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HONORS SELF- DESIGNED PROPOSAL

Complete this proposal prior to your experiences start date and upload it in the UHP Database
(https://webapps.uc.edu/uchonorsstudent). Create an experience (Add a new record) in the Tracking Project
tab and upload your proposal document as an attachment. The deadline for submitting proposals is the 5th of
each month (excluding July).
Proposals are intended to be well developed plans for your experience. However, experiences are exploratory in
nature, and we are flexible with changes throughout the experience. If your experience changes after receiving
approval on your proposal, contact your honors advisor to verify the changes still satisfy the requirements of an
honors experience.

Basic Information
Full Name: Catherine Clarke
Title of Project: Midwest Meetup Leadership Training
Thematic Area(s): Creativity, Community Engagement, Leadership
Expected Start Date: November 11
Expected End Date: December 2nd

GUIDELINES
1. Proposal submission timeline: Proposals should be submitted at least one month prior to the expected
start date of the experience. International experiences require at least two months notice. Contact your
honors advisor immediately for any exceptions.
2. Proposal length: While the quality of the proposal is most important, strong proposals are typically 3-4
pages single-spaced.
3. Proposal format: Please maintain the proposal format (e.g. headers, layout)
4. Time commitment: Experiences should consist of at least 75-90 hours of preparation, execution, and
reflection. This is approximately equivalent to the commitment of honors seminars and pre-approved
experiences.

REQUIREMENTS FOR INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL

All self-designed international travel experiences require two months notice and must be at least one week in
length. You will need to provide a detailed itinerary (dates, locations and activities). If participating in
independent travel (not with UC faculty, staff or student group), you must also fill out a Worldwide: Honors
Experience application via UC International.
Additionally, the Student Travel Policy restricts UC-sponsored travel to countries under a U.S. Department of
State Travel Warning. Those who wish to visit a country with a travel warning must seek an exemption through
UC International. Students traveling without a faculty or staff leader must individually request an exemption.
We cannot allow you to count this travel as an honors experience nor can we give you a grant without an
approved exemption.

1. Abstract
Briefly describe the experience. What makes this experience personally meaningful? What goals do you have for this
experience? What is your timeline for this experience?
*If you are proposing an international experience, provide an itinerary.
**If you are developing this experience from an existing opportunity (class with a study tour, campus organization, co-op,
etc.) that is not already an honors seminar or pre-approved experience, how will you differentiate your experience from
what is already required of other students?
When thinking about a self-designed honors experience I knew that I wanted to do something that I cared
about and get a lot out of. Starting off my first year, I quickly became involved in the Design for America (DFA)
Studio at the University of Cincinnati, a transdisciplinary student-led studio that focuses on using social innovation
to create major local impact. We do this by teaching studio members the design process and the importance it can
have on us, not just as designers but as active community members as well. One of the best parts of being a
member of this organization, however, is the national network. There are 36 other DFA Studios with incredible
visionary students across the nation who will be changing the world long after their time in college. I had the
opportunity to experience this national network over the summer while attending a leadership studio for all DFA
Studios at the DFA Northwestern Headquarters. There is no way to truly understand the impact this automatic
network you join can have on your life and development as a leader until you experience it for yourself. While
talking with other DFA University of Cincinnati studio leads, I and my peers knew we wanted to find a way to
expose the importance of this national network to the rest of our studio members at the University of Cincinnati.
Therefore, I am planning an event with a group of other studio leads for Design for America called
Midwest Meetup, where 19 of the university studios from the Design for America network can meet for a weekend
at University of Cincinnati to focus on a core area of the design process out studio excels at as a whole and can
share with the rest of the network: storytelling. In order to do this I will be expanding our community network to
find people who specialize in different types of storytelling and companies who use storytelling in their professional
lives. People will go to these companies, learn about them and their role as non-profit companies in the Greater
Cincinnati Area, and create a presentation which will tell the story of Cincinnati and how this company relates to
the physical area. The goal is that, after talking to these companies and creating their own story of the city with
professional storytellers of various mediums, these students will walk away with a stronger storytelling skillset. To
aid in the development of this, I will create a website which will explain the different types of storytelling, the
importance of storytelling as a skill, and examples of individuals or companies who use these types of storytelling
well. I find this meaningful because storytelling is a vital skill to have and one of my favorite skills I have learned
since joining DFA, and I want to not only refine my skills but help others develop this important skill set as well.
The goal is to walk out of this experience as not only a stronger leader for having organized and run the
whole event, but a better community member by having students engage with non-profit community partners and
a better creative mind and storyteller for having had learned these skills, synthesized them while creating a
website, and eventually teaching others about these forms of storytelling through the completion of the website.
I have attached the itinerary for the weekend of the conference itself to this document. In terms of the
timeline for the project I intend to do afterwards, I will spend the week and a half after the event developing the
website and culminating all my information. The following 10 days will be spent showing my website to various
focus groups having them evaluate factors such as the ease with which they can navigate the website, the
importance of the content, and the utility of the product before I submit it.
Advisor Feedback
Must Include:
Brief description of the experience
Personal connection to the experience
Identified goals for the experience
Timeline from start to finish

