Workshop on Engaging Faculty: Selection of Teams

Call for Teams

We put out a call for teams from the APLU membership and Network of STEM education Centers (NSEC). The criteria for participation was that the institution must have a high or very high research (or research-based) concentration, may be a non-APLU institution, and the application must come from the physics or chemistry department chair. Their proposed team was required to include a center director, senior faculty, department chair, and someone with access to funds (dean, associate provost, provost).

Readiness Questionnaire

As part of the application, the team completed a readiness questionnaire, which included the following questions:

1. How will participation in this workshop help your campus? (Limit response to 250 words)
2. What are your desired goals from this workshop? (Limit response to 250 words)
3. What resources do you have available when you return home? Monetary, mission or strategic priority alignment, involvement in other national change efforts, disciplinary-based education researcher expertise, committed senior faculty, and/or committed provostial or presidential support? (Limit response to 250 words)
4. Why are the four team members you identified the right team members? (Limit response to 250 words)
5. Do you have any examples of recent (past 10 years) efforts that your department has made towards improvement of undergraduate education? (Limit response to 250 words)

Commitments by the Teams

Each team committed to do the following on their campus:

1. Convene an on-campus symposium or workshop on resources for improving undergraduate education;
2. Convene a group discussion with department on thoughts about the meeting and to share their draft work plan;
3. Submit for a panel discussion or presentation at one external disciplinary or higher education association meeting (The next national conference of STEM education centers would be a natural place.); and
4. Participate in a follow-up conversation about progress made in November 2015.

Selection of Teams

A panel of reviewers selected ten teams based on the responses to the readiness questionnaire. Six teams were chosen to receive waived registration to the preceding SMTI 2015 National Conference. All ten teams received waived registration for the Workshop. The reviewers were Linda Slakey, Senior Fellow, Association of American Colleges and Universities, and Senior Advisor, Association of American Universities; Charles Henderson, Professor, Department of Physics and Mallinson Institute for Science Education, and Co-Director, Center for Research on Instructional Change in Postsecondary Education, Western Michigan University; Emily Miller, Director, AAU Undergraduate STEM Education Initiative, Association of American Universities; Kacy Redd, Director, Science & Mathematics Education Policy Association of Public and Land-grant Universities; and Noah Finkelstein, Professor, Department of Physics; Director, Center for STEM Learning; President's Teaching Scholar & Timmerhaus Teaching Ambassador, University of Colorado Boulder

Selected Teams and Team Members

Boise State University

Charles Hanna, Chair and Professor of Physics
Donna Llewellyn, Executive Director, Institute for STEM and Diversity Initiatives
Daryl Macomb, Associate Professor of Physics
Sharon McGuire, Vice Provost for Undergraduate Studies

Florida International University

David Chatfield, Associate Professor and Chair, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Maria Fernandez, Associate Professor of Mathematics Education and Associate Chair of Teaching and Learning
Kathleen Rein, Professor, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Suzanna Rose, Executive Director of SISH, Associate Dean of Arts & Sciences, and Professor of Psychology and Women's Studies

Oregon State University

Elizabeth Gire, Assistant Professor, Physics
Corinne Manogue, Professor, Physics
Susana Rivera Mills, Vice Provost/Dean for Undergraduate Studies
Heidi Schellman, Department Chair, Physics
Martin Storksdieck, Director, Center for Research on Lifelong STEM Learning; Professor, College of Education

Rochester Institute of Technology

Scott Franklin, Director, Center for Advancing Science/Math Teaching, Learning & Evaluation
Michael Kotlarchyk, Head, School of Physics and Astronomy
Sophia Maggelakis, Dean, College of Science

University of California, Irvine

Amanda Brindley, Lecturer
Sarah Eichhorn, Associate Dean and Director of DLC
Tammy Smecker-Hane, Associate Professor, Physics & Astronomy
Michael Dennin, Vice Provost of Teaching and Learning

University of Florida

Amlan Biswas, Associate Professor and Undergraduate Coordinator of Physics
Kevin Ingersent, Professor and Chair, Physics
Valeria Kleiman, Associate Professor, Chemistry
Ata Sarajedini, Professor of Astronomy; Associate Dean, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences

University of Georgia

William M. Dennis, Professor and Department Head of Physics and Astronomy
Charles Kutal, Associate Dean, College of Arts and Sciences & Professor of Chemistry
Steven P. Lewis, Associate Professor and Associate Department Head of Physics & Astronomy
Rahul Shrivastav, Vice President for Instruction

University of Massachusetts Amherst

Scott Auerbach, Professor of Chemistry and Director of the Integrated Concentration in Science (iCons) Program
Craig Martin, Professor & Head, Chemistry
Sally Powers, Associate Dean for Faculty and Research, College of Natural Sciences
Nathan Schnarr, Undergraduate Program Director
Gabriela Weaver, Vice Provost for Faculty Development/ Director, Center for Teaching & Faculty Development

University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Kathy Asala, Undergraduate Coordinator, Department of Chemistry
Joan F. Lorden, Provost & Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs
David Pugalee, Director, Center for Mathematics, Science and Technology Education
Bernadette T. Donovan-Merkert, Professor and Chair, Department of Chemistry
Maryalicia Johnson, Business Partners Director

Wayne State University

Andrew Feig, Associate Professor of Chemistry and Associate Dean, Graduate School
Peter Hoffmann, Professor, Physics and Associate Dean, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences
Karen Myhr, Assistant Professor, Teaching
Mathew L. Ouellett, Associate Provost and Director of the Office For Teaching and Learning

Pre-workshop Survey

To get teams to begin thinking about their action plans before arriving at the conference, we sent each team a survey prior to the STEM education center conference and Workshop. We asked the following questions:

1. In the context of engaging faculty and transforming upper division courses, briefly describe two things that are working well on your campus.
   
2. One purpose of the workshop is to help you develop an action plan that you can take back to your campus. Briefly describe the challenge that your team wants to tackle on your campus. We encourage you to focus on a possible actionable item, strategy, implementable program or model, or policy change.
   
3. For the challenge identified above, how far along are you on taking action in this area?
   
4. For the challenge identified above, what kinds of institutional support do you have? These might include monetary, mission or strategic priority alignment, involvement in other national change efforts, disciplinary-based education researcher expertise, committed senior faculty, and/or committed provostial or presidential support? (We asked a version of this question in your application, which you might want to refer to. We are interested in the resources available for the specific challenge you have identified.)
   
5. For the challenge identified above, what additional institutional support do you need?