The iUX Academy is an integrative learning initiative that provides students real-world practice in User Experience, or UX, through partnerships with local industry.

“I am honored to receive this award that recognizes faculty who push boundaries and shift paradigms,” Wisniewski says. “It is only though innovation that �鶹ӳ����ý will achieve its Collective Impact.” The award is one of the university’s most prestigious internal recognitions, celebrating innovative ideas that have been developed into impactful, scalable programs that align with �鶹ӳ����ý’s Collective Impact Strategic Plan.

The iUX Academy provides students hands-on, practical training by allowing them to consult for local industry. UX encompasses everything from the attitude a person has toward a technology-based product or service to the overall experience interacting with that technology. Everything associated with that interaction — from core functionality and interface design to ease of use and even societal impacts of that technology — is methodically studied and designed by a UX researcher to maximize the overall end-user experience.

“When I first came to �鶹ӳ����ý, there was a gap in education for students who were interested in UX careers. The iUX Academy was established in Spring 2016 to fill this gap,” says Wisniewski. She says the project  began after Bogen Communications, a local company, contacted her about conducting usability testing for a new software product they were developing. “I saw this as a great opportunity for �鶹ӳ����ý to partner with local businesses to create integrative learning opportunities for our students.”

Wisniewski says the program not only educates students that UX is a viable and lucrative career path, but also gives them the critical competencies sought by employers.

The iUX Academy also helps establish �鶹ӳ����ý as a source of high-quality UX talent for local companies. Since its inception, the program has given more than 30 students the opportunity to gain paid work experience with local industry partners, including Bogen, Peraton and Medi-Iot. Following their participation in the program, students have been placed at Fortune 500 companies such as Deloitte, FedEx and HP.

Marchioli Award recipients receive a $5,000 grant as part of the award, which Wisniewski says she will use to expand the program. She plans to use the funds to hire a part-time iUX Academy lab manager for now, but with the continued success of the program, she says that position will eventually become a full-time role.

“We have more opportunities than the bandwidth to pursue all of them,” Wisniewski says. “A full-time lab manager would allow me to scale the iUX Academy to �鶹ӳ����ý-level greatness. At �鶹ӳ����ý, we like to go big, and that is what the iUX Academy intends to do.”

Details about the can be found at its website, including information for students interested in participating as well as companies seeking UX design consultation.

Called HIP Coaches, the project uses student coaches to mentor and guide fellow students through high-impact learning experiences, such as collaborative assignments and projects, undergraduate research and internships. The idea is to help faculty equip students with skills they can use whether they’re heading into the demands of graduate work or pulling together an analysis for their first job.

HIP Coaches is the idea of Pegasus Professor Linda Walters, Kimberly Schneider and Mary Tripp. Walters, a biology professor, heads the Coastal and Estuarine Ecology Lab; Schneider is an assistant dean of academic engagement and director of undergraduate research; and Tripp is an instructional specialist.

Together, they won the Marchioli Collective Impact Innovation Award, which rewards programs, initiatives and projects that help �鶹ӳ����ý achieve priority metrics from the university’s strategic plan.

“We were absolutely thrilled to receive this award. To be recognized for our work here is an honor that we feel incredibly proud of,” Schneider says.

The project dates back to 2014, when Schneider recognized a need for campuswide research opportunities. She recruited five faculty members to travel to Florida Southern College in Lakeland, Florida, and learn what other campuses are doing to bridge this gap between faculty and students involved in research. Experts recognize research as a strong high-impact practice because it deepens students’ understanding of a topic and empowers them to learn more.

“That conference gave us the gift of time,” says Tripp. “Afterwards, we were able to think independently, as well as collaboratively, to figure out how we wanted to move forward in our own classrooms. We were also thinking of ways to move �鶹ӳ����ý forward as an innovative institution.”

HIP Coaches are hand-picked by professors to assist in high-impact projects related to a course. That one-on-one attention is hard to come by in a school of more than 69,500 students, Walters notes, and it also helps professors feel engaged with students.

“It just goes to show you that a good idea can have legs if you work hard enough,” says Walters. “This is only the beginning for a program that has had such a positive outcome thus far.”