Required Revisions:

Effective:

3
*Itinerary (international experiences only)
**Explanation of differentiated
experience from what is required of other
students

2. Experience Advisor
Identify an experience advisor and provide their contact information. Explain why you chose this person and how you
plan to utilize your advisor for this experience.
Note: Advisor(s) should have knowledge or expertise in an area related to the experience. Honors advisors, undergraduate
students, and family members cannot be experience advisors.
Steven Doehler
Title: Associate Professor
Office: 5280B Aronoff Center
Tel: 513-556-4576
Email: steven.doehler@uc.edu
Steven Doehler is a professor of Industrial Design at the University of Cincinnati and is the academic
advisor for Design for America. He will also be the keynote speaker at Midwest Meet-up as he has been around the
world, most recently in Mexico City, giving speeches about the vitality of storytelling in design. He teaches what he
preaches and is strong at giving feedback in terms of projects and their strengths and feasibility. I believe he would
be the best resource to help me make a strong resulting product.
I plan to utilize Seven Doehler as both a mentor and partner in my self-designed experience. I mentioned
my interest in doing a follow-up project after the conference and he said he would be more than happy to assist me.
He would be able to help me turn the website into a resource for DAAP students which he and other professors
could use in classes as well as putting the website on other relevant sites such as the Design for America University
of Cincinnati branch website.
Advisor Feedback
Must Include:

Required Revisions:

Effective:

Experience advisor name and contact

information
Description of why advisor was selected
Specific plans to engage with advisor

3. Connection to Learning Outcomes

List 3 learning outcomes from any thematic area(s). Provide specific activities you plan to engage in to help you make
progress towards the chosen learning outcomes. Describe how you expect each activity to help your progress. Include an
estimated time commitment for those activities.
1. Motivate and collaborate effectively with others towards completion of shared projects or goals.
(LEADERSHIP)
a. This has to do with the creation of the weekend long event itself. I am working with a group of 2
other students to organize this event. We are contacting speakers and community organizations
whom the students will be visiting, coming up with housing arrangements for all the students
coming, organizing food for students and speakers, as well as developing the marketing materials
and swag. We have created stickers, shirts, custom cookies as gifts to speakers, space layout for the
weekend, and team break downs as well as bonding ice-breakers. We are also working together to
create a strong team dynamic between us as the organizers of the event and the other members of

the studio who will be helping us run the program throughout the weekend by organizing socials
and personally meeting with each member to let them know how much we appreciate their help as
well as ensure they feel confident about their roles and responsibilities for the weekend of the
program.
b. How this will help my progress: All this work helps to develop out skills as leaders and team
members as well as makes it so we know we have reliable members of the organization who will be
helping us during the actual weekend of the event.
c. Estimated Time Commitment: 50 hours
2. Explain how education, advocacy, mobilization, or public policy can influence social issues and transform
communities. (COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT)
a. This has to do with the creation of the weekend long event itself as well. The goal of the weekend is
to have students understand the importance of community within the Cincinnati area and enhance
their appreciation for the many career paths there are that put community engagement at the
forefront of their work. In order to do this, we have first enhanced our understanding of these
programs by learning intensively about the inner workings and goals of organizations that focus on
community engagement such as Design Impact and Neihoff Urban Studio. We are now working on
the creating of activities and interactions students will have with these companies to enhance their
understanding, and hopefully later their involvement with these organizations.
b. How this will help my progress: I am able to be a more socially conscious and active community
participant of the Cincinnati area as well as am able to share this enthusiasm for community
engagement with program participants over the weekend of Midwest Meet-Up
c. Estimated Time Commitment: 10 hours
3. Explore a new creative competency/medium or seek new ways to engage an existing competency/medium.
(CREATIVITY)
a. This pertains more to my follow-up project. I will be developing a website that explains the
different ways individuals can use storytelling as a tool to convey ideas and products to other
people, as a follow up to the storytelling objective of the weekend long event. In order to do this I
will take information present and synthesized and will then transform into a tool I can provide with
other DFA studios as well as our own, along with student group on campus that have similar
objectives such as Bearcat LaunchPad.
b. How this will help my progress: I will be able to gain new skills in proper web design and will be
able to process the tools gained during my experience planning and conducting the event into a
useful tool I and other students can refer back to.
c. Estimated Time Commitment: 25 hours
Advisor Feedback
Must Include:

