ORED Creative Initiatives
Placing Creativity and Innovation at the Center of the
LSU Experience
Strategic White Paper
December 2013
Prepared by
Elizabeth Long Lingo, PhD
ORED Creative Initiatives
Placing Creativity and Innovation at the Center of the LSU Experience
Strategic White Paper • December 2013
Prepared by Elizabeth Long Lingo, PhD
ORED Creative Initiatives: Placing Creativity and Innovation at the
Center of the LSU Experience
Executive Summary
Under the leadership of Vice Chancellor Kalliat Valsaraj and Senior Associate Vice
Chancellor Matthew Lee, the Office of Research and Economic Development has set forth an
ambitious strategic plan to foster multidisciplinary research and academic programs; forge
new partnerships with industry, state agencies, and other community stakeholders; and
build the necessary infrastructure to support creativity and innovation across campus. The
strategic plan also calls for LSU faculty to pursue scholarly work that can reinvigorate the
Louisiana economy and be applied to address the region’s most pressing problems.
As part of this strategic effort, ORED established a new role, Director of Creative Initiatives,
and tapped Larry Kaptain, former Dean of the College of Music and Dramatic Arts, as the
lead. As a first step, Kaptain assembled a multi-disciplinary faculty task force—bringing
together faculty recognized for their innovative approaches to their research, teaching, and
engagement with community—representing each of LSU’s Colleges and Schools. To
galvanize the energies of the task force and seize upon interest in creating a first-of-its kind
forum/space for faculty to engage in multi-disciplinary research conversations (the “Brown
Bag Series”), Kaptain organized a two-day series of Creative Leadership workshops and
provocative conversations. During the two days, faculty developed their capacity to engage
in generative multi-disciplinary research conversations—both within the task force itself
and as facilitators of the Brown Bag series. Faculty also gained a greater sense of
purpose—finding like-minded colleagues who share a passion for creativity and innovation
in their work, learning of national best practices for advancing creative initiatives, and
gaining traction on their difficult work of scoping, “What exactly are we doing?”
In this white paper, I provide a framework for advancing the work of the Creative
Initiatives faculty task force in advancing ORED’s strategic plan. In these recommendations
I suggest that the faculty task force advance their work along parallel tracks. First, they will
need to progress through the foundational work of articulating the scope and purpose of
their work, how they might frame the initiative in compelling ways for different audiences,
and how they might best leverage existing resources and upcoming opportunities—such as
the new IBM facility—to advance their goals.
Second, I suggest that there is a rare opportunity for ORED to develop a bold collaborative
vision and systematic approach to fostering creativity and innovation among faculty,
graduate students, and undergraduates. Having leadership support and commitment at the
ORED Vice Chancellor level is an incredible asset—the challenge is envisioning a
sufficiently bold and comprehensive strategy to attract funding from outside donors.
Third, the task force will need to imagine and implement a portfolio of signature programs
and “quick win” pilots that will build buzz for the Creative Initiatives effort, lay the
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ORED Creative Initiatives
Placing Creativity and Innovation at the Center of the LSU Experience
Strategic White Paper • December 2013
Prepared by Elizabeth Long Lingo, PhD
groundwork for the cultural change needed to foster more widespread innovation and
collaboration, and build a network of individuals who can help catalyze the initiatives.
In the last section of the white paper, I provide questions and suggestions for how the task
force might best organize its efforts. As additional fodder, I include as an appendix the ideas
generated during the speed dating session that I facilitated as part of the 2012 ArtsEngine
summit. Task force members might also be interested in reading my Creative Fluency
article (provided as a separate document).
I submit this white paper with great respect and admiration for the bold, yet essential work
before you. At Vanderbilt, where I was Founding Director of the Curb Creative Campus
Initiative, our task force spent two years working through the questions before you. I hope
the outline and supplementary materials provided here can help springboard your efforts
in these coming months. I look forward to watching your initiative mature and helping in
any ways that are appropriate.
Forward!
