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The Great Resilience: Notes on a Discussion Series to Cultivate Resilience for STEM


Posted: Mar 22 2024 by

Christine Broussard
University of La Verne
Elizabeth Ambos
Ambos Consulting
Jennifer Manilay
University of California-Merced
Casey Wright
Western Michigan University
Christine Broussard, University of La Verne, Elizabeth L. Ambos, Ambos Consulting, Jennifer O. Manilay, University of California - Merced, Casey Wright, University of Iowa

Change Topics (Working Groups): Change Leaders
Target Audience: College/University Staff, Non-tenure Track Faculty, Tenured/Tenure-track Faculty, Institution Administration
Program Components: Institutional Systems:Strategic Planning

Higher education was hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, and as a result, many faculty, administrators, and staff quit their jobs. This Great Resignation produced upheaval at many institutions across the nation. Looking for a space to find hope and a positive outlook in the midst of instability, the Aligning Incentives with Systemic Change working group engaged in a series of discussions about resilience. During spring 2023, we looked for ways to cultivate personal and organizational stability in the face of the Great Resignation and its impacts on higher education. More

Learning from Change Leaders: Reflections from the 2023 Transforming Institutions Conference


Posted: Aug 7 2023 by

Madhura Kulkarni
Northern Kentucky University
Casey Wright
Western Michigan University

Casey Wright, Western Michigan University

Madhura Kulkarni, Northern Kentucky University

Change Topics (Working Groups): Change Leaders
Target Audience: College/University Staff, Non-tenure Track Faculty, Tenured/Tenure-track Faculty, Institution Administration, Post-doctoral Fellows
Program Components: Institutional Systems:Incentive/Reward Systems, Strategic Planning, Interdepartmental Collaboration

The Change Leaders working group led a workshop and hosted a breakfast conversation to bring together emergent and established change leaders at the 2023 Transforming Institutions Conference in Minneapolis, June 12-13, 2023. At the workshop, we met change leaders who are hard at work on their campuses in roles as faculty members, post-docs, educational technology staff, center for teaching and learning staff, STEM center staff, and university administrators. More

Turning on the Thrive Channel to Accelerate Change in Higher Education


Posted: Mar 7 2018 by
Lorne Whitehead
University of British Columbia
Susan Elrod
Indiana University-South Bend
Susan Elrod and Lorne Whitehead
Change Topics (Working Groups): Guiding Theories, Change Leaders
Target Audience: College/University Staff, Non-tenure Track Faculty, Tenured/Tenure-track Faculty, Institution Administration
Program Components: Institutional Systems:Strategic Planning
Conversations about "institutional change" in higher education have become pervasive. This is probably because colleges and universities are under tremendous pressure - to graduate more students, to improve success of underrepresented minority students, to reduce costs, and to expand the benefits they provide to our society. Many state systems are engaged in developing performance-based funding metrics that are intended to promote achievement of specified goals. Others are engaged in major reorganizations that are merging or possibly eliminating campuses in service of larger goals that are important to the state, such as enhanced transfer, graduation or fiscal efficiency. This seems scary, but at the heart of all of this is a sound idea - since our society has a long history of improvement and undoubtedly there are still more improvements to make. And to do that, organizations must be adaptable; they must make changes for the better. Why then, is this so concerning for so many?

A key challenge is that achieving change in any organization is hard. It is complicated. It involves many levels of the organization. It is motivated by a variety of purposes. It is challenged by competing agendas. It is frequently stalled by a variety of obstacles.

Further, positive change requires a vision, strategy, and tactics. But most importantly, it requires effective change leadership. What does that actually entail? More
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