“In a place like the Roble Arts Gym, which is specifically an arts makerspace, you can find like-minded students and even potential collaborators,” Elam said. “If you’re an artist, it’s a place where you can know that there is a community, that you’re not alone in being an artist at Stanford.”
Gerdes and Meltzer are now moving forward with plans to better unify the existing makerspaces. This process includes supplying the people who run these spaces with funding for improved resources and collaboration, and supporting them in determining a campus-wide organizational structure. They have also proposed a new shared makerspace teaching assistant (TA) position for graduate students. Instead of being assigned to one specific space, these TAs would rotate through several different spaces, a valuable opportunity for both the spaces and the TAs. The possibility of new…
