Addressing the nation's need for a competitively trained, liberally educated, and diverse STEM workforce requires the kind of systemic change that represents a radical departure from our reliance on the mastery of initiative or intervention implementation. This is particularly true given the contemporary realities of higher education, which are now situated within a shifting sociopolitical context. In this presentation, Dr. Mack will discuss proven strategies for systemic change that provide institutions and the individuals within them opportunities to adapt a more dynamic stance whereby both are predisposed and positioned to desire, foster, recognize, and require the transformative actions and outcomes that are essential for inclusion and indistinguishable from excellence.
Dr. Kelly Mack is the Vice President for Undergraduate STEM Education and Executive Director of Project Kaleidoscope at the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U). Both AAC&U and its Project Kaleidoscope, through their shared, mission level commitments to quality and inclusion, provide national advocacy for reforming STEM higher education through the delivery of world class professional development to STEM faculty at our nation's institutions of higher education. Prior to joining AAC&U, Dr. Mack was the Senior Program Director for the National Science Foundation ADVANCE Program while on loan from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore where, as a Professor of Biology, she taught courses in Physiology and Endocrinology for 17 years.
Dr. Mack's holistic approach to STEM reform is grounded in a strategic vision that foregrounds inclusion as an immutable factor for achieving excellence in undergraduate STEM education. Her leadership in STEM reform has produced over $15M in external funding – leading to significant increases in the capacity of STEM faculty to implement culturally responsive pedagogies, major shifts in the ways in which leadership development for STEM faculty is delivered, and the expansion of both physical and virtual convening platforms for knowledge generation, exchange, and dissemination.
Dr. Mack earned the BS degree in Biology from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore and, later, the PhD from Howard University in Physiology. She has had extensive training and experience in the area of cancer research with her research efforts focusing primarily on the use of novel antitumor agents in breast tumor cells, as well as the use of bioflavonoids in the regulation of estrogen receptor positive (ER+) and estrogen receptor negative (ER-) breast tumor cell proliferation. Most recently, her research efforts have examined STEM leadership development and the impact of mindfulness on STEM faculty self-efficacy.
Recognized as a national thought leader in higher education, Dr. Mack's work has been highlighted in Diverse Magazine and U.S. News and World Report. Currently, Dr. Mack is an advisor to the Oregon State University and University of Cincinnati ADVANCE Programs. She is also co-founder and chair of the board of the Society of STEM Women of Color, Inc. Previously, she served as member of the Board of Governors for the National Council on Undergraduate Research and the National Institutes of Health Review Subcommittee for Training, Workforce Development and Diversity. She also completed a brief stint as Executive Secretary for the NSF Committee on Equal Opportunities in Science and Engineering, which is the Congressionally mandated advisory body that supports efforts related to broadening the participation of underrepresented groups in the STEM disciplines.
Kelly Mack, Association of American Colleges and Universities
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