The ETC strives to create a community of inclusive diversity and belonging within the center and program. Faculty, staff, students, and guests will feel more welcome at the ETC if they give attention to this topic and take action as needed. This is particularly true as we’re working to orchestrate support for teams and individuals so that they feel a part of the ETC and can collaborate constructively. We believe this is an ethical imperative for the ETC, and our research and work in Creative Chaos also show that inclusion leads to innovation. We want to do the best work we can do through creative collaboration together.

Saying that we value inclusive diversity is easy, but following through on this is vital so that we recognize the intersectionality of people and their identities, leading to awareness and understanding of everyone at the ETC. Actions and words shape our culture, where a community grows together. We work to help people feel that the ETC supports them. We believe this enables us to go through the creative process together better, which translates into being able to design and develop a greater variety of innovative products. It is essential to note that this is an ongoing process, so we can discuss it together and address it as needed. This work is not only a process but also progress in that we may have come a long way, but we still have a way to go. It’s a challenge we face together.

CMU and the ETC are taking concrete actions to value better and support diversity, equity, and inclusion. CMU has partnered with the University of Pittsburgh on the Collaboratory Against Hate to combat extremist hate, and CMU has a set of commitments and a dedicated Vice Provost.  CMU’s Eberly Center helps with better teaching, and the Center for Student Diversity and Inclusion helps support students across the campus. And the ETC continues actively recruiting and supporting under-represented and under-served student populations. We offer merit-based scholarships and support GEM fellowships. We also have the recently established ETC Fellowship Fund, initially funded by Schell Games, to help provide financial support for students.

We often describe improvisational acting, or improv, taught by ETC Teaching Professor Brenda Bakker Harger, as the special sauce in our student’s graduate studies. We believe improv is one of the essential ingredients that help create a cooperative environment because the “yes and” nature of supportive sharing during improv encourages participants to play well together. “Yes, and” means that you accept the ideas your fellow participants offer and expand on them, adding new ideas that relate to the experience you’re creating together. Improv helps participants become more comfortable brainstorming new ideas together as they work to shape experiences, creating something novel from nothing but their collaborative creativity.

To encourage students to consider creative causes and positive social impact opportunities, the ETC has a Creative Good Fund (CGF), enabling students to gain experience with real-world non-profit entities such as museums, zoos, zoos, arts, and human service organizations. Similarly, we strive to have semester-long projects with a transformational focus. We are also the home of Randy Pausch’s Alice Project, which helps teach students, from middle school to universities, how to program through storytelling and games, and research has shown that it increases retention of at-risk students in introductory computer science courses. Through the CGF, Alice, and ETC projects, our students are challenged to create work that positively impacts the world.

Recent Transformational Projects

Activate - encouraging women to get politically engaged
Archive Dive - exploring African-American history
Blindspot - raising awareness about stereotypes
CivRep - encouraging civically engaged citizens
FiPlay - teaching financial literacy
Fortitude - empathy for people living in poverty
Homefront - focusing on public health and social issues
Impacteers - inspiring students to study STEAM
Mindset - positive psychology
Miracle Workshop 2.0 - with Give Kids the World
Mocking Birds - exploring racism and micro-aggressions
Morality Play - raising awareness about economic inequality
Prism - educating kids about autism
Pupil - augmented learning
Voyage - multi-user VR field trips

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