Required Revisions:

Effective:

3 learning outcomes explicitly identified

from any thematic area(s)
Examples of activities and explanation of
how each will assist the progress towards
the chosen learning outcome
Estimated time commitment for each
activity

4. Academic Resources Connected to the Learning Outcomes

List 2-3 academic resources you plan to use. For each, describe how it connects to your learning outcomes and how you
hope that it will contribute to your learning during this experience. You must have at least one resource connected to each
learning outcome; a resource can satisfy multiple outcomes. Please include the title and author/creator for each resource.

Note: Academic resources are professional/academic works that can be used to assist your understanding of the topic.
Some examples are books, research journals, documentaries, or videos.
1. Storytelling website: http://epipheo.com/about/
a. I was trying to find websites similar to the product I am attempting to make so that I can
differentiate myself from the precedent already out there. I could not find anything necessarily
similar to what I plan to create but I did find many types of companies who focus on specific types
of storytelling. This company focuses on animated videography exclusively but they do a strong job
of conveying their story that storytelling is important and display their specific form of storytelling
well. I will use them and their resources as a good base to try and relate me own website to. I can
also use them as an example of precedent for videography, and will find other companies who
specialize in the other formats of storytelling.
2. Similar website to my objective: http://www.sparkol.com/engage/8-classic-storytelling-techniques-forengaging-presentations/
a. While I couldnt find any website directly related to what I was attempting to create, I did find a
few website pages that went into teaching different plots of stories. While this is a different topic
from mine, this website did a strong job of combining graphics, writing, and examples to teach
people about the different types of stories. I plan to mirror their mix of teaching styles to show
HOW to tell a story through different formats on my own website.
Advisor Feedback
Must Include:

Required Revisions:

Effective:

1-2 academic resources connected to the

learning outcomes
Title and author of each resource
Description of how resources will help
make progress towards learning outcomes
and execution of experience

5. On-going Reflection
The on-going reflection should help you process the experience and progress toward your chosen learning outcomes.
Describe your method for reflecting throughout the experience. Indicate specific reflection questions/topics you plan to
use to guide your reflective process.
Note: A variety of methods can be used for on-going reflection. Some examples are videos, drawings, blogs, songs, and
journals. Reflection topics to consider include your ideas/insights about the experience, connection to other areas of
involvement, and your progress towards the learning outcomes.
Throughout the experience I plan to have both a quantitative and qualitative on-going reflection of my
progress. On the quantitative side I will be keeping a spread sheet of the amount of examples and testimonials
related to the examples I am choosing to highlight for each type of storytelling I will highlight on my website. I will
also keep track of the amount of information I have converted into quick-step guides for storytelling as well as the
amount of information I have converted into the format for the website. This reflection will allow me to check my
progress at a quick glance and keep me on track, as well as giving cold-fact updates to my mentor.
I also plan to have a qualitative reflection where I can note my successes and short-comings, this reflection
will help me make any necessary adjustments. I will have my qualitative reflection in a journal where I can also
track how this experience is working for me and how I have grown throughout the process. Both during the
weekend and while creating the website
I would also like to have students and mentors checking my website periodically towards the last stages of
the project to see if the goals and types of storytelling are easily understandable for people who have not been part
of my process of creating the website. I believe using this study group will ultimately determine the success of my
website.