Elizabeth Long Lingo, PhD
Adjunct Professor of Innovative Leadership and Strategic Design
Kanbar College of Design, Engineering, and Commerce
Philadelphia University
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ORED Creative Initiatives
Placing Creativity and Innovation at the Center of the LSU Experience
Strategic White Paper • December 2013
Prepared by Elizabeth Long Lingo, PhD
ORED Creative Initiatives: Placing Creativity and Innovation at the
Center of the LSU Experience
Framework for Moving Forward
I. Develop the task force’s shared understanding of purpose
Seizing upon the momentum of the Creative Leadership workshops and the recent visit of
Liz Lerman and Holly Sidford, upcoming meetings among the task force should further
develop group cohesion and facilitate constructive discussion around the potential scope
and benefits of the task force’s work (for individuals, ORED, and the university). Members
need to collectively develop a shared understanding of the purpose of the task force, its
short- and long-term goals, and what language is most useful for advancing the task force’s
work.
Why bring the task force together? What is its purpose?
Faculty expressed great appreciation for finding like-minded others who were taking
innovative and non-routine approaches to their research and teaching—especially in light
of the recent stream of budget cuts that has left faculty morale at a perceived all-time low.
Bringing together the most innovative faculty from across campus offers tremendous
potential for LSU to break down existing silos and work collectively to advance ORED’s and
individual faculty interests. One of the most surprising findings from my work at
Vanderbilt and other campuses is the power of inviting faculty to become “catalysts” for
campus creativity, change, and innovation, as well as innovation in their own research.
Task force members are often eager to forge non-routine partnerships and collaborations,
find ways to leverage scarce resources and reach new audiences, and align what can seem
to be idiosyncratic projects and programs toward overarching, campus-wide goals.
Clarifying why and how faculty task members were nominated for the task force is also
important. Despite being nominated by their respective Deans, several faculty members
shared that they did not see themselves as “creative”—they equated creativity with being
artistic. These comments suggest that work is needed to articulate the purpose of the task
force and why individuals were invited to participate.
Further, clarification is needed regarding the scope and purpose of the task force. Is it to
pilot a series of multi-disciplinary research conversations? Is it to encourage non-routine
collaborations across the arts and humanities/science and engineering divide?
While both should be included in the task force’s ambitions, I would encourage the task
force to think of their purpose more broadly and systematically—to inventory,
imagine, and pilot innovative opportunities for advancing ORED’s strategic goals: to
foster multi-disciplinary research and academic programs; forge new partnerships with
industry, state agencies, and other community stakeholders; develop the creative capacities
of faculty and students; and build the necessary infrastructure to support creativity and
innovation across campus.
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ORED Creative Initiatives
Placing Creativity and Innovation at the Center of the LSU Experience
Strategic White Paper • December 2013
Prepared by Elizabeth Long Lingo, PhD
Define creativity broadly
In my experience at Vanderbilt and elsewhere, I have found that it is easy for task forces to
get bogged down in defining creativity. Definitions of creativity commonly focus on the
development of novel ideas or projects. At Vanderbilt, we found that using the term
creativity was problematic—people often assumed one was talking solely about artistic
work. We found traction by moving beyond discussions of whether creativity was “hard or
soft” or whether it solely related to the arts. Instead, we focused on the common creative
process that threads through the arts, sciences, humanities, engineering, business,
technology development, medicine, and design. Nonetheless, it is important to pay
attention to how make people sense of the terms you use, and to be thoughtful about how
to best pitch your initiative to peers across the university. Illuminating how the creative
process unfolds in the scholarly process across all disciplines could be a powerful first step.
Another approach that was particularly powerful for us at Vanderbilt was to use the term
“non-routine” as we sought to define, imagine, and pilot “creative” initiatives. What
non-routine conversations, non-routine collaborations, non-routine settings and events,
non-routine use or combination of existing resources, or non-routine approaches to
problems could be imagined and piloted to advance ORED’s strategic goals?
With these larger goals in mind, I offer the following questions to consider as the task force
advances its work.
Questions to consider:
 What is the guiding purpose of the task force? What would “success” look like? What is
most meaningful for ORED? For LSU? For task force members?
 What are reasonable aspirations/goals for the task force during the spring semester? For
the 2014-2015 year? In three years? For ORED? For LSU? For task force members? How
could you best mix planning with putting ideas into action/piloting ideas?
 What words or framing work best for task force members and their respective efforts to
build enthusiasm for the initiative? Which concepts will have the best traction within
different departments—creativity, innovation, creative problem solving, multidisciplinary, non-routine approaches and partnerships, entrepreneurship, arts?
Early on, it would be useful to “pitch” what you are doing to close peers and see how
they respond to different framings of the task force’s work.
