1906 College Heights Blvd. #11070 • Bowling Green, KY 42101-1070 (270) 745-8915 • Fax (270) 745-5840 • www.wkuimagewest.com
CREATIVE WORKPLAN Client: WKU Stone Center Product: Research, Grants, Projects pertaining to engineering and manufacturing Job Type or Campaign: Slogan and logo signature Account Contact: Catherine Montano A. Background 1. History Architectural design, manufacturing sciences and engineering are all majors in the Ogden College of Science and Engineering. The architectural design program requires beginning classes such as basic electricity, Architectural Graphics and Architectural Drafting. Further into the major, students get into classes such as Construction Methods and Materials Lab, Architecture Documentation II, Quality Assurance, Comprehensive Design, Senior Research and Construction Management. The Department of Architectural and Manufacturing Sciences is working on initiatives such as the support and economic growth of south central Kentucky, providing students with practical experiences in their chosen career paths, customizing services to specifically meet the needs of the client and engaging in workforce development. There are many different branches of engineering within the Ogden College of Science and Engineering. They include Agriculture, Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Construction Management, Engineering, Geography, Geology, Architectural Design, Manufacturing Sciences, Mathematics, Meteorology and Physics and Astronomy. The engineering program is built off project-based learning. Recent projects include electrical engineering students researching and testing alternatives for increasing the fuel economy of the PHEV Toyota Prius. The Stone Center is a combination of WKU’s engineering department and the architectural and manufacturing sciences institute. It is centered on class projects, services the university, seed projects, internal and external projects for industry and internal and external grants. They are similar to Imagewest in the sense that they are student workers producing projects for industry clients. The base with which to build a slogan starts with, “Stone Center: Stimulating Opportunities and New Enterprises” and “Synergizing WKU Technical Resources with Industry.” 2. Problem the Communications Must Solve The Stone Center is brand new to WKU. The name does not completely explain what the Stone Center is, so the slogan has to. The name, The Stone Center, and the encompassing idea of its purpose were derived from the “Stone Soup” story, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_soup. So, the slogan must communicate the story as it pertains to the Stone Center. The slogan should highlight the benefits to students and faculty as well industry for its work on research grants and projects.
At the basis of the “Stone Soup” story, lies innovative problem solving, positive solutions, and teamwork. These are all ideas to consider throughout the creation of the slogan. B. Objectives 1. Communications Objective The goal is to develop a slogan that will explain what the Stone Center is and tie it in with the “Stone Soup” story. C. Strategy 1. Target The target market consists of faculty, staff and students of WKU and industries in and around the Bowling Green area (Greater Nashville area). More specifically, the target includes engineering students and architectural manufacturing students interested in getting hands-on learning experience through research, lab, and client work. Throughout the region, they work frequently with industry on research grants and projects. 2.
Competition Benchmark Schools • Ball State University • http://google.bsu.edu/search?site=default_collection&client=default_frontend
&output=xml_no_dtd&proxystylesheet=default_frontend&q=engineering%20 research&sort=date%3AD%3AL%3Ad1&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF8&ip=161.6.67.138&access=p&entqr=0&ud=1 Ball State is one of the four original university members of the Software Engineering Research Center (SERC) - Mission Statement: The mission of the Security and Software Engineering Research Center is to conduct a program of applied and basic research on software security, system security and software technology problems of interest to its members. The goal of this research is to enable security and software technology gains within member organizations. • Businesses pay a yearly fee of $30,000 to be a member. This money supports the research done by faculty and students. • The center is for research in software reliability, testing, metrics, cost estimation, 3-D mapping and finding potential software design problems. The industrial software used as project data has ranged from video games to telecommunications systems to missile defense systems. California State University – Chico • http://www.csuchico.edu/ecc/about/centers.shtml • Chico has ABET accredited civil engineering program • An MEP program through the Mathematics Engineering Science Achievement (MESA) program works to keep freshman engineering students motivated and excited through seminars and activities • Research centers at Chico include: - California Pavement Preservation Center- research, recycling, environmentally conscious projects; work with industry; enhances student learning § Mission Statement: To serve as a leader in a partnered effort between government, industry and academia participants to advance and improve pavement preservation practices through education, innovation, applied and practical research, technology transfer, and implementation. This includes developing and advancing innovative approaches to pavement preservation. - Institute for Research in Intelligent Systems (IRIS)- research/instructional services in intelligent systems design, analysis, and implementation •
