Client: University of New England

The Challenge:

Empower an entire organization with the skills to be more innovative and create transformational change.

The Outcome:

The university established a new Office of Innovation and new innovation events, programs, and services have become part of the signature offering at the university. Through this work, I was recognized as a 2022 Mainer of the Year.

New visibility for innovation

I have raised the visibility of innovation and user-experience design at Maine’s largest private university. Inspiring the creation of a new Office of Innovation, this function was elevated to the top level of the university’s website. To highlight this important work, I created a Celebration of Innovation that brought together signature events under one cohesive identity, and an Innovation Showcase, highlighting the work of students. The students speak of their personal transformations as part of their work with human-centered design and it has become the signature VIP event of the university.

The university highlighted my work in a paid feature in Downeast magazine (April 2023 issue), and I was honored to be selected as a 2022 Mainer of the Year by Maine magazine.

Growing a culture of design innovation

Serving as an internal innovation consultant to units across the university, I have helped grow a culture of innovation and shared understanding of human-centered design. Most people have a deep desire to be more innovative, but lack the tools and methodology to make change happen. I have served as a mentor and leader in demonstrating how to apply human-centered design techniques to diverse challenges:

  • how can we better integrate DEI in our core work?
  • how can we better communicate our program and increase admissions?
  • how can we get everyone thinking more creatively about our curriculum design?

This work has taken many forms, depending on the needs of individual programs and departments – from one-off creative workshops to deeper consulting engagements. These workshops have been highly successful at creating change. I’ve also run a Faculty Learning Committee, brought in national leaders as speakers, facilitated a Design Your Life book club – all in service of building a shared understanding of human-centered design as a path to cultural change.

“Thank you for the session…While framed as an “icebreaker” it really was much more than that: team building, problem-solving, collaboration, strategizing, and fun! The ways in which you connected the material to UNE and our students was brilliant. It was so effective that we would like to explore with you the possibility of building such a session into the standing agenda.”

Deans, College of Arts & Sciences, Westbrook College of Health Professions

“Thank you so much for helping us to develop an innovative approach to working with faculty and staff to generate ideas…Your facilitation allowed us to envision how we would lead the Sparking Sessions with ease. Your encouragement throughout the process also helped us to move positively and confidently forward with the sessions. We are very excited to report that 52 proposals for curriculum design were generated in fun, interactive sessions.

Your leadership in innovative thinking is truly beneficial to the UNE community at large!”

Faculty Leads, Curriculum Committee

“How can I say THANK YOU?! Thank you for your partnership and collaboration, for your excellent planning and execution, and for your time and energy. I offered an idea and a vision for the meeting and you breathed life into it. I am incredibly grateful for your help….Let’s find another project to work on together!”

Associate Provost, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Fostering an entrepreneurial mindset

I have brought human-centered design to the student experience – providing opportunities for students to learn and apply the skills of human-centered design to real-world problems. Examples:

  • Taught design thinking as a process and methodology for hundreds of students, faculty and staff.
  • Led UI/UX design and Figma workshops for multiple faculty and student teams to develop prototypes of digital solutions.
  • Introduced physical prototyping techniques like 3d design and printing, soldering and laser cutting.
  • Mentored students in customer discovery and product-market fit – with top students competing successfully in the statewide challenge.
  • Created an Innovation Fellows program that has been so successful, philanthropists have more than doubled their support.
  • Branded the Maker space and physically redesigned spaces on campus using human-centered design.

This work has impacted hundreds of students and created thousands of touchpoints in technology, human-centered design, and entrepreneurial thinking.

Makerspace - BeforeMakerspace - After

Innovation in Healthcare

As the home of Maine’s only medical school and dental school, healthcare is a signature component of the university’s core offering. Innovation is critical to healthcare, especially in training future healthcare professionals to be more innovative. With no background in healthcare, I learned about the unique characteristics of innovation in a healthcare setting and translated those learnings into creative innovation labs for undergraduate nursing students and nurses. Working in collaboration with the nearest hospital, I launched a well-received Health Care Story Slam and created opportunities for students to innovate in the areas of immigrant health and skills training. We are currently working with a nursing team on the design of an innovative digital solution for nursing education. This work well positions the university to be a national leader in healthcare innovation.