 The task force might also focus on creative process and the range of creative
capacities needed to bring novel approaches and solutions from idea stage to
implementation. Which of the following capacity areas might you want to emphasize (or
all)—for faculty and for students? The capacity to:
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ORED Creative Initiatives
Placing Creativity and Innovation at the Center of the LSU Experience
Strategic White Paper • December 2013
Prepared by Elizabeth Long Lingo, PhD
1. Invent and Imagine (e.g., engage an array of techniques and tools to individually
and collectively generate novel ideas and solutions)
2. Effectively communicate one’s stories and ideas in compelling ways, using an
array of media (what I call “expressive agility”)
3. Harness collective creativity (e.g., elicit and synthesize ideas and perspectives
from multiple domains of expertise)
4. Navigate and negotiate change within complex social systems to implement
one’s innovations
Further:
 What are the unique challenges to fostering these capacities in certain
disciplines?
 What strengths may the arts and humanities bring to developing these
capacities in the sciences and engineering? What are the strengths the
sciences and engineering bring to the arts and humanities?
 What is the power/benefit of collaborating and co-designing across
disciplines? What can students and faculty learn when they work on multidisciplinary collective creative projects?
II. Develop the task force’s cohesion and identity
Faculty greatly appreciated the opportunity to meet other members of the task force. Going
forward, the task force will benefit from 1) “branding” the task force as innovators and
catalysts of innovation and change, 2) redesigning how members meet and share
information, and 3) having a pool of resources available to support their individual and
collective efforts.
Brand the task force
As I prepared for my visit, I was struck by how difficult it was to gain a sense for how the
faculty task force members were creative in their work. Many of their current
departmental websites provide only a listing of research projects and papers, rather than
conveying the individuals’ multiplex interests. I highly recommend developing a website
for the task force that includes bios of the faculty as “creative” persons, and that highlights
the ways these faculty are already advancing ORED’s strategic goals—highlighting those
that impact Louisiana, are multi-disciplinary, characterized by unexpected juxtapositions
such as “bird calls and engineering,” etc. (At Vanderbilt, I re-wrote the bios for all of my
faculty members to help convey this.)
It might also be useful to play with how faculty present their research—perhaps using
visuals to convey their scholarly activities (such as those they submitted in advance of the
creative leadership workshops) or “wordles” of their talents, skills, and scholarly interests.
Developing faculty task members’ own creative narratives is invaluable for demonstrating
how creativity transcends and permeates all disciplines across campus.
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ORED Creative Initiatives
Placing Creativity and Innovation at the Center of the LSU Experience
Strategic White Paper • December 2013
Prepared by Elizabeth Long Lingo, PhD
Re-design how members meet and share information
Going forward, I recommend that the task force explore how they might consistently meet
as a group. The upcoming potluck might be an excellent way to bring everyone together for
the first time, anoint them as catalysts of creativity and innovation, and establish the
organizing vehicle (e.g., dinner meetings, lunch brown bags, etc.) for meeting as a group in
the spring semester.
At the same time, faculty expressed the desire for an online blog/forum for sharing ideas,
projects, skills, and events with interested colleagues—both to foster more informal means
of cross-fertilization and collaboration across disciplines, and feed their creative fuel
between group meetings.
Secure resources for task force members
At Vanderbilt, we found it invaluable to depict our task force members as lead catalysts of
innovation and provide a pool of resources that could help them advance innovation in
their scholarly work, classroom, or projects. I also found it very helpful to conduct one-onone interviews with task force members to understand why they wanted to be involved in
the task force, what they imagined for the campus, and in what ways involvement in the
task force could serve their needs and goals.
ORED may wish to offer:
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Creative capacity building workshops (e.g., improv, storytelling, graphic
visualization, giving and receiving critical feedback) that would improve faculty
members’ performance in the classroom, ability to secure grants from funders, and
engage students and colleagues.
Pooled access to videographers or graphic designers who could help faculty task
force members communicate their research in more compelling ways.
An innovation grant fund to support pilots that the faculty task force sought to pilot.
Dedicated space for collaborating and sharing works-in-progress
Address transportation issues—perhaps offer parking or bus passes to help foster
attendance at cross-campus events
III. Envision bold signature programs
This is your call to dream big! What programs could you design that could serve as a
regional or national model? What could you design if money was not a constraint? In
conversation with ORED, Deans, and possibly potential donors, the faculty task force
should develop a portfolio of signature programs that offer a distinctive “national model”
for a research-driven Creative Initiative. Ideally the signature projects will offer a
systematic and holistic approach that draws on the unique assets or challenges of the
region and the respective Colleges.
