Initial Publication Date: July 9, 2018 | Revision: August 27, 2026

Make and Sustain Change

Enacting successful institutional, department, or program change requires an understanding and vision of the complex institutional system. Complex change initiatives can only be solved by collaboration between multiple parties (individuals, departments, programs, institutions, etc.) with a diversity of experiences, perspectives, and backgrounds. On top of this, each institution is unique, necessitating a specialized approach to sustainable change.

These strategies, resources, and example programs have been compiled to help make and sustain successful changes in higher education. Many of the components of change efforts are interwoven, and strategies for change can be drawn from multiple resources and themes. The examples of change program models provide an array of tactics and techniques that can be applied to a diversity of change implementations.

The resources showcased here are a synthesis of material made available by the InTeGrate STEP Center project, the Accelerating Systemic Change Network, the Network of STEM Education Centers, Supporting STEM Success in a Liberal Arts Context, Building Strong Departments, and other projects.

Design for Change

It is important to understand the desired changes as well as the particular context of your institution in order to create sustained change. Learning about how change happens at your institution will begin to develop the relationships and resources that will be necessary to build on for change.

Support Change

It will be necessary to provide professional development to faculty, staff, and administrators around issues involved in the change. Campus STEM teaching and learning centers can be well placed to provide these development opportunities, as can national or regional conferences. In order to be successful, these supports should be ongoing and long-term rather than one-off opportunities.

Foster institutional change
Identify resources needed for change
Plan for financial impacts and secure funding and resources
Build and maintain partnerships
Professional development opportunities and webinars from ASCN

Change Program Models

There is a growing suite of published examples of how programs, departments, and institutions have successfully tackled change agendas. Each implementation is an instance of making particular change in a particular context, but they all show that positive, sustained change can happen in the complex world of undergraduate education.

Evaluate Change

How does a change agent assess the progress of an institutional change initiative? Evidence and data can be used to guide change implementations and evaluate the success of sustained change efforts. Evaluation can also be used to generate buy-in and encourage collaboration within institutional communities.

Other Higher Education Change Resources

Show additional resources

Resources from the Association of American Colleges & Universities
Resources from the Association of American Universities
- Framework for Systemic Change in Undergraduate STEM Teaching and Learning
- STEM Education Reforms in Action
AAAS: Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education
AACC: Leadership for Transformational Change: Implementing Pathways at Scale
AAHEA: Embracing Civic Responsibility
MDRC: Moving Ahead with Institutional Change
Chasteen, S. & Code, W. (2018). The Science Education Initiative Handbook
Eckel, P., Green, M., & Hill, B. (2001). On Change V: Riding the Waves of Change: Insights from Transforming Institutions. An Occasional Paper Series of the ACE Project on Leadership and Institutional Transformation and The Kellogg Forum on Higher Education Transformation.
Eckel, P., Green, M., Hill, B., & Mallon, W. (1999). On Change III: Taking Charge of Change: A Primer for Colleges and Universities. An Occasional Paper Series of the ACE Project on Leadership and Institutional Transformation.
Fry, C.L (Ed.) (2014). Achieving Systemic Change: A Sourcebook for Advancing and Funding Undergraduate STEM Education. The Coalition for Reform of Undergraduate STEM Education. Washington, D.C.: Association of American Colleges and Universities.
Ramaley, J. A. (2002). Moving Mountains: Institutional Culture and Transformational Change. Higher Education. Paper 177.

Projects with a Focus on Change Efforts

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C-ChanGe
The Cultural Change in Geoscience (C-ChanGe) project works toward a vision of the future where all people at each stage of their career experience academic geoscience as a safe and welcoming environment where they ...

Grade Level: College Lower (13-14), College Upper (15-16)
Subject: Geoscience

EarthConnections
The EarthConnections collective impact alliance developed regionally focused, education pathways that support students in locally relevant, Earth-science. SERC is the lead on this project.

Grade Level: Primary (K-2), Intermediate (3-5), Middle (6-8), High School (9-12), College Lower (13-14), College Upper (15-16)

IE3: Meaningful evaluation of effective and inclusive teaching (LCC4)
IE3 Learning Community Cluster 4 (LCC4) is working to make substantial, cross-institutional progress toward meaningful evaluation of inclusive teaching by working collaboratively on three important pillars ...

Grade Level: College Lower (13-14), College Upper (15-16)

Building Strong Departments
The Building Strong Departments website is a discipline-agnostic look at the issues facing STEM departments and grew out of the successful programming associated with the Building Strong Geoscience Departments ...

Grade Level: College Lower (13-14), College Upper (15-16)

InTeGrate
InTeGrate is a STEM-Talent Expansion Program facilitating a large, diverse community of practice in learning about teaching and collaborating for a sustainable future. As the project leadership and hub, SERC ...

Grade Level: High School (9-12), College Lower (13-14), College Upper (15-16), Informal, General Public