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Innovation Incubator's Micro-Internship Program Celebrates First-Year Gains
CPP News
Cal Poly Pomona’s Micro-Internship program, in its first year, saw a surge in participants and bested its enrollment goal. According to the Micro-Internship team, there has been an increase in student participation and an expansion in corporate partnerships. About 623 students participated in fall 2023 and spring 2024, which is a 160 percent increase from December 2023 to February 2024, according to preliminary data. This surpasses the first year's goal of serving 500 students. Spring 2024 semester is on track to have about 570 student participants, drawing from 30 upper division (junior and senior level) courses.
Published: March 27th, 2024
Micro-Internships Highlighted at the 2024 Academic Innovation Winter Institute
The PolyCentric
The recently held Academic Innovation Winter Institute, organized by the Office of Academic Innovation in partnership with Innovation Incubator centered on the theme of “Exploring Micro-Internships: A Guide to Understanding and Successfully Implementing Short-Term Work Experiences”.
A significant highlight of the institute was the focus on micro-internships as short-term, paid work experiences, a program Innovation Incubator is piloting. These internships are designed to provide students with practical, hands-on experiences in their field of study while also compensating them for their work.
Published: January 25th, 2024
Innovation and Academic Excellence Celebrated at the 6th Annual PolyX Showcase
The PolyCentric
The 6th Annual PolyX Showcase, hosted by Innovation Incubator, recently highlighted the work of 531 students across various disciplines, symbolizing a commitment to nurturing creativity and academic prowess. The showcase provided a platform for students to present their comprehensive research through engaging poster displays, fostering lively discussions and interactions among attendees. It was a celebration of scholarly achievement, where students demonstrated their expertise, creativity, and innovation solutions, empowering them to address challenges within their respective fields.
Published: December 5th, 2023
Students See Legal System at Work Through Judicial Internship
CPP News
The Judicial Internship, one of the university's signature polytechnic experience (PolyX) courses, was launched 20 years ago and is divided into two parts - the twice-weekly visits to the Pomona Courthouse to see the law in action and a class every other Friday for students to discuss what they observed. The interns also talk to lawyers and meet with judges among other activities. In May, the class participated in a mock trial staged at the Pomona Courthouse, with students playing the parts of lawyers, defendants, and witnesses.
Published: November 30th, 2023
Lydia Chen Shah Appointed Interim Director of the Center for Community Engagement
CPP News
Professor Lydia Chen Shah, a faculty member in the College of Business Administration, has been appointed the interim director of the Center for Community Engagement (CCE) within the Office of Academic Innovation.
With an extensive background in academia and a commitment to community engagement, Professor Chen Shah is set to make a significant impact on the university's outreach efforts.
"Participating in community engagement has the power to transform how students view future career paths. The unique and intentional experiences change mindsets and behaviors. Along with meaningful relationships, they lead to opportunities for sustainable development and shared purpose," said Chen Shah.
Published: October 5th, 2023
CPP INVESTS Program Granted $581,511 for STEM Student and Faculty Stipends
CPP News
n a significant boost for STEM education and research, the CPP INVESTS program has been awarded a grant of $581,511 in supplemental funding.
The CPP INVESTS (Innovative Ventures and Emerging Sciences Through Students) program has been making strides in promoting innovation, research, and learning within the field of STEM. This five-year grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) will enhance the program's ability to provide hands-on learning opportunities for students while also supporting faculty to incorporate practical experiences into their curricula.
The project, which was recently launched in Spring 2023, emerged as a collaborative endeavor involving Professor Olukemi Sawyerr, assistant vice president of Academic Innovation, and Professor Winny Dong, faculty director of the Office of Undergraduate Research.
Published: September 11th, 2023
Cal Poly Pomona’s Office of Academic Innovation Receives Funding to Demonstrate ‘Micro-Internship’ Concept
The PolyCentric
Cal Poly Pomona’s Office of Academic Innovation has been awarded $1.7 million in grant funding for its Community Partnership for Student Success project focused on micro-internships to create innovative learning practices and drive educational advancement for Cal Poly Pomona students over the next 3 years. Micro-internships offer shorter, more accessible alternatives to traditional 10-week summer internships.
Published: August 14th, 2023
Digital Badging, First-Year Experiences, and Mentoring Highlighted at Faculty & Staff Summer Conference
The PolyCentric
The Office of Academic Innovation recently organized the highly anticipated Faculty & Staff Summer Conference aimed at fostering collaboration and exploring innovative approaches to education. Attendees were treated to an array of engaging presentations, workshops, and networking opportunities, centered around the theme “Pathways to the Future: Exploring the Intersection of Learning, Work, and Community.” With three tracks provided over the course of the conference, participants learned from various speakers about digital badging, first-year experiences, and mentoring.