For example, the task force may want to consider:
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ORED Creative Initiatives
Placing Creativity and Innovation at the Center of the LSU Experience
Strategic White Paper • December 2013
Prepared by Elizabeth Long Lingo, PhD
 A Research Innovation “Lab” for junior faculty who have recently secured tenure
and are seeking to define their next research project. These faculty might especially
benefit from:
o A multi-disciplinary research consortium as they develop their next research
project
o A “sabbatical” at a state agency to infuse their work with immediate pragmatic
issues faced by the state
o A series of workshops focused on fostering their expressive agility and capacity to
work across disciplines
 A Creative Process Open House/”The Drama of the Lab”—where studios, labs, and
rehearsal spaces are opened up across Colleges—similar to an art crawl. The focus
would be on process, rather than on finished products, and would bring to life the
messiness, ambiguity, and creative process unfolding in the lab, theater, studio, etc.
Tours could be led by student research ambassadors or pairs of faculty and students.
 A documentary or article to be submitted to the Chronicle of Higher Education
depicting their process of launching a creativity initiative
 A Problem Solving Lab or Innovation Center—using Stanford d.school, MIT d.Lab, or
Brown TRI-Lab as inspiration, develop a lab where researchers, students, industry, and
community members could come together to advance research and develop novel
solutions to local problems—perhaps at the new IBM building.
 Co-opting on-campus space for showcasing bold experiments in non-routine
partnerships, conversations, research, etc. How can existing space be utilized to
better share the research projects and potential collaborations across faculty and
departments? Could LCD screens on campus be used to display high-level ideas or
provocations?
 Innovation grant program to pilot unique multi-disciplinary curricular and
extra-curricular pilots and research projects
 Creativity or Innovation Scholarship or Internship Program—for undergraduate
Scholars who seek to illuminate how the creative process unfolds across disciplines or
whose scholarly work seeks to integrate across disciplines.
IV. Examine and leverage existing LSU resources, programs, and systems. What is
working well? Benchmark nationally for best practices and evaluate for fit and
adaptability at LSU.
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ORED Creative Initiatives
Placing Creativity and Innovation at the Center of the LSU Experience
Strategic White Paper • December 2013
Prepared by Elizabeth Long Lingo, PhD
Questions to consider:
 What are the existing LSU “gems” where cross-collaborations or innovative programs,
courses, etc. are already happening?
 How might these gems to be further realized or expanded into a national model?
 What exciting initiatives and programs are happening elsewhere? What can you
borrow/adapt at LSU? For example, University of Florida held a art-science showcase
where artistic and scientific projects were juxtaposed and curated adjacent to each
other.
 Examine existing models of faculty research and collaboration—e.g., the coastal
sustainability design studio. Why does it work well? Are there other areas that could
also have a similar design studio?
 Examine the entire student experience—from student visits to senior projects and
placement to see how facets could 1) be reoriented around creativity and innovation
and 2) foster multi-disciplinary research and projects.
 Examine orientation experiences for faculty and students. Could you offer designthinking workshops? Marshmallow Challenge? Brainstorming workshop? Empathic
interviewing and asking questions? Kickstarter workshops?
 How might the AVATAR program be developed further or used as a model?
 How might the new LSU-wide research database be used to advance ORED’s work?
 How could work-in-progress (rather than final work) be shared across disciplines?
 What resources, including the textile museum or libraries, could be leveraged more
fully as part of the Creative Initiatives?
V. Imagine and pilot smaller-scale innovative programs
In parallel with efforts to articulate a bold signature vision, the task force can also imagine
and implement an array of “buzz producing” pilots. Pilots will help lay the cultural
groundwork for change, and test the boundaries of what is possible at LSU. I recommend
using the language of “pilots” or “labs” or “experiments” to invite all who are involved to
engage and provide feedback on the projects, and to mitigate the inevitable resistance to
dramatic, perhaps unpalatable, change.
Below I provide a list of possibilities generated from my own work and national
benchmarking. I’ve organized the possibilities below into categories—you might find that
other, different categories better suit your needs.