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- McLeod Institute o Stimulation Science (MCLD) California State University- Fresno • http://www.csufresno.edu/grants/programs/students/index.shtml • Lyles College of Engineering • Slogan: “Designing and Building the Future” • In 2007, Lyles College of Engineering was names one of the first 76 colleges and universities to be awarded the Carnegie Foundation’s “Community Engagement” Classification. • Examples of projects - Lowell Neighborhood Revitalization Project - Engineering without Borders- The Cambodia Experience - Habitat for Humanity - University Ho - Eco-Village • Research funded by National Science Foundation, Dep. Of Defense, Edwards Air Force Base, California Space Grant Consortium, CalTrans, NASA/JPL • Other opportunities for research include the Central California Research Symposium and the California State University Student Research Competition - Promotes excellence in undergraduate and graduate scholarly research and creative activity by recognizing outstanding student accomplishments. University of Central Missouri • http://www.ucmo.edu/technology/grants/grants.cfm • Student organizations related to Engineering Technology programs include: - Student chapter of the American Design Drafting Association - The American Institute of Building Design - Society of Manufacturing Engineers - Association of Technology, Management, and Applied Engineering (ATMAE) • Technology Internship Program has a database of previously held internship locations • Design and Drafting Technology is working with industry to create the best environment possible for our students through the Sponsor-A-Room program • To prepare their students for careers in manufacturing and to meet industry needs, they have a high quality manufacturing automation cell for training. • Their Automotive Technology Management Program was awarded part of a Five Million Dollar Federal grant from the Department of Energy involving Advanced Electric Drive Vehicles (AEVS) - UCM’s allotted amount is over $650,000 - Work towards creating the “cars of tomorrow” Eastern Illinois University • http://castle.eiu.edu/energy/ • EIU has the Renewable Energy Center (REC). It’s the main site for research for the Center for Clean Energy Research & Education (CENCERE). • Through this CENCERE program, students are doing research and working with experienced faculty and staff. • They are trying to integrate the current trends with the REC into the curriculum. • The REC promotes students and faculty engagement in the study of various economic, social, and biological issues related to energy. - Their slogan: “We were ‘green’ before it became a buzzword.” Eastern Michigan University • http://www.emich.edu/physics/facilities.php • Research facilities include Modern Optics Lab, Laser Physics Lab, Plasma Physics Lab, and the Surface Science Lab
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A device created by the engineering students of EMU, called, Intelligent Prosthetic Endo-Skeletal Component or iPecs, won top honors in a NASA “Create the Future” design competition. - As far as I could tell, they used no slogan to describe their engineering or architectural manufacturing programs and facilities.
The competition does not seem to have anything quite like the Stone Center. 3.
Key Benefit Two key benefits that faculty and staff gain from working at the Stone Center are one, the research grants they get the opportunity to work on and two, the projects for industries in which they oversee and work with students on. These projects they receive are for regional and local industry and are a benefit to the community. The benefit of the center to industry is thorough research, quality project work and furthering the education of the students who will be filling engineering and architectural manufacturing careers in the future. Of everyone involved in the center, the student workers are reaping the greatest benefits. They receive experience working with skilled and experienced faculty and staff. Also, they are able to work with special tools and equipment not provided outside such an advanced program. The Stone Center is committed to student engagement and learning. Some of the programs involved are ABET accredited, and students graduating from them are highly prepared for the future. ABET accredited programs at WKU include the civil, electrical and mechanical branches of the engineering program. Being ABET accredited ads value to the credibility of the programs and sets up a solid foundation of learning for students. They will graduate with enhanced opportunities to get great jobs, move around within those jobs and positively impact society. The Stone Center offers students the opportunity to collaborate with experts on real life industrial projects and research. It is essential that students have work experience before graduating, because the job search can be a terrifying and lengthy process for those who are unprepared and under qualified. A differentiation between the Stone Center and competition is that it is a center that not only works on research grants, but also works within the community and local industries on projects. Therefore, students are not just doing classroom work. They are doing actual client work. That alone will be very valuable experience and a huge resume builder and talking point in any job interview.
