My Interest in ASCN: Susan Shadle

Boise State University
Center for Teaching and Learning
Director

Prior Organizational Change Work

I have served as the Director of Boise State's Center for Teaching and Learning for 10 years. While much of the focus of my CTL work is the support of individual faculty, or cohorts of faculty, I have always viewed this work though the lens of organizational change. I have worked intentionally have our work influence the teaching and learning culture and the sense of community among faculty at Boise State. For the last few years, I've been involved in several NSF-funded projects to work directly on improvements to STEM Education. Currently, I am the PI on an NSF WIDER grant. In this role I have worked closely with both the College of Arts and Science and the College of Engineering on work to proactively shift departmental culture and faculty adoption of evidence-based instructional practices.

How ASCN Can Contribute to my Work

I always get new ideas for how to catalyze change on my own campus when working with others. We are making important progress at Boise State, but there is much to learn and much more work to be done. I'm particularly interested in understanding how others are using theories and frameworks in their work. I also am very interested in how (whether?) this work can be catalyzed and/or sustained without large amounts of funding, either from an external agency or from set-asides within college and university budgets.

How I Can Contribute to ASCN

I know a lot about faculty culture, barriers, faculty development programs, pedagogical practice (both general and work based on disicpline-based educational research), and the practical pros/cons of situating change within programs vs. within department cultures.