Welcoming Possibilities at Adelphi University’s Innovation Center

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Long recognized for his interdisciplinary work and consistent excellence in teaching, Stemkoski has applied his personal approach to working with students in developing the current iteration of the Innovation Center. He has transformed a space on the first floor of the library, which he describes as the “crossroads of the campus,” making a physical hub to serve all campus stakeholders to the greatest extent possible. He makes a habit of reaching out to various departments to ask how the Innovation Center can better serve them, and he carefully considers how to make connections to the wide array of disciplines on campus with new events and weekly tech exhibits.

Karen Kolb, director of the Faculty Center for Professional Excellence (FCPE), says the Center mirrors Stemkoski’s community focus, dynamic leadership, and warmly welcoming personality; these strengths help Stemkoski establish a wonderful rapport with students, who all feel comfortable in the space he has created.

Ovundah Okene, Jr.—an Interdisciplinary Studies major at Adelphi—recognizes the seeds of the Innovation Center in Stemkoski’s approach to holding office hours.

Prior to its current iteration, programming at Adelphi’s Innovation Center had been disrupted by Covid and a leadership change. In resurrecting the Center, Christopher K. Storm, Jr.—Adelphi’s provost and executive vice president—envisioned what he calls an “inside out” approach—bringing together campus stakeholders beyond disciplines to solve shared problems collaboratively. For that vision to work, he says, they needed to hire an active Adelphi faculty member like Stemkoski for the job. Storm observes that Stemkoski is a “catalyst for bringing people together” and that the Innovation Center he has developed has “activated the campus.” Storm notes that campuses can have “tremendous capacity for this kind of creative work.” According to him, the key to the success of a project like this is identifying the right person to guide it, giving them the support they need, then allowing them to get to work.

Stemkoski has certainly gotten to work. In the inaugural semester last term, the Innovation Center has hosted 40 events, including presentations for students, workshops for faculty members, film viewings, book clubs, discussion groups, and more. When no event is scheduled, the Center serves as an open, collaborative working space. All of these activities and outreach have enabled Stemkoski to make connections that have led to more targeted projects to serve campus needs. For one example, Stemkoski worked with the dance department to create music-generation software linked to a video camera; this software drafts a new, original musical composition based on the movements of the dancers. Dancers used this technology for a portion of their fall dance performance.

Another example of a collaborative project produced in the Center is the development of virtual reality (VR) simulations (SIMs) for nursing students. Stemkoski is working with the nursing faculty to craft AI-powered conversation generators so students can practice much more realistic patient interactions. The technology adapts to the students’ active conversations to prepare students for their professional work. Stemkoski is currently drafting grant proposals targeted at local hospitals to expand the reach of this initiative; this example demonstrates the “inside out” expansion of the Center that Provost Storm envisioned when he tapped Stemkoski for this work.

Kolb shares Stemkoski’s vision to explore and promote innovative teaching and learning solutions, and she welcomes opportunities to utilize the dynamic space Stemkoski has created. In fact, one of the first events held at the reopened Innovation Center last fall was a partnership between the Innovation Center, the FCPE, and the Business School to host a presentation on AI and academic research. The Center and FCPE have also co-facilitated a faculty-developed workshop on active learning. Stemkoski and Kolb intend to continue collaborating on areas where their focuses merge, such as faculty workshops focused on integrating innovation and pedagogy and using emerging technologies in the classroom. Stemkoski leads regular undergraduate research workshops in the Center, and Kolb hopes to draw on his expertise in this area for other faculty as well.

Melanie Bush, professor of Sociology at Adelphi, teaches interdisciplinary and collaborative classes with themes such as “Love, Home, and Belonging.” She has held classes in the Center and appreciates how the space supports interactive learning for the students. One aspect she finds particularly helpful is that the area can easily be rearranged because the student tables have wheels. The students can easily move the tables to work together in small groups, then shift again to share their ideas with the whole class. This flexibility is conducive to being student-centered, Bush says; she has been able to conduct experiential activities “with ease” when she holds classes there. Further, Bush reports, the experience gave her students the opportunity to tangibly feel how to build connectedness because the space that Stemkoski has created provides a sense of community.

