My Interest in ASCN: Jaime Lester

George Mason University
Higher Education Program
Associate Professor

Prior Organizational Change Work

My work on organizational change on colleges campuses is described as more grassroots. Initiatives include working to establish a parental leave policies on two campuses, reforming undergraduate research opportunities, and work-life policies and programs for graduate students. I have also worked with human resources on workplace bullying at GMU.

How ASCN Can Contribute to my Work

For the last 10 years, I have conducted research on organizational change and leadership in higher education. My work has focused on a variety of topics from work-life balance, grassroots or nonpositional leadership, and, more recently, the relationship between institutional change and learning analytics. I am also currently working on two grant funded projects with the engineering school to promote departmental curricular change and learning analytics. The work of this network fits directly with my research agenda and activities.

How I Can Contribute to ASCN

In addition to the description of my work noted above, I believe that I can contribute deep knowledge on organizational change in higher education and in organizational studies broadly. My work on grassroots level change is unique and important when considering faculty and departmental level change. I have also worked on projects related to STEM pedagogy change.