Projects

Watts College steering committee for Principled Innovation

Summary

To institutionalize Principled Innovation (PI) within the Watts College of Public Service and Community Solutions, College Catalysts Bailey Borman and Justin Stritch initiated a collaborative process involving a diverse group of community members. The PI Steering Committee was formed, comprising four faculty members (career-track and tenure-track), four staff members (representing professional education, advising, and student services), four students, and two college catalysts. The committee ran for 8 months during the 2023-24 Academic Year.

Over the course of a year, the committee met monthly through May 2024. Initially, the focus was on understanding the question, “What is PI?” Over time, however, the group transitioned to “doing” PI—actively engaging the community and exploring how individuals incorporate PI into their work. The committee facilitated six engagement initiatives, including lunch-and-learn sessions designed to integrate PI into faculty, staff, and student activities, both curricular and co-curricular. In Spring 2024, these events served as key platforms for fostering dialogue and collaboration around PI.

Additionally, the PI Steering Committee issued a call for proposals to embed PI in research and student engagement efforts. This initiative resulted in funding for four faculty- and staff-led projects and three student-led projects, all of which were conducted in Fall 2024. These efforts exemplified a practical approach to embedding PI within the college’s culture and practices.

Engage multiple and diverse perspectives Understand culture and context

Bailey Borman

Justin Stritch

Establishing college-wide goals

Watts College encompasses four schools—Criminology and Criminal Justice, Social Work, Public Affairs, and Community Resources and Development—and includes a community of over 450 faculty and staff, 700 students, and more than 800 community partners. Within this context, the PI Steering Committee established several key goals for institutionalizing Principled Innovation (PI) in the college.

Multiple perspectivesThe committee recognized the importance of engaging a diverse group of stakeholders representing the college’s various roles, functions, and disciplines to reflect its wide-ranging perspectives and expertise.

Supporting championsIn fostering organization-wide change, the committee sought to build a community of individuals who could learn about PI and serve as “champions” to promote its principles throughout the college.

Engagement with PIThe committee aimed to introduce PI to different groups within Watts College through planned engagement events, creating opportunities for active participation and dialogue.

IntegrationThe committee sought to encourage members of the Watts community to integrate PI into their research, teaching, and community engagement efforts. To support this, they established a funding initiative designed to democratize resource distribution, using a process guided by PI principles to provide both opportunity and incentive for participation.

One challenge with PI is that it requires intentionally building reflection time into decision-making processes. As a PI Catalyst leading the Steering Committee, I sometimes felt tension between the need to move the group forward with a decision and the desire to continue discussion, engagement, and reflection.
Justin StritchAssociate Professor, School of Public Affairs
As a Catalyst, I learned to better approach people about PI through the Steering Committee experience. Recognizing the value of their existing work and making connections to PI in advance proved to be effective. It is crucial to present PI as a tool to enhance, elevate, and bring intentionality to ongoing activities, rather than suggesting it will replace the important work already being done.
Bailey BormanClinical Assistant Professor, School of Public Affairs

Challenges inform the work

During the steering committee process, we encountered several challenges that informed how we engaged in the work.

Trust and language

Some individuals were hesitant about what they perceived as a top-down initiative, and it took time to build trust. In addition, using the language of change can sometimes lead people to feel it implies a deficiency in their current work.

Spending funds

The majority of funds spent on seed projects have been spent, but there has been a need for some flexibility due to things outside of recipients control. For example, one of the funded faculty-led projects was extended because of scheduling conflicts with the keynote speaker. This highlights the importance of incorporating flexibility into the planning process.

Remaining responsive

A gap in co-curricular programming for students emerged during the Steering Committee’s work. Although the committee had disbanded by Fall 2024, the PI Catalysts Anne Kotleba and Justin Stritch began exploring ways to address this gap, with plans to allocate funding for co-curricular initiatives in 2025.