1. Creative capacity workshops
 These could vary broadly and be offered on a single basis, or as part of a day-long
“event” such as Vanderbilt’s Creative Practice Boot Camp (e.g., offer workshops on
improvisation, data visualization, giving and receiving feedback, asking questions,
ethnographic observation, mashups, etc…)
 You might focus on Expressive Agility given LSU’s focus on “communication”—how
to use an array of media to compellingly express one’s ideas, stories, and identity or
bring in an entrepreneur on pitching ideas
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ORED Creative Initiatives
Placing Creativity and Innovation at the Center of the LSU Experience
Strategic White Paper • December 2013
Prepared by Elizabeth Long Lingo, PhD
 You might consider workshops targeted at students or faculty only, and those that
bring everyone together, learning side-by-side.
2. Multi-disciplinary Brown Bag series
 What is the best name for this pilot?
 You might mix up the format and location so that faculty could visit all parts of
campus. Each faculty could curate the session as he/she saw fit. For example,
Margaret might start by offering a voice lesson; possibilities for non-routine
collaborations could be generated at the end.
3. Emergent faculty projects and working groups
The task force could pilot faculty and graduate student working groups based on topics
generated from the one-on-one Creative Leadership empathic inquiry exercise:
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Integrate arts into teaching science
Service research opportunities—research for the public good
Focus on invisible service workers/women
Fair access in a democratic society
Eradicating poverty pop-up store
Inventory untapped resources that could be leveraged for creativity
Textile—steamboat museum
Textiles and global industries
Geophysical conference with theologians and mathematicians
The Uncanny, Unknown, and Unseen
Exhibition of the deep sea—that would travel around the regional library system
Redesigning education, re-appraising gifted education and investments in students
Global flow of talent and labor workforce development
Virtual online talent
Open-university: Challenges and opportunities
Outreach to female students in the veterinarian school
How to take care of yourself when in medical/veterinarian school
Entertainment/pop culture as a positive sense of identity
4. Explore shadow creative identities
How many faculty and staff have a creative practice? Could ORED and task force members
make visible their own creative practice and invite others to join in (whether it is a
community garden, bird calling, or a rock band)? Could students interview and ask faculty
and alumni about their careers and how their creative practice informs their engineering
work and keeps them sane? Could these be publicly posted, say on the website or
magazine?
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ORED Creative Initiatives
Placing Creativity and Innovation at the Center of the LSU Experience
Strategic White Paper • December 2013
Prepared by Elizabeth Long Lingo, PhD
5. Student research ambassadors program
As part of, or augmenting the ORED’s QEP efforts, ORED could sponsor student research
ambassadors who would help showcase the creative process unfolding in their labs to their
student peers. This could also develop into a “behind-the-scenes” web-video series, and
other videos that could be used by admissions, development, and alumni relations.
6. Build a network of catalysts
Design challenges, competitions, and innovation grants could be offered to engage a wider
circle of faculty, staff, and students as designers, sources of expertise, and catalysts for the
creative initiatives.
For example…
o Annual Design Challenge Day to reinvent some aspect of LSU (could focus on
classrooms, space, residential life, community relationships, re-imagining potential
research collaborations)
o Invite creative/innovators to live in each res life college
o Organize generative “speed-dating” conversations within and across departments
o Develop a cross-disciplinary mentoring network—with faculty, alumni, and
graduate students.
VI. Identify potential areas for long-term systemic change
As the task force advances its efforts, several large-scale systemic obstacles will likely arise.
The challenge is to see how far the task-force can experiment within these constraints, look
for possible workarounds, and include these in a task force report as issues to be
considered at higher levels of administration. For example:
 Re-envision promotion and tenure around the ORED strategic goals
 Consider mechanics of co-taught classes
 Eliminate institutional roadblocks to faculty collaboration across disciplines.
VII. Task force design and approach
Here I offer several suggestions for the design of the task force and how they might
organize their efforts.
1. Hold a one or two-day retreat in Spring or Summer 2014 with all task force members to
scope purpose and generate a range of possibilities that can be explored further in the
2014-15 year. Summer can be used to refine thinking about pilots that could be
introduced in 2014-15.
Possible topics could include:
 What success would look like in the short and long-term
 Who else needs to be on the task force
 How to leverage the new IBM building
 How to best engage Liz Lerman
 Possible collaborative courses or workshops
 Possible multi-disciplinary research themes or topics
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ORED Creative Initiatives
Placing Creativity and Innovation at the Center of the LSU Experience
Strategic White Paper • December 2013
Prepared by Elizabeth Long Lingo, PhD
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Possible pop-up events
Novel uses of existing pathways and spaces
Identify 1-2 signature programs and portfolio of pilots to implement in 20132014
2. Determine how often the task force will meet and how time might best be spent in
Spring 2014. The task force might want to launch the monthly or bi-weekly Brown Bag
series or use this time to advance the work of the task force (or perhaps combine both
in the time allotted).