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Support/Reason Why According the National Recruiting Trends 2007-2008 report conducted by Michigan State University and The Collegiate Employment Research Institute: • •
50% of employers wanted students to have AT LEAST one work-related experience before graduation. The other 50% of employers preferred that students have TWO work-related experiences as a means of differentiating themselves from the applicant pool.
From this, we can conclude that it is imperative that students have work experience upon graduation from college if they are planning on being hired by any company. If one has not had any sort of experience, companies assume that person is not serious about working because they did not care enough during school to pursue every learning opportunity possible. Aside from that, they know that person is not as prepared as
students that have had internships or co-ops of some sort. The Stone Center is work experience and learning through state of the art means and professors. Students are amply prepared for the real world after working at the center. In a back and forth economy, many people steer from careers that do not hold promising security for the future. Engineering is a field that is remaining stable. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics: • Engineers make about $10,000 more in median annual salary than people in business and financial occupations. • Over 16 engineering professions will account for 27% of new job growth by 2016. • Companies that hire industrial engineers include: • Allstate • American Express • Bank of America • Bausch & Lomb • Baxter • Blue Cross and Blue Shield • Boeing • Bosch • Caterpillar • Exxon Mobil • Federal Express • Fidelity Investments • Ford Motor Company • General Electric • General Motors • IBM Corporation • International Trucking • Motorola • NASA • Ryder • University of Chicago Hospitals • UPS • USPS • Walt Disney Company Other evidence from the Department of Labor Statistics on Engineering that supports the stability of engineering jobs says that jobs are projected to grow as quickly as the average for all occupations and will vary according to different specialties. The overall job opportunity is good and the starting salary in one of the highest of all college graduates. In 2008, engineers held approximately 1.6 million jobs. There are an immense amount of differing positions one can fulfill in engineering. Civil engineers
278,400
Mechanical engineers
238,700
Industrial engineers
214,800
Electrical engineers
157,800
Electronics engineers, except computer
143,700
Computer hardware engineers
74,700
Aerospace engineers
71,600
Environmental engineers
54,300
Chemical engineers Health and safety engineers, except mining safety engineers and inspectors
31,700 25,700
Materials engineers
24,400
Petroleum engineers
21,900
Nuclear engineers
16,900
Biomedical engineers
16,000
Marine engineers and naval architects Mining and geological engineers, including mining safety engineers Agricultural engineers Engineers, all other
8,500 7,100 2,700 183,200
The Bureau of Labor statistics revealed that architects, except for landscape and navel, that worked with industry made an average mean salary of $79,300 last year. Architects, engineers, and other related service jobs within this realm of architecture made an average mean of $78,710 last year. With a positive job outlook, comfortable yearly salary, and so many options for those graduating with an engineering or architectural manufacturing degree, now is the time for students to be interested in checking out WKU’s engineering and manufacturing departments. With facilities such as the Stone Center that set students up for success and enhanced learning and work experience, students should be leaping at the chance to join the programs. 5.
Trends Recent trends focus on “going green” through energy alternatives and infrastructure. • The Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program supports active research participation by undergraduate students in any of the areas of research funded by the National Science Foundation. REU projects involve students in meaningful ways in ongoing research programs or in research projects specifically designed for the REU program. •
http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos027.htm
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Tonality The overall tone of the slogan should be one of innovation and collaboration. Engineering and Architectural manufacturing are the link between scientific discoveries and the applications of those discoveries to help the community. The Stone Center offers synergy between industry and the faculty/staff and students it employees as well as WKU.
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Mandatories The Stone Center needs a slogan that gives definition to who they are and what they do. Key words to consider include: • Synergy • Collaboration • Experience • Innovative/innovation • Better Future (the environment, society, and the faculty/staff, students, and industry involved).
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Piecing solutions together Teamwork Thought Action Opportunity Problem Solving Student engagement