Equitable Undergraduate Student Success Through Integrating and Scaffolding Research Throughout Degree Programs: Coaching, Measuring, and Sustaining Change

Undergraduate research is widely documented to increase student success, as gauged by such measures as retention, graduation rates, and post-graduation outcomes. Integrating and scaffolding this practice throughout undergraduate degree programs holds significant potential to improve student achievement, close achievement gaps, and create more equitable access to this signature high-impact practice. In this interactive session, we will present the theory of change developed through a six-year NSF IUSE project offered by the Council on Undergraduate Research (16-25354) that engaged 24 academic departments at 12 diverse institutions. Each department committed to create supportive cultures and research-centric curricular frameworks, working with a change leadership team comprising faculty, staff, and administrators, and aided by expert coaches. A key synthetic outcome of the project is the volume: "Transforming Academic Culture and Curriculum: Integrating and Scaffolding Research Throughout Undergraduate Education". This book includes a free tool-kit, available at http://www.routledge.com/9781032581675. This tool-kit presents detailed strategies to assess readiness for change, initiate the change process, maintain change momentum, and deal with change obstacles. We will spend the bulk of the session discussing these tool-kit elements. We will also explore how to measure and communicate the positive outcomes of the change process and sustain curricular and cultural adaptations. Questions we will address will include: How do we create a sense of urgency for a change initiative? What are some good coaching and peer mentoring strategies to engender change? How can change leadership teams be nurtured and sustained? What can we measure to show we are making progress in our change process, and what are the best avenues to communicate progress and continue stakeholder engagement? What indicators are predictors of long-term changes? Participants are encouraged to come prepared to share their specific strategies for change success during the session.