My Interest in ASCN: Travis Kibota

Clark College
Biology
Professor

Prior Organizational Change Work

Here are some aspects of organizational change that I have helped to produce at Clark College:

1. In 2000-2002, as Biology Professor/Dean, I was a member of a multi-institution task force that developed the Washington State University-Vancouver Science and Engineering Institute. This was a partnership between Clark College, Lower Columbia College, and Washington State University-Vancouver, that produced a set of highly articulated Bachelor Degree programs in Biology, Engineering, and Computer Science with the intention of minimizing transfer barriers from community college to baccalaureate institutions.

2. In 2008, I served as co-chair, on a statewide working group of Biology professors, that developed a state-wide Associate Degree program in Biology, that would be accepted for transfer by all of the public and private baccalaureate colleges and universities in the state. Again, the goal was to minimize barriers for transfer from community college to baccalaureate institutions.

3. In 2012, I submitted an application to be a pilot institution for the Small World Initiative--a research-based antibiotics discovery course developed at Yale University. Clark College was one of the original 24 pilot institutions (one of only three community colleges) in this project (http://www.smallworldinitiative.org/about/). This was the first course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE) at Clark College.

4. In 2014, as Grants Developer, I was principle developer on a successfully funded grant proposal to the Working Families Success Network (administered by Achieving the Dream). This funding was intended improve retention of low-income, under-represented students by developing College student support systems in the areas of financial assistance and training, childcare, tutoring, and career counseling.

5. In 2014, I was principally involved in the inclusion of Clark College in an NIH proposal (with Portland State University as the lead institution) to develop a multi-institution initiative (now known as BUILD-EXITO: http://www.pdx.edu/exito) intended to increase the diversity of students headed towards careers in biomedical research.

6. In 2014-15, I served on the Clark College Strategic Planning Task Force. In this role, I helped guide the planning such that the 2015-2020 Clark College Strategic Plan is now built on the three-legged framework of Social Justice, Economic Viability, and Environmental Integrity (http://http://www.clark.edu/clark-and-community/about/strategic_plan/index.php_).

7. In 2015, I served on the Clark College Academic Planning Task Force that developed the first ever Clark College Academic Plan. This plan includes specific strategies involving active learning and the an academic planning process that requires systematic change in program assessment and governance of the planning process.

8. In 2016, I coordinated a team of three Clark College Biology faculty (and two alternates, inclduing me) plus the Dean of STEM, to apply for participation in the 2016 Northwest PULSE Workshop (I also wrote the team application). This workshop will engage Biology departments in the tasks of implementing Vision & Change. I am particularly pleased that we had enough interest among our Biology faculty, that we could field a team that did not include me. We were just notified that we were accepted to participate in this October 2016 workshop.

How ASCN Can Contribute to my Work

My participation in ASCN will help promote change in undergraduate STEM education at Clark College in a number of important ways. First, the infusion of national perspective on institution-level change will provide more motivation for Clark College STEM faculty to consider transforming their curricula. Second, the inclusion of Clark College in this national effort would draw the attention of our administration and Trustees to supporting our STEM reform efforts. Third, as one of the longest-tenured and most administratively experienced of the Clark College STEM faculty, I am in a particularly good position to bring this national perspective back to both our faculty and our administration.

How I Can Contribute to ASCN

I am a tenured community college Biology professor. Looking at the participants list for the inaugural ASCN conference, community colleges are under-represented, and community college faculty are not present.

I am the Clark College Life Science Division Chair and spent four years as a Dean overseeing STEM programs as well as a number of other programs at Clark College. I have also served as the Grants Developer in our office of Planning and Effectiveness. In that role, I had direct access and communications with the President's Executive Cabinet and with the Clark College Foundation. These administrative experiences give me insight about institution-wide priorities and decision-making practices that few other faculty possess.