IUPUI Students utilize high technology such as the AVL on a daily basis.
About the IUPUI Solution Center
The IUPUI Solution Center, a division of the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, reflects IUPUI’s commitment to its community. The Solution Center is the front door to the campus, addressing the economic and business development needs of Central Indiana since 2004. IUPUI, Indiana’s premier urban public research university, offers more than 250 degree programs in 21 schools to more than 30,000 students. As a first point of contact for IUPUI, the Solution Center facilitates interaction between IUPUI’s expanding community of scholars, researchers, and students and business, industry, government and nonprofit organizations. Together, IUPUI and the community foster discovery, research, and learning that strengthen the economy of Central Indiana.
The Solution Center actively seeks opportunities to increase the number of career-related research and experiential opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students. IUPUI’s downtown location creates many opportunities for career-related internships and employment. By placing students in Indiana businesses and organizations, IUPUI builds both capacity for the business/organization and relevant career-enhancing skills for the student. The larger goal of the Solution Center is to develop a pipeline of talented students who will stay in Indiana (or return to Indiana), assume leadership roles in business and industry, and help create new jobs for graduating students.
Solution Center Goals:
- To serve as a key partner in efforts to increase the number of highly trained and degreed professionals in Indiana.
- To facilitate meaningful collaboration and talent-driven partnerships with Indiana’s business, industry, nonprofit, and government sectors.
- To discover, develop, and transfer information, technologies, and methods that enhance practice in key clusters.
Community-Based Engagement
The Solution Center facilitates partnerships with Indiana nonprofits, businesses, and government agencies through the development of for-credit and noncredit opportunities, including internships, class projects, and business assistance.
Internships
- An internship is an opportunity to integrate career related experience into an undergraduate or graduate education by participating in planned, supervised work.
- In general, a good experiential learning opportunity will include a significant level of responsibility, be related to the student’s program of study and career goals, and provide a suitable mentor or supervisor who is expert in the field of the internship.
- The organization or business that creates an internship will gain in terms of the student’s talent and the capacity they bring to the organization, but should also be prepared to create a learning environment for the intern that may include networking opportunities, cross-training experiences, exposure to organizational goals and planning objectives, in addition to the intern’s primary internship responsibilities.
- For-credit internships should be developed in agreement with a school representative, faculty member, or career counselor. There are specific requirements for both the employer and the student-intern that make the internship experience eligible for credit.
Class Projects
- Practice-based education, an enduring hallmark of IUPUI, can take many forms, including class projects, independent study, capstone projects, and case studies.
- Class projects provide for-credit opportunities for students who work in close contact with a faculty member in his or her program. Projects are usually short term engagements that accomplish a finite set of goals, defined in partnership between the faculty member and the community partner.
- For-credit class projects should be developed in agreement with a faculty representative and the community partner.
Business Assistance
- Business Assistance Projects offer an organization and a student or faculty member the opportunity to engage with a small business or non-profit organization to respond to a short-term need.
- Projects do not provide the organization or the student the same level of contact and direct involvement as an internship, due to the short-term nature of projects. However, business assistance projects often are an excellent solution to an organization’s need for training, information, technology assistance, etc.
- Projects tend to be between 40 and 100 hours in duration, and should be reviewed and planned with a Solution Center director to assure that the scope of the project is suitable to be accomplished in that limited amount of time.
Community Venture Fund
The IUPUI Community Venture Fund is a matching grant program open to not-for-profit organizations and small or mid-sized businesses. Funds may be used to seed or enhance university-community partnerships and projects. See information about the Community Venture Fund elsewhere in this site for grant proposal requirements and processes.
A Resource for IUPUI Faculty
The Solution Center is a resource for all faculty at IUPUI for
- Connections with the community — for research, class projects, service opportunities.
- Connections for your students for internships, projects, and access to practitioners.
- Connections to other IUPUI faculty who seek collaborators for community-based research, innovation, and discovery.
Exploring a Partnership with the IUPUI Solution Center
Interested community members who want to explore a partnership with the IUPUI Solution Center should:
- Contact the Solution Center to provide a brief outline of the proposed project or need (either by Web form, email, or phone).
- Meet with a Solution Center director to triage the request and determine the appropriate university resources.
- Meet with potential faculty, researchers, or school internship coordinators appropriate to the need and/or project.