Reflection Questions:
Number of examples found?
Number of examples converted?
At what point in the process have I reached?
What goals and objectives have I accomplished?
What is going well and what is not going well?
What can be changed?
What is the next step?
Advisor Feedback
Must Include:

Required Revisions:

Effective:

Method for ongoing reflection

Reflection questions/topics clearly
specified

6. Sharing Your Learning

Describe how you plan to actively share what youve taken away from this experience with a targeted audience. Consider
signing up for the UHP Impact Forum held each April. Explain why you chose this specific audience.
Note: While social media can be an effective platform for sharing, only posting on your personal learning portfolio or
social media account(s) does not reach a targeted audience.
Part of my purpose is to expose students at University of Cincinnati to the wider network of designers who
are making an impact and have shared skills in being able to convey ideas to wide audiences through their expert
storytelling abilities, so that students may then gain those skills as well. As a follow up to this event, I want for
students to have a resource which they can refer to that will explain in simple terms what it means to be a
storyteller and the tools in a storytellers arsenal. Therefore, using the testimonials of our guest speakers and the
lessons learned by students who attended the event, I will create a website that will have a speakers toolkit. This
toolkit will include the different ways to effectively convey a story (social media, videography, portfolio creation)
that were presented at the conference along with examples of individuals who have strong skills in these areas, and
showcase some of the presentations that will be given at the Midwest Meet-up Conference for people to look at as
references.
In addition to the creation of the website I will also need to market this site so that those who would benefit
are aware of it. I plan to put posters around the college of DAAP as well as provide the link to the many start-up
and pitch-competition oriented student groups on campus so students who are looking for ways to effectively
market products and ideas will have a resource to help them refine their skills. In addition, I plan to speak in front
of different business organizations such as Design for America, Bearcat LaunchPad, and others TBD.
I believe my project can potentially help a lot of people refine their storytelling abilities and once they know
about it, it will be easy to use and accessible for all. My target audience in the beginning will be students that are
in startup organizations who are at the end of their prototyping stages of the design process but hope that in the
future it can also be helpful for all students who want to enhance their public speaking skills, a vital ability that is
helpful no matter your major or interests.

Advisor Feedback
Must Include:
At least one method to actively share
take-aways/learning from the experience
A specific audience and why the audience
was selected

Required Revisions:

Effective:

7. Budget (if applicable)

Provide an itemized budget and indicate your source for cost information.
*If you are engaged in an unpaid internship or research, please indicate the number of weeks and hours per week you
plan to participate.
The only budget applicable to this event weekend would be the $25 fee payed for attending the event, which goes
towards the shared dinner on Saturday night and t-shirt provided for the weekend.
I plan on spending about 14 hours a week until the final weekend in which I will be working 12 hours a day on the
event itself. Therefore, the estimated total hours would be about 75 hours. The schedule for the weekend of
Midwest MeetUp itself is provided below.
Midwest MeetUp 2016
Hosted by DFA U Cincinnati
U Illinois Northwestern Notre Dame MSU CWRU/CIA Wash U -- Purdue
FOCUS: STORYTELLING
Concept: Groups visit different parts of the Cincinnati and learn about the history and rich culture of the Queen
City. They will be visiting an organization unique to Cincinnati and hear their story about its impact on the
community and start visualizing how DFA could pair up with them to build a story together. They will conclude
the weekend by creating a presentation that will tell the story of their weekend.
Groups prepare their story through a method of their choosing, i.e. storyboarding, short film, animation,
presentation
Emphasis is creating visualizations and demonstrating the connectivity
GENERAL ITINERARY:
-All activities will take place in Steger Student Center unless otherwise noted
Friday 11/11: 6:00p-9:30p
6:00 pm- Meet your group! Groups are comprised of students from all 7 schools, about 7 people per team
7:00 pm- Steve Doehler (UC faculty advisor), keynote presentation on storytelling
8:00 pm- intro to organizations/project, briefly outlining the types of storytelling
8:30 pm- Campus scavenger hunt- Give students the opportunity to explore UCs campus and practicing to
document their experience, a skill that will continue being used throughout the weekend
- 9:00 pm- reconvene and discuss the activities that we will be doing during the day on Saturday
Saturday 11/12: 9:00a-8:00p
- 9:00 am- Breakfast- provided
- 9:30 am- Depart from UC to take a tour of downtown Cincinnati, viewing many historical sites and enjoying the
beautiful architecture.
- 10:30 am- Arrive at designated organizations and learn about their work and what they do for the the city,
brainstorm ways that DFA could be integrated as a community partner.
12:00 pm- Lunch (not provided)- different local restaurants around campus or in OTR
- 1:30 pm- Speaker- Brian Barkocy (P&G): importance of storytelling in communicating data
- 2:15 pm- break
- 2:30 pm- Project debrief: sticky note categorize important things they learned from the morning and organize
their forms of documentation; brainstorm topic of story
- 2:45 pm- Storytelling skills workshop (speaker TBD): how to storyboard
- 3:15 pm- Practice storyboarding based on their morning
- 3:45 pm- feedback between teams
- 4:15 pm- break
- 4:30 pm- regroup; choose method of storytelling using the skills developed in the workshops and begin work to
put together their presentation
- 4:30-7:00 - during this time, UC studio leads and representatives from DFA National will be walking
around to groups and giving feedback and guidance when necessary
- 5:00-6:00 - DFA National faculty (Stacy Klingbeil and Michelle Baverman) will be meeting with the
different studios in 20 minute increments

