The (STEM)2 Network: Accelerating transformation by bridging disciplinary and institutional silos

Systemic transformation of STEM higher education is challenging. The (STEM)2 Network is a multi-disciplinary, multi-institution network of STEM faculty, administrators, and education researchers that addresses those challenges. The Network focuses on the role of faculty in restructuring undergraduate STEM education with the mission of supporting all students. The goals of the Network are to (i) enhance undergraduate STEM education by promoting collaborations across disciplines; and (ii) support faculty in transforming undergraduate STEM education from within the current system. The Network promotes collaboration, particularly between two- and four-year institutions, and empowers faculty to create change both within and beyond their classrooms. Currently including faculty representing fourteen institutions, the Network capitalizes on geographic proximity and shared student demographics to effect change across classroom, disciplinary, institutional, and inter-institutional levels.

The (STEM)2 Network model is innovative, pushes participants to explore creative solutions to long-standing challenges, and has the potential to create large-scale transformation. The model underlying the Network was developed with the intention that it could be applied across contexts. Fundamental to the model of the Network is a core infrastructure that consists of three foundational frameworks and inclusion of multiple disciplines and multiple institutions. The model's adaptable components include the disciplines, institutions, types of institutions, and areas of focus pursued. Thus, any set of institutions could utilize the Network's core infrastructure while adapting the other components to suit their contexts. In this presentation, we describe the model that attendees can adapt to leverage multidisciplinary and multi-institution collaborations to catalyze STEM transformation.