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Target Audience2023 Transforming Institutions Conference Takeaways
Posted: Aug 15 2023 by
Target Audience: Graduate Students, Post-doctoral Fellows, College/University Staff, Teaching/Learning Assistants, Tenured/Tenure-track Faculty, Non-tenure Track Faculty, Institution Administration
Program Components: Professional Development:Diversity/Inclusion, Institutional Systems:Incentive/Reward Systems, Supporting Students:Learning Communities, Professional Development:Accessibility, Supporting Students:Student Engagement, Institutional Systems:Evaluating Teaching
The 2023 Transforming Institutions Conference was held June 12-13, 2023, in Minneapolis, MN. With this most recent convening, we are proud to have brought together change researchers and change agents for 12 years. The meeting was made possible by the efforts of a conference planning committee consisting of 10 change agents convened by NSEC (Network of STEM Education Centers) and ASCN (Accelerating Systemic Change Network), supported by 40 reviewers from the systemic change community. Now that the dust has settled, we would like to share some key takeaways, attendee feedback, and future conference plans to continue to build momentum for our community to thrive with change. More
From Civic Engagement to Civic Courage—Science Education's Next Chapter
Posted: Jun 8 2023 by
Target Audience: Graduate Students, Post-doctoral Fellows, Tenured/Tenure-track Faculty, Institution Administration, Non-tenure Track Faculty, College/University Staff
Program Components: Professional Development:Diversity/Inclusion, Pedagogical Training, Supporting Students:Student Engagement, Outreach:Inter-Institutional Collaboration
It is hard to escape the fact that the relationship of evidence-based or scientific thinking to civic life in a democracy--which had been acknowledged by the science advocacy community for over a century--has attained a new urgency in the age of fake news and alternative facts. Recently a colleague remarked that the project I helped found and now lead, Science Education for New Civic Engagements and Responsibilities (SENCER) "was ahead of its time," and I've been reflecting on that idea. Historians love to quote the philosopher Kierkegaard who observed, "we live forward, but understand backward." And I've spent a lot of time this year trying to "understand backward" the broader cultural and educational context that produced SENCER to consider whether SENCER was indeed "ahead," or more accurately an embodiment of the best thinking available in its own time.[1] I'm especially concerned with considering what elements of our collective past can support a future of civically and socially-engaged learning in science, despite a dramatically altered academic landscape. This changed landscape includes the precarity of faculty status and autonomy, the contraction of institutional finances, unprecedented student needs and expectations, and frankly, the decline of administrative leadership in the face of political pressure, which has provided much less space for creativity and academic innovation. More
Happy National Mentoring Month!
Posted: Jan 31 2023 by
Target Audience: Post-doctoral Fellows, Institution Administration, Graduate Students, Tenured/Tenure-track Faculty, College/University Staff, Non-tenure Track Faculty
Program Components: Supporting Students:Mentoring Program, Professional Development:Diversity/Inclusion, Advising and Mentoring
Since Odysseus left Mentor in charge of his family, estates, and his son, the art and science of mentoring has been critical to guiding career and educational development. Like Mentor, I aim to be a wise and trusted counselor, guide, guardian, and teacher or as the title of a widely read book indicates, an Adviser, Teacher, Role Model, Friend (National Academies of Sciences, 1997). I have learned that mentoring is an alliance between people and that both mentors and mentees benefit from agreements about how the relationship will evolve and how to include social support, career development, and growth. With faculty, graduate students, and undergraduates, mentoring often involves getting to know the whole person, their aims and aspirations, and their qualms about the future. Connecting students to the right resources or empowering them to bring up difficult questions with their faculty or research mentors requires that you be open, listen carefully, and know them as persons. More
Transforming Institutions Takeaways
Posted: Jun 24 2021 by
Target Audience: Tenured/Tenure-track Faculty, Institution Administration, College/University Staff, In-Service K12 Teachers, Non-tenure Track Faculty
Program Components: Professional Development:Cultural Competency, Institutional Systems:Interdepartmental Collaboration, Outreach:Policy Change, Inter-Institutional Collaboration, Professional Development:Diversity/Inclusion, Supporting Students:Professional Preparation
Last week concluded the 2021 Transforming Institutions Conference that marked the 10th year of convening like-minded change leaders. The event was a rousing success; we had over 250 participants from at least 3 continents with over 40 concurrent presentations, 60+ posters, and 4 workshops containing research-based strategies for improving higher education. What did we learn from such an amazing event? More
Shared leadership for student success at UW-Whitewater
Posted: Feb 7 2019 by
Target Audience: Tenured/Tenure-track Faculty, Institution Administration, Non-tenure Track Faculty, College/University Staff
Program Components: Outreach, Supporting Students, Institutional Systems
Colleges and universities across the country are facing increasing pressure to enroll, retain and graduate more students at a time when the environment for higher education is competitive and often contentious. In order for institutions to be successful in these student success endeavors, everyone must work together. We are all familiar with shared governance as a central tenet of higher education but those processes apply primarily to policy development and decision-making. We argue that shared leadership is required as a holistic approach to goal development and implementation of strategic priorities that foster student and institutional success. In this model, both administrators and faculty/staff leaders play key roles that are essential to the long-term success and sustainability of student success initiatives. Administrators provide a framework for initiatives as they relate to the broader campus community; foster connections between individuals engaged in similar work; provide strategic support and remove barriers to progress; and hold the campus accountable for achieving shared goals. Shared leaders capitalize on their discipline expertise and commitment to student success and program outcomes to fill in the pieces of the framework. They utilize their classroom and program experience to design, test, and apply proposed solutions and also retain ownership of the initiatives and solutions. More
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