Our approach to the steering committee is a microcosm of how we should be designing solutions for communities–we have to engage the full range stakeholders. I think that Civic character and the assets associated were critical in motivating this project because if we are going to be successful we have to consider the contexts we are operating and the wide array of interests involved.
Bailey BormanClinical Assistant Professor, School of Public Affairs

Civic values and practices

At its highest level, this Steering Committee and the pursuit of the project’s goals reflect civic values and practices. As a college, we understood that meaningful engagement with PI leading to long-term institutionalization would require buy-in from all internal stakeholders. To this end, we pursued two PI practices in the design of the committee.

Understand culture and context

The different schools within the college each have their own norms, values, and cultures. By constructing a Steering Committee that was representative across schools, we were able to consider how PI might be adapted and integrated into each unique environment.

Engage multiple and diverse perspectives

As a community, we wanted our engagement with PI to be informed by the entire community—not just faculty. Therefore, we ensured that the Steering Committee included not only faculty but also staff and students.

Insights from participants

“It was really cool to learn about how others were approaching PI and the possibilities they saw for it. For me, I found this really energizing.”

“I was somewhat surprised by how willing everyone on the Steering Committee was to pitch in and contribute work–both in planning engagement events or in the review of the responses to the call for funding. I think it shows how excited people are about this.”

“I was particularly grateful to the students on the committee. It can be hard and sometimes intimidating to share thoughts and opinions. I really appreciated their willingness to engage as critical members.”

Impacting communities at Watts

The members of the Steering Committee met eight times during the 2023–24 academic year. Collectively, the 14-member team dedicated 112 hours to engaging with Principled Innovation (PI) as a Community of Practice—excluding additional time spent on work outside the scheduled meetings.

Six engagement events were organized, which providing six hours of programming to introduce various Watts constituencies to PI and encourage its application across teaching, research, and community engagement. These engagement events attracted over 200 participants, serving as an essential introduction to Principled Innovation for many attendees.

Watts College communityThe Steering Committee aimed to bring together a diverse group of community members to explore what PI can mean for our community. Through this effort, the committee fostered a Community of Practice, integrating PI meaningfully and authentically across the college’s diverse activities in teaching, research, and community engagement. Consequently, the College Catalysts developed a more expansive vision for PI than existed prior to the Steering Committee’s work.
Watts researchersThe funding directly supported the integration of PI into faculty- and student-led research projects. By embedding PI into their research, participants are encouraged to critically reflect on their practices, ensuring ethical and responsive approaches to their work.
Watts staffOne engagement activity introduced PI to Watts College Advisors, a critical yet sometimes overlooked group working on the front lines with students. PI offers a valuable framework to help advisors address the conflicts and challenges they encounter in their roles, enhancing their ability to support students effectively.

Project proposals

The Steering Committee’s call for proposals received 11 submissions from faculty and staff and nine from students. All proposals demonstrated the integration of PI into a diverse array of teaching, student engagement, and research-related activities.

The committee selected four faculty- and staff-led projects and three student-led projects to receive funding. These projects were conducted in Fall 2024 and further advanced the practice of PI within the Watts community.

The Steering Committee was disbanded in May 2024 as planned. Yet, its work has led to several next steps.

Faculty and staff funding

This initiative was highly successful, with 11 proposals submitted for integrating PI into research and student engagement projects. Although only four projects were funded, the process revealed significant enthusiasm for embedding PI into ongoing work. The submissions demonstrated thoughtful and serious engagement with PI. This activity will be continued and scaled up if Watts College secures funding in 2025.

Student funding

The Student Call for Proposals highlighted a major gap in funding for independent, student-driven projects. While many students successfully integrated PI into their work in response to the call, the lack of resources for student projects emerged as a broader issue beyond PI. Addressing this challenge will require critical reflection and action, not just through PI initiatives but through other mechanisms as well.

Co-curricular programming

Beyond formally integrating PI into coursework, efforts are underway to explore how to embed PI into co-curricular programming, particularly for undergraduate students. This gap became evident through community responses to the call for proposals and remains an area of focus moving forward with funding in 2025.