Published: June 21st, 2023
Innovation Incubator Announces New Pop-Up Course on Misinformation in the Media
The PolyCentric
Back by popular demand, Innovation Incubator is excited to announce its fall 2023 pop-up course called “Lies, Damned Lies, and Politics: Confronting the Threats of Misinformation, Conspiracy, and Polarization” (CPU 1540). This course will tackle how to navigate media bias, the psychology of why people believe in misinformation and conspiracy, and the technologies and politics driving us apart.
Published: March 23rd, 2023
Academic Innovation Hosts Faculty & Staff Winter Institute on Digital Badging
The PolyCentric
The Office of Academic Innovation hosted its annual Faculty & Staff Winter Institute to highlight the digital badging initiative and its benefits for students’ career readiness. More than 90 participants heard from industry, student, faculty and staff panelists who shared the value of this initiative and how it can ensure the success of Cal Poly Pomona students after graduation. Attendees participated in group brainstorming to bridge the information gap on the new initiative.
Published: February 10th, 2023
Digital Badges Enable Students, Faculty and Staff to Build on Skills
The PolyCentric
A new digital badging program offers Cal Poly Pomona students, faculty, and staff a way to enhance their skills and knowledge through certified courses and activities.
The Innovation Incubator, which established the digital badging initiative on campus, and the Office of Academic Innovation, plan to get the word out about the program by hosting a Faculty and Staff Winter Institute Jan. 18-20 to introduce the program, provide insight from other campuses who have incorporated digital badging, and learn from an industry panel on it’s benefits in the workforce.
Published: January 9th, 2023
Liberal Studies Dept. Partners with CEMaST to Present First-of-its Kind Art Exhibition
CEIS News
An award-winning generative art design created by liberal studies major Anna Rios has been selected for public exhibition in the College of Science’s Center for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (CEMaST). Generative art (GenArt), symbolic of science, technology, engineering, arts and math (STEAM) pedagogy, refers to art that is made in part by using an autonomous computer system, and can be described in this context as making art with code.
Published: November 30th, 2022
The PolyX Showcase highlights student academic motivation and future of education at CPP
The Poly Post
Students, faculty and community members across various departments gathered on Thursday Nov. 17 to celebrate the academic successes of Cal Poly Pomona’s first year students at the annual PolyX First Year Experience Showcase. The program’s goal is to provide the opportunity for incoming broncos to explore career options within their own major through research, mentoring and personal projects.
Published: November 22nd, 2022
Students to Showcase Research Projects at the PolyX FYE Showcase
PolyCentric
The PolyX FYE First Year Experience Showcase allows students in the FYE program to present the Signature Polytechnic Experience (PolyX) they complete in their first semester to the campus community. This year, the event formerly known as the LTD FYE Showcase, returns to fully in-person, enabling first-year students to directly engage with guests and share the results of their learn-by-doing projects. The showcase takes place on November 17 from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Bronco Student Center’s Ursa Major A, B and C.
Published: November 9th, 2022
Micro-Internships Offer Opportunities for Career Advancement
PolyCentric
Micro-internships bridge the gap for those who are interested in testing out different industries prior to launching their careers. They are short-term, paid, and professional projects that are open to all students and recent graduates. One of Cal Poly Pomona’s campus-wide initiatives promoted through the new Innovation Incubator is micro-internships. Students interested in launching their careers, exploring career paths and building their networks as they seek the right full-time position are encouraged to apply for micro-internships on Parker Dewey, a site they can access through the Innovation Incubator web page.
Published: November 9th, 2022
Badge Summit 2022
The Employee Express
On August 1st and 2nd, members of the Cal Poly Pomona Innovation Incubator and Employee and Organizational Development and Advancement, Human Resources Operations attended and participated in the 7th annual, 2022 Badge Summit at CU Boulder, Colorado. 200 eager participants engaged in thoughtful conversations with higher education leaders, government representatives, non-profit organizers, and cultural associations across the globe to support inclusive access to learning and partnerships on everything about badging and micro-credentials.
Published: August 25th, 2022
Cal Poly Students Move Important Projects Forward
CHERP
This spring, the Community Home Energy Retrofit Project (CHERP) had the wonderful privilege of working with two groups of Cal Poly Pomona students during their Environment, Technology and Culture (Honors, Service-Learning, PolyX) course with Dr. Jay Blair. One group took photos of every step involved in making solar panels (and got to do each step themselves!) and helped design factory work instructions, which was needed for CHERP's factory certification. The second group helped research and design digital badges that will be issued to employees as they move through CHERP's workforce development program, giving them a significant boost as they pursue careers after their time at CHERP.
Published: May 24th, 2022
Student Organized Code-A-Thon teaches students how to create GenArt
The Poly Post
On April 28 Cal Poly Pomona’s first ever student-run Generative Art Code-A-Thon, a GenArt PolyX Community Code-A-Thon, showcased Maya Stovall’s Generative Art PolyX Hub course teachings through her students. The event detailed some of the content learned in Arts Integration II, the class where student organizers learned the GenArt concepts demonstrated in the event.
Published: May 10th, 2022