Five students presented their work in various business and entrepreneurial organizations before the Shippensburg University Council of Trustees at its second meeting of the semester on Nov. 17. Don Nori, who serves as the director for the Diller Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership and Innovation, introduced the speakers.

Drew Daily and Brandon Stiner, co-presidents of the Collegiate Entrepreneur Organization (CEO), spoke about the club. The group, which was founded this semester, is a chapter of a national organization of the same name. They have hosted several events, including a trip to the Mr. and Mrs. Milton K. Morgan III Makerspace to help another student group print T-shirts. 

Mackenzie Good, a senior entrepreneurship student presented trustees with an overview of a trip students took this summer. She and others were awarded with a three-week trip to Portugal to participate in the European Innovation Academy’s startup program. 

SOLVE Club President David Wolfe spoke about the club, which was founded last semester. 

“Our main goal is to inspire students to create through collaboration. A lot of us have our own unique skill sets, and we want to build off of those skill sets and teach each other,” Wolfe said.

SU President Charles Patterson’s report to the trustees included an update on the ongoing search for candidates to fill provost and vice presidents for academic affairs and enrollment management. The search will be performed through Academic Search, an organization that specializes in higher education executive searches. 

He also spoke on the ongoing feasibility studies on potential changes to the university’s funding scheme. 

“We updated the trustees on our continued assessment of the ability of Shippensburg University to adopt a different tuition model which would include moving away from our per-credit tuition model to a flat-rate tuition model. The assessment on this continues,” said Patterson.

Patterson announced the creation of the Connor’s Institute for Nonpartisan Research and Civic Engagement. According to Patterson, the institute works to “disseminate high-quality nonpartisan information to the American public around issues of societal well-being, democracy and news literacy.”

Interim Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Nicole Hill highlighted student and faculty accomplishments in her report. Hill recognized Dr. Alison Dagnes, whose article “Stop Feeding the Polarization Beast” was picked up for syndication around the country.

Hill informed the trustees that the Super Map project, which Dagnes had organized last year, had won first place at the National Honors Conference in Chicago. Wood Honors College students Hannah Cornell and Jenna Cornell presented at the conference. 

Alumni Relations Director Lori Smith applauded several student affairs staff for their assistance during homecoming, including Brigette Allen, Kyle Miller, Kurt Dunkel and Kapri Brown. 

“They were instrumental in coordinating and implementing activities the entire week of homecoming for our undergraduate student body. They worked tirelessly throughout the weekend,” Smith said.

Action items included the approval of affiliation agreements compliance documents for the Shippensburg University Foundation. 

A similar motion in regard to Shippensburg University Student Services Inc. was tabled until the next trustee meeting. Trustee Glen Grell, who made the motion to table, said the trustees needed additional information from SUSSI that had not been provided. 

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