2021 Spirit of Innovation

Laura Marker, left, and Sarah Cicora

Sarah Cicora and Laura Marker, academic advisors in the Student Success Center, received the 2021 Spirit of Innovation Award for their efforts to create online registration videos. These videos have enabled students to easily learn more about the registration process and ensure they can begin their Wright State journey.

Cicora and Marker both took initiative on the videos, which include helpful information on how to register, how to find registration dates, how to check for registration holds and how to look up information to select a minor at Wright State.

“Innovation is the successful exploitation of new ideas, and with thousands of views on the video tutorials, Cicora and Marker have accomplished that not just for themselves, but for our university and our students,” said Courtney Smith, assistant director of student success services.

Cicora and Marker worked hard to consider what information needed to be concisely conveyed and wrote the scripts, performed the voiceovers, and edited and produced the videos on their own and with their own resourcefulness. The videos feature captions, enabling students who may be deaf or hard of hearing to use the videos.

“With an even broader embrace of online learning, always being ‘on’ and striving to serve students at all hours, an accessible tutorial that can be viewed at any time was needed now more than ever,” Smith said. “That commitment to improving student services, particularly during a global pandemic, was precisely what was needed to meet our students where they are and where they were in 2020 and 2021.”

Smith highly commended Cicora and Marker for their hard work, saying that they truly embody innovation at Wright State.

“As academic advisors, they saw the need for these videos for our students and they made it happen,” Smith said. “That is the true spirit of innovation. They go above and beyond with such creativity. They are a dynamic duo!”