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In their second year, all degree students in the Whole Systems Design program complete a nine-month capstone change project. During their change projects, students learn about creating social change by actively engaging with a real-world organization or community. It is a chance for students to put into practice many of the ideas and concepts studied in their first-year courses and to explore new understandings about how to be an effective change agent.
Change projects are as diverse as the students themselves. Center for Creative Change students have completed change projects with many different organizational and community partners and they have worked on many different topics including:
From Plan to Reality: An Operations Strategy for the Pacific Northwest
Salmon Center
Michael DeBlasi, Deirdre Duffy, Karna Humphrey and Sue Patnude. This multi-disciplinary team joined together with the Pacific Northwest Salmon Center (PNWSC) to design and implement a timeline of activities leading up to the PNWSC opening day. The project included establishing a steering committee for activities, programs, education and research for opening day and beyond. The team utilized strategic planning processes to promote organizational awareness and involved a number of stakeholders. The project connected these issues to the mission of PNWSC and fostered a sustainable organization and its sense of place within the community.
Collaborative Organizational Change From the Bottom Up
Lori Danielson worked on a team with the Army Corps of Engineers to reduce the environmental effects of the use of electronic equipment. Without a position of formal authority within the organization, she relied on collaboration and engaged others to change their everyday work practices, thereby achieving organizational change from the bottom up.
Training Youth for Peace
Patricia Anne Davis and Jean Lee (Management) collaborated to train volunteer middle and high school students in peacemaking. They used a training program adapted from the four phases of the Navajo "blessing way" ceremony that encourages healthy communication and relationship life skills.
Listening by Design
As a participant in the redesign of an undergraduate degree program, Deirdre Duffy examined how listening affects the collaborative design process. Her work focused on the levels of listening that occur in groups, how the differing levels can help or hinder group creativity and how music can inform levels of listening.
Strategies for Developing a Leadership Network
Ryan Hawkes helped to develop a leadership network for the more than 60 community gardens in Seattle (P-patches). Using systemic thinking and strategic reframing, he designed a leadership model for a supportive agency to increase social capital and collaboration among gardens and gardeners.
Co-creating a Vision for Sustainability: Blue Mountains of Eastern Oregon
What does successful collaboration for sustainability look like? Working for the U.S. Forest Service, Elaine Kohrman used a whole systems design approach to help create a new vision for sustainability on public lands in Eastern Oregon. The collaborative public process she facilitated provides a new model that transforms the tragedy of conflict into "Success for the Commons."
Intergenerational Learners Build Sustainable Community
Sharon Massey worked with a group of home-school children and their parents to design a participatory learning model that integrated community projects and environmental stewardship. She achieved this by creating an educational vision and specific learning activities that reflect relationships within education, sustainability and community.
Using Art and Design-build Principles to Empower Community
Melanie Mercer was active with Pomegranate Center in Issaquah, WA, to design and create community art projects with residents of a new, affordable-housing community. She explored how art and principles of design can be used to bring people together to create community identity.
Building Communities of Truth Through Dialogue
How can organizations design and engage in a dialogue that inspires authentic, healthy relationships? Barbara Miles explored this question by facilitating two groups within different organizations. She led the groups through an in-depth dialogue that enabled them to develop a more truthful and authentic sense of community in their respective organizations.
Learning to Learn
Rose Olson studied how students with learning disabilities learn in school. Using the lens of systemic thinking, she designed and implemented a pilot program for high school students called "The Mind That's Mine."
Uncovering a Common Story in a University Department
Arnar Valdimarsson and Gail Cheney (Management) led a collaborative process to create a common story about personal experiences within a university department. The process moved from the individual experiences of faculty, staff and students to the uncovering of a collective story for the entire department.
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