3. Going forward, it would be useful to establish and support an integrator/facilitator
role—one or two task force co-chairs. Ideally, in every large group meeting, one person
can lead the discussion, while the other takes notes and synthesizes the ideas. Co-chairs
will help instigate the separate projects and maintain cohesive strategy and narrative
across all smaller groups.
4. ORED will likely also need to provide a program assistant to coordinate logistics and
details of pilots launched by the task force.
5. After the spring semester, I would recommend checking in to see whether the existing
task force members are committed to their involvement. During the spring, it would be
useful for all the task force members to articulate what specific projects they’d like to
see happen and prioritize those for the first two years for piloting, if possible. This
strategy helps build commitment and makes it easier for everyone to tell the “story” of
why the initiative is important to them personally.
6. Ideal size would be 10-15 people.
7. Utilize both large group meetings and what I call “deep dives". Deep dives offer the
opportunity for smaller groups to be truly candid and pursue imaginative
brainstorming.
8. Identify other campus and community partners who can help augment efforts (e.g.,
service learning), act as a board of advisors, or help support the branding of the
Creative Initiatives (e.g., Alumni relations, Development, and University
Communications)
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ORED Creative Initiatives
Placing Creativity and Innovation at the Center of the LSU Experience
Strategic White Paper • December 2013
Prepared by Elizabeth Long Lingo, PhD
Appendix 1:
Ideas generated by faculty in the ArtsEngine speed dating session I facilitated in 2012
1. ArtsEngine Research collaborations
 Music students would learn from seeing the close relationships to structural
engineering
 Musical sound waves, vibrations: compared to waves/vibrations on a steel
bridge
 Musical harmonics: compared to movements and harmonics of a building
moving and/or collapsing
 Musical instruments vs sounds: sounds of nature
 Intervals in music reflect 5th: vs simply supported beam
 The science and engineering in musical instruments and music itself
 Engineering music
 Find the resonant frequency of tones of substances, and compose for them.
 Music Across Networks
 “CP Snow society” – bridging arts and sciences
 A young person’s guide to electronic music
 Archive of Louisiana Sounds
 Acoustic ecology
 Oral histories
 Produce a creative/business/arts/entrep women’s lecture series
 Create a swine palace production history. LSU Press Treasures book with
production spotlights, history, artist bios and talks.
 Create a coastal laboratory where faculty and students cross-college could
design and build and test coastal structures, and investigate science.
2. Signature ArtScienceEngineering Events or Encounters
 Flash mobs – orchestra and engineers show up and perform;
 Orchestra scattered around campus performing together through headphones, Iphones
with a time signal through the group
 24 hour digital media/dance/music/theatre festival
 Sponsor an artist to create art from old used equipment from an industry.
 Flow dancing to music – colors dancing to music
 “Robotic” musical motion – non-anthropomorphic robot
 Engineering design paintings
 Massive collaborative art/music experience – co-opt the half-time show at football
game and have everyone play music from their cell phones.
 Perform with our Laptop Orchestra in all sorts of venues – bus, outside, parades, free
speech alley, fields, swamps, etc.
 Research to find small scale (nano/pico) materials that can resonate as speakers.
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ORED Creative Initiatives
Placing Creativity and Innovation at the Center of the LSU Experience
Strategic White Paper • December 2013
Prepared by Elizabeth Long Lingo, PhD
 Art Exhibit  Affect (vision/speech sensors) Response to action, mood or force them
to interact in a different way (lighting, music, wind,…)
 RF10 Peer network to track location of parts in an art exhibit and respond
 Use CLT as an exemplar of multidisciplinary interpretation
 Student booth Jukebox
 Touch screen visual art of music chosen
 Participation Event including Social media / phones, Live performances, Video screens,
Computer orchestra, Camera from above, Live cameras, Start with concrete idea in
each area, OBS  performers, integrate, originals, idea, AUD OBS  random created
event
 Cross campus (or city) art and architecture and sculpture
 Interactive living art
 Collaborative exploration of literary works
 Community workshop in language, movement, art
3. Coopt and Re-imagine Existing Space and Pathways
 Renovation of the Engineering building affords opportunity to create multidisciplinary,
creative spaces and collaborative arts/engineering research spaces
 Build a lounge with coffee machine and foosball for research groups.
