About Think Big Seeds
During academic year 2018/19, the campus participated in an experiment called Seed Sprints. The experiment was to see if we could quickly convene campus groups across silos (disciplinary, faculty/staff/students, schools/colleges, etc.) to collectively consider academic, co-curricular, and administrative problems/solutions. These seeds served a variety of purposes:
- They highlighted areas of interest to the campus;
- They offered creative solutions to problems; and
- They showed us that we can move FAST.
All of this information fed into considerations of the Think Big strategic plan, and helped us think through the next generation of these investments.
Going forward, Think Big Seed investments will be made annually on a rotating set of pathway objectives. The selected priorities each year will be based on a number of factors ranging from a need for understanding around a pathway topic to an urgent need as identified by our community. Some Think Big Seed topics may evolve into future RFPs; others may end with lessons learned; others may be implemented into existing practices/programs; and still others may inspire external giving and/or prepare a team to compete globally for other types of support.
2020 Investments in Diversity & Inclusion
Pathway 3 and Pathway 4 support efforts to help move CWRU to the next stage of awakening and truly embrace what it means to be an equitable community that has a positive impact on its neighbors in Cleveland and East Cleveland. The plan invests in a wide range of activities, including eight campus-based “Seed” ideas that will help at the grassroots level take on pockets of change that need to happen. Funds have also been directed to support both graduate student and faculty diversity initiatives on campus, including the recent program and campus review conducted by STEM diversity experts.
2020 Think Big Seed Competition Winners
Description: Seed Investment
This Seed will harmonize and scale climate action at CWRU by building connections and collaborations across campus and with our neighboring communities, bringing together faculty, staff, students, and neighbors to take meaningful individual and collective action.
Lead Contact
Ina Martin, Operations director of the Materials for Opto/electronics Research and Education (MORE) Center, Case School of Engineering, ixm98@case.edu
Description: Seed Investment
The goal of this project is to provide a mechanism by which six academic units at CWRU collaborate to broadly increase the number of invited seminar speakers from underrepresented backgrounds and/or diversity champions who have proven track-records of working to improve inclusion of marginalized groups in academia.
Lead Contact
Emmitt Jolly, Associate Professor, Department of Biology, College of Arts and Sciences, ecj20@case.edu
Description: Seed Investment
The purpose of this project is to generate excitement and interest in our work to implement The Steve Fund framework to promote equity in student health and wellness.
Lead Contact
Sara Lee, Executive Director, University Health and Counseling Services Division of Student Affairs, sjh12@case.edu
Description: Seed Investment
We are developing an advisory committee comprised of local neighborhood leaders, community stakeholders, University Circle and CWRU institution representatives that will provide guidance, recommendations and feedback on the Universities interactions and engagement with the communities in Cleveland and East Cleveland.
Lead Contact
Julian Rogers, Executive Director, Local Government and Community Relations, jxr178@case.edu
Description: Seed Investment
Expanding upon relationships forged over the past seven years through the Provost Scholars Program, we propose to improve the parents’/guardians’ capacity to provide support for the scholars by improving their health status and parenting skills.
Lead Contact
Faye Gary, The Medical Mutual of Ohio Kent W. Clapp Chair & Professor of Nursing, Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing and Professor, Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, fgary@case.edu
Description: Seed Investment
Our interdisciplinary team will design and begin to implement a curriculum to prepare undergraduate students for their global transition (graduate school, professional school, industry).
Lead Contact
Sheila Pedigo, Director of SOURCE, sdp5@case.edu
Description: Seed Investment
To enhance the CWRU undergraduate Latinx experience by combining student support and cultural awareness with the intent to address institutional gaps and increase retention, persistence, and completion.
Lead Contact
Gina Maldonado-Powers, Assistant Director of Student Advancement, Student Success, gxm300@case.edu
Description: Seed Investment
Partnering with the Mayor’s office to make Euclid Ave a two-way street to knowledge, this project uses art as the lingua franca to co-create a series of experiential STEAMM [Science Technology Engineering Arts Math Medicine] community engagement activities with residents of East Cleveland to demonstrate proof of concept for a dynamic reciprocal interchange model of CWRU-with-community learning relationships allowing students, staff, faculty and alumni a rare opportunity for co-curricular learning from our dynamic though under-served neighboring community and to connect with people of many ages and backgrounds around STEM topics often not easily accessible to folks in neighborhoods that, while physically near campus, may feel a world away.
Lead Contact
David B. Miller, Associate Professor, Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences, dbm5@case.edu
Become a Reviewer
We wish to engage the community as reviewers of the annual RFP and Seed programs. Please complete this short questionnaire to be entered into our reviewer database.