Faculty Leadership for Institutional Change

Who decides the identity of an institution? Is it the marketing team? The president of the university? The board of trustees? In this presentation, we will share how faculty leveraged expertise and resources to forward their ideas and work to transform their school. Institutions of higher education (IHE) are an interesting subject to consider contexts for change – as institutions, they are meant to provide stability to society and a sense of constancy. As academic centers, they are the incubators of innovation and change. These facets comprise a "paradox of change" (Lewis, 2023). They may be plagued by sentiments of – 'it's how we have always done it' or 'that is just what we are known for.' Faculty are the heart of any IHE, but they may not (or think they may not) have the agency to shift the direction of the institution.

In this presentation we will share the factors that supported and challenged the creation of our center and how its influence changed the university. The co-directors who envisioned and founded the center are professors in the School of Education, but they worked to develop a university-wide Center for STEM Education, which is now an outreach arm for the whole institution. The development of the center was supported by exposure to other centers through collaborative projects and the NSEC conferences. The work of our center influenced the School of Education, which transformed to now have a reputation for STEM education, offering new STEM education graduate and undergraduate programs for teachers. These programs were some of the first of their kind in the state. Now Mercy University has a reputation for STEM education and is considered a local leader in this field. Teachers, school districts, local organizations, and other universities have sought our expertise and programing for their STEM education needs.