Making Change Happen

High-Level Project Timeline

Year 1, June 2014- June 2015:

June-September 2014

• SE3 postdoc Angelina Bellamy was hired as part of OMA to manage the major aspects of the InTeGrate program.
• We recruited 2 graduate students and 3 postdocs to participate in InTeGrate through mass emails, and one-on-one meetings. We advertised the modules, allowing each student to select which would be a best fit for them.
• We created a database of local minority serving institutions within a 15-mile radius of Stanford University, and made general inquiries to their STEM departments, or minority focused STEM programs, contacting 13 colleges/universities in total.
• We set up personal visits with Deans, professors, and program directors, eventually securing partnerships with with faculty mentors at four institutions: Evergreen Valley College (Celso Batahlo, Intro to Physical Science; Climate of Change module), Mission College (Jean Replicon, Intro to Marine Biology; Climate of Change module), San Jose State University (Joe Petsche, Geology: Earth, time and life; Climate of Change module) and CSU East Bay (Mike Massey, Global Environmental Problems; Earth's Mineral Resources module).

October 2014-January 2015

• We matched students up with faculty mentors.
• We developed faculty and student agreements (Acrobat (PDF) 88kB May24 16) that discussed expectations for participation, feedback, and payment for students, their PIs, and faculty at the partner institutions.
• In December 2014 we ran a 2-day workshop for students to learn about science pedagogy and to receive training in the InTeGrate teaching modules (see workshop program and presentations; opens in a new window). The workshop was run by Anne Egger, currently faculty at Central Washington University, and a Stanford alumni (PhD, 2010, Stanford Earth). In addition to the 5 students participating in the InTeGrate program, 5 students attended who wanted to know more about the pedagogy.
• In January we applied for and received IRB permission from Stanford to collect the pre and post attitudinal and Geoscience Literacy Exam surveys (read more about these surveys).

February 2015-May 2015

• In the Spring, the students taught the module materials in the classroom and had between 8 and 15 contact hours in the classroom teaching module material. Because of the flexibility of the module material, each of the students was able to adapt the material to fit the needs of their classroom. Three of the classes were 30-40 students, while one was 160 students. The teaching format was set up in very different ways: at EVC module material was taught 1/week for 6 weeks in 2.5 hour class session; at SJSU module material was taught to 3 sections of students (i.e. 3 times the same material) over 2 class periods of 2 hours each; at CSU EB class time was 3 hours 1/week for 3 weeks; and at Mission College it was the 3 class sessions for 3 hours each time at the first session, a middle session and the last session of the semester.
• We designed and conducted follow up interviews (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 72kB May24 16) with each Stanford student. 100% of our participants felt that that the program had either met or exceeded their expectations. Our students were very pleased to have had the opportunity to teach and work with faculty mentors. Additionally, students filled in a questionnaire (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 53kB May24 16) to track their activity in the classroom.
• We also designed and conducted follow up interviews (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 62kB May24 16) with faculty mentors. They were also all pleased with their participation in the program; they felt that the students were very well prepared for teaching the material and they were happy to also learn new material for the course. All four expressed the desire to participate again in Year 2.

Year 2 June 2015 - June 2016:

June 2015-December 2015

• During May and June, we met with the Vice provost for graduate education (VPGE) to give them an update on our program status. From this discussion, VPGE brought together the programs at Stanford that focused on teaching opportunities for graduate students and postdocs. The purpose of the meeting was to begin discussions on how we can synergize and institutionalize our efforts. We are also working to incorporate an existing Teaching for Diversity seminar into our Spring training.

• Through our second push of recruiting MSIs and 2YCs, we added three additional partner institutions: Foothill College (Dave Sauter, Horticulture: Soils; Sustaining Soil Resources module), Santa Clara University (Hari Mix and Jonathan Lauviere, Environmental Science; Sustaining Soil Resources module) and Notre Dame de Namur college (Monica GuhaMajumdar, Sherrie Gallipeau and Khameeka Kitt-Hopper, Contemporary Environmental Science Issues; Environmental Justice and Freshwater Resources module). It is worth noting that three of our partners are Stanford alumni: Mike Massey and Hari Mix are Stanford Earth PhDs, and Khameeka Kitt-Hopper was a Biology postdoc.

• We began recruiting Stanford students through emails in July. We also followed up with students who attended the workshop or otherwise expressed interest in the program but were unable to participate previously. Emails were sent out again at the start of the term, and when there was a specific need for a match with a faculty mentor, an email was sent out, specifying the need. From these efforts, we recruited 5 graduate students and 2 postdocs from SE3 to teach the following 4 modules in 5 classrooms: Climate of Change ; Earth's Mineral Resources; Sustaining Soil Resources; and Environmental Justice and Freshwater Resources.

