Current Issue: Transformative Social Impact
A Journal of Community-Based Teaching and Research
doi.org/10.70175/socialimpactjournal.2025
eISSN: 3066-8239 (online)
Volume 1 Issue 1: Featured Contributions
Submission Date: Aug. 21, 2024; Acceptance Date: Oct. 10, 2024; Early Access: Feb. 14, 2025
Title: Cultivating Cross-Course Collaboration: A Model for Student Consulting Projects
Authors: Dr. Jonathan H. Westover, Dr. Jacque P. Westover, Utah Valley University
Abstract: This discusses a unique cross-course collaborative model implemented at Utah Valley University between organizational development and change, advanced business statistics, and integrated studies courses. This fall semester, upper-division undergraduate students formed multi-disciplinary teams to complete a semester-long consulting project with the university's Women in Business Impact Lab. Through an iterative process of proposal development, data analysis, and solution implementation, students gained valuable consulting experience while working across course boundaries. The model integrated skills from each discipline by having teams develop proposals, analyze data provided by the Impact Lab, and develop recommendations. Regular cross-team meetings allowed students to leverage diverse expertise. This presentation will outline the course structure, team processes, challenges encountered, and lessons learned. Experiences to date suggest the model enhanced students' collaborative and applied skills. The cross-course approach can serve as a template for other institutions seeking to provide real-world experiences through multidisciplinary teamwork.