In this program, you’ll work closely with faculty and your peers on scholarly and creative projects, participate in a residential learning community (optional), and engage with the local community.
H&S Innovation Scholar Program

Apply to one of three programs:
MEDIA AND MEANING
How do messages in media perpetuate or challenge stereotypes and influence vulnerable populations? How can media be used to represent identity or argue for a particular view of reality? How do our own biases and experiences influence our interpretation of media? We will address these and other questions as we consider how meaning is derived from media.
CULTIVATING ECO-FRIENDLY FOOD SYSTEMS
Explore the links between food systems and our social and physical environments, and engage with diverse perspectives to transform Ithaca College’s food system to enhance equity and access for all.
THE ART OF SOCIAL JUSTICE
Social justice work requires a critical understanding of the structures that support systemic oppression and the tools to resist and transform those systems. Hone your critical analysis skills, explore strategies of intervention, and apply your skills to create transformative justice through a community-based project.
__________
REBUILD BETTER
This program is currently full with students actively working through mid 2022, stay tuned for the open application process next Fall!
Use the tools of architecture, history, and environmental science to learn about, experience, and intervene in the emerging history of Ithaca, New York. Join us as we discover and transform the natural and social constructs that have shaped and reshaped our community.

BENEFITS & REQUIREMENTS
- Residential learning community (optional)
- Faculty mentors
- Civic engagement
- Innovative disciplinary courses
- First-year seminar
- Small cohort of likeminded peers
-
Capstone project
How can you apply?
Applications through the IC-Connect portal are now being accepted!
After applying to Ithaca College you will receive your login for IC Connect.
Cultivating Eco-Friendly Food Systems
Professor Paula Turkon
pturkon@ithaca.edu
Rebuild Better
Prof. David Salomon
dsalomon@ithaca.edu
Media and Meaning
Professor Rachel Wagner
rwagner@ithaca.edu
The Art of Social Justice
Professor Jennifer Jolly
jjolly@ithaca.edu
Student Experience
Through the four programs offered for Innovation Scholars, students are able to build connections and gain valuable hands-on learning experiences that are transferable across degree programs. See what previous Innovations Scholars have done below.

Jason Hamilton, one of the professors from “Rebuild Better”, in the Ithaca College Natural lands discussing plant species diversity, in a cohort building event of the entire Innovation Scholar group.

The “Ecofriendly Food Systems” group in their lab/classroom, making popcorn from corn grown in the Ithaca College Organic Garden.

A student in the "Rebuild Better" program researching local history in the archives at The History Center in downtown Ithaca.

The “Ecofriendly Food Systems” group at an end-of-semester celebration – making stone boiled vegetable soup prepared with stone tools and sourdough Bannock cooked over the fire in the Ithaca College Natural Lands.