- 7:00 pm- cookout (provided)

SUNDAY 11/13: 9:00a-1:00p
9:00 am- Breakfast (provided) and extra work time if needed
- 10:00 am- Group presentations
- 11:00 am- break
- 11:15 am- DFA National debrief- How we can we use these skills and information to improve our work at our
own DFA studios?
- 12:15 pm- wrap up activity and quick feedback on the weekend
- 1:00 pm- Studios depart and return to their schools

Advisor Feedback
Notes:
Detailed budget of expenditures with
sources to justify budget estimates
*Indicates the number of hours per week
and number of weeks of participation

Required Revisions:

Effective:

THEMATIC AREA LEARNING OUTCOMES

Learning Outcomes for the Community Engagement Thematic Area:
By engaging in this thematic area, you will make progress towards learning how to
Identify and differentiate multiple ways to contribute towards the development or achievement of the communitys
goals.
Develop a thorough understanding of the world view, beliefs, experiences, self-consciousness, or history of
community members through collaboration.
Articulate the purpose of service on a social issue or public policy and how service mutually enhances individual
growth and the common good.
Explain how education, advocacy, mobilization, or public policy can influence social issues and transform
communities.

Learning Outcomes for the Creativity Thematic Area:

By engaging in this thematic area, you will make progress towards learning how to

Discover new techniques to gain knowledge, consider options, make new connections, and ask questions.
Explore a new creative competency/medium or seek new ways to engage an existing competency/medium.
Understand and optimize the use of people, technology, physical resources or community in a creative process.
Articulate the broader significance of a creative project and the value of its contributions.

Learning Outcomes for the Global Studies Thematic Area:

By engaging in this thematic area, you will make progress towards learning how to
Develop practical travel skills that promote safe, stimulating, and productive travel throughout your life.
Summarize the interconnectedness of geography, history, cultural traits and world issues.
Articulate the interdependence of professional fields to address current and impending global issues such as
technology, the environment, human rights, or politics.
Demonstrate an understanding of cultural diversity by acknowledging the impact of their own identity and the
experience of social norms, customs, or beliefs that are different from their own.
Demonstrate a sense of empathy, respect, and appreciation for others to build meaningful cross-cultural
collaborations toward mutual growth and prosperity.

Learning Outcomes for the Leadership Thematic Area:

By engaging in this thematic area, you will make progress towards learning how to

Formulate and manage a shared vision and develop goals towards its achievement.
Motivate and collaborate effectively with others towards completion of shared projects or goals.
Develop strategies to identify and respond to challenges and obstacles.
Identify personal strengths and areas of growth and evaluate opportunities to maximize skills and abilities.
Synthesize the current trends related to a specific issue or field and evaluate how thought-leaders are currently
addressing them.

Learning Outcomes for the Research Thematic Area:

By engaging in this thematic area, you will make progress towards learning how to

Demonstrate the ability to locate, interpret, and critically evaluate primary sources appropriate to field.
Identify and apply appropriate methods to collect and organize data for analysis.
Analyze and interpret the meaning of results.
Produce dissemination appropriate to the field in order to share the results or impact of the research.
Articulate the broader significance of the research project and its relationship to other fields, research and ideas.