will run a summer writing camp to draw prospective students. The department also plans to start a professional writing firm called Writehounds, which would function as an applied course, creating content for nonprofits. All of these projects will be student-run and faculty facilitated.

The department of art and design is creating a new course called UIndy Student Design Think Tank. This course will create a firm to work with nonprofits on real-world projects, much like Top Dog.

Assistant Professor of Visual Communication Design Nelson Wei Tan said that there will be opportunities for some crossover and collaboration with other student firms.

“The class will primarily be an art and design class, but we plan to work with other departments as well,” Tan said.

The experience design department is creating a design firm called Imagination Emporium, which will function in a similar fashion to Top Dog. Director of Experience Design and Associate Professor of History Samantha Meigs said that she has been meeting with Deemer to discuss Imagination Emporium.

“Our first pilot programs will focus on promoting literacy through experiences, which involve storytelling, interactive activities and special effects promotions,” Meigs said.

The theatre department is going to create a firm called Greyhound Production Services. According Chair and Associate Professor of Theatre Jim Ream, the intention would be to work for other departments and do events on and off campus.

According to Ream, students and faculty in the theatre department have been helping with events both on and off campus, and the new firm would make it easier for students to present what they have done to potential employers.

“It’s really a way to formalize things that we have been doing anyway,” Ream said.

Drake said that funding really was determined by the timing of the faculty members’ ideas and the work that Deemer was doing with Top Dog, but also by many departments’ reaching out.

“The departments all came forward with very interlinked ideas that they hadn’t necessarily talked to each other about, and I kind of saw the connections,” Drake said. “It was really that kind of convergence that made these projects fundable.”