• The students participated in a 2-day workshop in December, again taught by Anne Egger (see workshop program and presentations; opens in a new window). We had 8 students participate in the workshop this year.

January 2016 - March 2016

• We matched postdocs/advanced grad student with faculty mentor and they began meeting.
• Postdocs/advanced grad student were teaching in the classroom.
• Pre attitudinal surveys and GLE surveys were conducted at the start of the term (read more about these surveys).
• Postdocs/advanced grad students were paid their stipend once they began teaching in the classroom.
• We scheduled a ½ day workshop on teaching for diversity, which was taught by the Stanford Center for Teaching and Learning.

April 2016 – June 2016

• Postdocs/advanced grad students continue teaching in the classrooms.
• We scheduled another ½ day workshop on teaching for diversity, which was organized by VPGE. After the workshop there was a networking social for all student and faculty participants (May).
• The students and faculty mentors conducted post IAI and GLE surveys at the end of the term.
• We also conducted Follow up interviews with faculty and postdocs/advanced graduate students.
• We began the process of creating a MOU with our partner institutions to institutionalize longevity of our partnerships.

Key Aspects of the Program

1. Hiring one person who was responsible for the day-to-day management of program logistics with weekly reporting of project activities. The manager was given responsibilities for the program and was thus encouraged to take ownership of the program, which in turn fostered a strong personal desire to achieve successful outcomes.
2. The postdocs/grad students that participated were all highly motivated to be successful and put energy and time into making adaptations to the material.
3. Persistence in building relationships: A key process in implementing the InTeGrate program at Stanford is establishing and building strong relationships with departments and faculty mentors from the different partnering institutions; with postdocs/grad students at Stanford; between postdocs/grad students and their faculty mentors; and between postdoc/grad students and the undergraduate students they teach. Key determinants of effective partnering include identifying a dedicated program director to initiate these relationships through in-person planning meetings, pedagogy training of postdocs and grad students, and ensuring evaluation and feedback to measure student impact and postdoc/grad student/faculty learning and satisfaction. The feedback received at the end of each year was an opportunity for participants to discuss aspects of the program that were particularly effective and ways in which we could improve the program. We received many great suggestions that enable us to further strengthen the program and increase participant satisfaction in ensuing years. These actions, along with clear communication regarding expectations, facilitate a strong sense of partnership and trust that enable enthusiastic collaboration on the part of faculty and postdoc/grad student participants.
4. Training provided for postdocs/grad students: Postdocs/grad students were required to attend a 2-day workshop focused on science pedagogy and training in using module materials in the autumn. Stanford participants were also required to meet a minimum of 3 times with the faculty mentor before teaching in the classroom to discuss how to handle the class, pitch material at the right level and revision of module material to fit into the curriculum. They were also required to sit in on a class session before hand to see first-hand how the faculty mentor handles the classrooms. Finally, after each teaching session, students were required to meet with their faculty mentors to go over what worked well and what could be done better for the next teaching session. These meetings provided students with valuable feedback on how to improve their teaching skills. All of these different means of training the postdocs/grad students helped to support the students in teaching successfully in the classroom.

Sustaining Change

The InTeGrate program at Stanford has become an integral part of the School of Earth, Energy and Environmental Sciences (SE3) Office of Multicultural Affairs (OMA), and as such, it has the support of both the Dean's Office and the Vice Provost for Graduate Education (VPGE). Ongoing financial support for the program has been incorporated into the OMA operating budget. As the program continues, managing the InTeGrate program at Stanford will shift to the current OMA program manager.

We are also building strong collaborations with our partner institutions, as measured by their continued participation, with faculty repeatedly hosting postdocs and advanced graduate students from Stanford to teach the modules in their classes. The strengthening of the relationship between Stanford and our partner institutions can lead to greater recruitment of students from these institutions to participate in other Stanford Earth programs targeted at URMs, such as the Summer Research Program in Geoscience and Engineering (SURGE).

Over the 2 year period, the modules will expose between 50-200 students to the complexity of addressing current environmental problems, such as climate change. Additionally, the faculty leading these courses will feel more comfortable about teaching module elements within their classroom as part of their curriculum. Each of these outcomes will help Stanford achieve its long-term goal of increasing URMs in geoscience disciplines at all levels of academia.