My Interest in ASCN: Julia Williams

Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
Institutional Research, Planning, and Assessment & Humanities and Social Sciences
Ex. Director, IRPA & Professor of English

Prior Organizational Change Work

In my role as Executive Director of IRPA, I have led several change initiatives on my campus. Most notable among them is my leadership of the faculty team who developed the Making Academic Change Happen Workshop. This initiative has impacted faculty and administrators both on my campus and internationally.

How ASCN Can Contribute to my Work

I believe my work in preparing faculty, administrators, and graduate students for change will be impacted positively by participation in the ASCN. Since 2012, I have lead a team of Rose-Hulman faculty in developing and deploying the Making Academic Change Happen Workshop. In this workshop, we translate the research literature on change into practical knowledge, skills, and abilities that individuals can use as they pursue their own change projects. Working with ASCN means that I can connect with the research experts in the field that I might not otherwise get the chance to meet. This can inform revisions to the MACH curriculum that will further improve it.

How I Can Contribute to ASCN

My contribution to the ASCN will be in sharing a practitioner's perspective with other members of the network. In each MACH Workshop, I encounter individuals who are passionate about their change project, but often they are at a loss as to how to address frequent challenges regarding buy in, communication, team building, and the like. Because my job is situated centrally in STEM education, I believe I can give insight into how faculty, administrators, and graduate students pursue sustainable institutional-level change projects and what their needs are.