 Buying some general experimental apparatus and a workshop to build prototypes.
 Convert Reilly theatre into a solid stage for an episode tv show (e.g., SyFy Network)
 Video imaging center for the theatrical programs
 Play space on campus
 Pipe rehearsal music, offering rehearsal or artist space in newly enlarged
Engineering space.
 Use existing campus spaces, walkways, workshops, etc. to offer opportunities for
collaboration across the two colleges.
 Incorporate Da Vincian principles of creativity into “walk” between music and
engineering
 Stations for curiosity, demonstrations, sensazine (??), art/science, connesoinne,
corporality, sfumato
 Utilize LCD screens as vehicle for encounters, posing questions, sharing works in
progress, creative research and projects, etc.
4. Develop New Courses or Course Innovations
 Joint courses for Architecture and Structural Engineering students
 Video games on safety of structures and infrastructure
 Construction management: Engineering students working with theatre students to
train on new construction techniques and materials
 Figure out ways to be more creative in teaching all the “ABET” requirements to
engineering students.
 Create a theatrical robotic program.
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ORED Creative Initiatives
Placing Creativity and Innovation at the Center of the LSU Experience
Strategic White Paper • December 2013
Prepared by Elizabeth Long Lingo, PhD
 Create an ArtsEngine class to explore creative practice and process from multiple
perspectives. Could include: Role playing, Body language, Express ideas, Causality –
organization, discipline, Engineering structure design, Solid modeling, Spatial
awareness, Hands on learning, Engineering, Presentation / expression of ideas
 Give extra credit in classes for creative expression of ideas.
 Innovate intro to engineering – include team building, design, sensors, multidisciplinary. Get students excited about engineering.
 Help students and faculty learn to express themselves more concisely through written
oral, and visual methods.
 Integrate the human aspect/experience into real-world conversations on design and
problem solutions.
 Make short movies on a related scientific topic to be used as a wake up call in long
classes. Maybe a puzzle.
 Use arts/creativity to introduce concepts difficult to grasp in classes; also engage
students, launch discussions
 Legos to see why some molecules melt at high T and others not
 Computation across the curriculum
 Need overhauled freshman engineering program… maybe around creativity!
 Develop new, fun, but instructional modules for intro to engineering (for middle and
high school)
 Engineering across the curriculum
 Have exam on other industries
 Guest lecture of classes outside your normal discipline – but relating the class to the
classes you teach.
 Certification program in theatre technical arts
 Automated scenery workshops
 Embed visualization exercises in every course.
 Get undergrad students across disciplines in dialogue about the social value of their
work as part of their required curricula – generate empathy from outset toward one
another.
 Deconstruct and construct existing musical instruments.
 Design an instrument like a flute or an oboe reed. Work with music students. Music
students demonstrate how their instrument works and engineers deconstruct and try
to design a prototype (get involved in how to play it).
5. Expand Opportunities for Problem- and Project-Based Learning
 Complete so many projects before you graduate – either in community engagement
or/and entrepreneurship
 Create supported international study opportunity
 Service projects with 1-2 year timeline. Multidisciplinary doesn’t work within a
semester, Like EPICS program -- engineering projects in community service.
(example, on campus (can’t drive on campus anymore)… bike rental company
sharing)
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ORED Creative Initiatives
Placing Creativity and Innovation at the Center of the LSU Experience
Strategic White Paper • December 2013
Prepared by Elizabeth Long Lingo, PhD
 Finish all playgrounds – design with community, build – integrate music, art,
education, technology by reflecting the unique soul of the community through
design
 Integrate the creativity institutive with CCELL (center for community engagement,
learning, and leadership) to harness community and university creativity and
assets to address local issues (for common good)
 Fund creative projects that occur outside the campus (students + non-profit
organizations) for example, or staff + community partners
 Organize creativity efforts around a critical community issue, like literacy (all types:
reading, financial, etc.). Fund and make progress on issue, report back, etc. Focus on
creative engagement.
 Integrate students and industry on the development of special topics using a
creativity design approach
 Multidisciplinary senior design projects to use creative design approach
 Have students across STEM/arts collaborate on arts and engineering projects
installed on campus prominently (like Avatar’s digital media fest, but public and
visible).
 Further engage in socially relevant theatre projects aimed at engaging relevant
units in discourse around social issues
 Service lecturing in structures: students’ solutions for real-world structured
problems
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