Leadership on the line, with a new preface: Staying alive through the dangers of change.
× Leadership on the line, with a new preface: Staying alive through the dangers of change. This book describes leadership skills needed to thrive in positions that require disrupting the status quo to ...

Transforming Institutions Takeaways
Rachel Renbarger, Western Michigan University
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?

Four frames for systemic change in STEM departments
× Four frames for systemic change in STEM departments Aimed specifically at change agents operating at the department level, this short article outlines four areas that change agents should focus on -- ...

Shared leadership for student success at UW-Whitewater
Susan Elrod, Indiana University-South Bend; Jodie Parys, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater; Meg Waraczynski, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater
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.

Turning on the Thrive Channel to Accelerate Change in Higher Education
Susan Elrod, Indiana University-South Bend; Lorne Whitehead, University of British Columbia
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?

Strategic Toolkit: Strategies for Effecting Gender Equity and Institutional Change
Strategic Toolkit: Strategies for Effecting Gender Equity and Institutional Change The Toolkit includes 13 Strategic Intervention Briefs that each explain a specific intervention to foster change for greater ...

Communities of Transformation and their work scaling STEM reform
Communities of Transformation and their work scaling STEM reform A. Kezar and S. Gehrke, Pullias Center for Higher Education. A mixed-methods study of four STEM communities (BioQUEST, PKAL, POGIL and SENCER) to ...

Improving the Academic Climate of an R1 STEM Department: Quantified Positive Shifts in Perception
This study confirms the positive outcomes of having a practical, sustainable, and data-driven framework for affecting change within a graduate community.

Change as a Scholarly Act: Higher Education Research Transfer to Practice
× Change as a Scholarly Act: Higher Education Research Transfer to Practice This article offers a university president's perspective on research pathways higher education researchers ought to pursue to ...

Carl Wieman Science Education Initiative
Carl Wieman Science Education Initiative Programs at UBC and CU using disciplinary postdocs as "embedded experts" to instigate change across departments. Includes program outcomes and guidance for ...