Bush’s students found that holding class in the Center was meaningful to them because they saw the space as enacting the course focus and content in practice—namely, love, home, and belonging. Bush states that many faculty members on campus ground their pedagogy in student-centered experiential and group work, and they see how the Innovation Center provides a learning environment that is aligned with their pedagogy. She remarks that such spaces are exactly what faculty members need to meet their pedagogical needs.

Bush’s first-year students also expressed their appreciation for the Center in class reflections that they agreed to share with Private University Products and News. Kamiya Rose wrote that the way the Center is set up “shows how, as students, our voices are heard and our school cares about our opinion.” Rebekah Singh reflected that she “quickly realized how inviting and expressive this space is for all students” and that it is “truly a hub for collaboration and imagination.” Lastly, Rian Fernando stated that the space “encourage[es] people with love for imagination to enter that space and engage with one another, without having the fear of being judged.”

Idea Board

One key element driving the constant flow of inspiration for new programming is the idea board that Stemkoski installed in the space. The concept is simple: it is a large wall with markers and piles of blank Post-it notes nearby. In exchange for a warm beverage—coffee or tea—Center visitors write down an idea for an event, program, addition to the Center’s amenities, or a subject they would like to learn more about. Kolb says that no request is outside the realm of possibility. The board generates 50 to 100 new ideas each week, and Stemkoski responds to as many ideas as possible; suggestions have included a quote wall, lamps for cozy lighting, and establishing a shelf where basic school supplies are freely available. Many people at the beginning of the term asked for a 3D printer and maker space. Stemkoski had the funding available to fulfill this request. For future expenditures, he plans to augment campus funding with financial support from external sources such as grants and industry partnerships.

Other posted ideas have been requests for collaboration. The Psychology Club asked to work together to explore how VR might be able to provide safe spaces for patients to work through their challenges. The Accessibility Club asked to partner on signage and support to spread the word about the Hidden Disabilities Sunflower initiative. Stemkoski connected the club members with the right campus office to fulfill this request. This interaction is an example of the response portion of the idea board—for ideas that simply need information or direction to another campus resource, Stemkoski moves the idea and his response to this area so that students can follow up and get the answers they need.

Weekly Technology Exhibits

Stemkoski works with his student assistants to create and oversee the rotating weekly technology exhibit. These weekly exhibits are designed to draw visitors to the Center in order to try out and experiment with leading-edge technology; rotating the content makes each week’s offering new and exciting. Some of the more popular offerings during the fall term included VR headsets, a leap motion sensor that allows users to interact in a 3D virtual world with their hands, and an interactive setup which gamified the ASL alphabet and invited participants to compete for the highest score. As Stemkoski decides what tech to feature each week, he tries to meet the needs of every department on campus throughout the term. He reaches out to ask what he might build for them, using his expertise in computer graphics and video game development. As one of the Innovation Center’s student workers, Okene says that having a space to see new technology and to encourage others has allowed him to become more fully himself; he deeply appreciates that the Center’s workers are making the interdisciplinary environment that he needed when he felt he didn’t fit well within any one academic field. Okene values Stemkoski’s gift for providing the resources that students need, whether the need be a flexible learning space, equipment, supplies, or even a personal mentoring conversation with Stemkoski.

Stemkoski’s long-term vision is to connect the Adelphi campus with local and global community and industry through the Innovation Center. Toward this end, he is discussing the possibility of Adelphi developing an interactive real-time holographic telepresence system in collaboration with the Brooklyn Looking Glass Factory, a local company that offers “amazing display technology,” in Stemkoski’s words. One community collaboration that is already in the works is working with Teen Hacks Long Island, a high school hackathon group run by students in the area. Through Stemkoski’s efforts, Adelphi will now be the host site for the big annual event, as well as smaller events that are held monthly. Invigorated by these experiences, Stemkoski is excited to create additional initiatives with “more industries, more communities—more outreach.”

Kolb admires the way that Stemkoski took an empty space and just kept adding to it; she observes that the Center has “become a bright light, a hub of activity—a special place for learning.” This truly extraordinary place provides both model and inspiration for other campuses to follow, offering opportunities for the interdisciplinary collaborations that will drive innovation in academia and industry in the years to come.

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About the Author
Cynthia Mwenja, PhD, teaches Composition and Rhetoric at the University of Montevallo and is a staff writer for PUPN Magazine.