Cohort 3 Leadership Extension

Andrea Goering and Edgar Rosas Alquicira of the team from Lane Community College participated in the extension of Cohort 3 that focused in helping Change Agents improve their leadership skills.

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Leadership Accomplishments and Lessons Learned

Andrea Goering

• Used the power of stories and relationship-building to support change initiatives
• Built relationships across four campuses to support team workshops, and through the process of learning and listening in the panel series, the group built a set of action items to support transfer students
• Participated in several extra professional development programs and shared back to campus information learned in a series of panels and workshops
• New Science Advisory Committee part-time faculty representative (a position held previously by Edgar Rosas Alquicira)

Edgar Rosas Alquicira

• Expanded leadership perspective to understand and engage with others from different Bolman and Deal leadership frames
• Understand strategies from the program to address resisters and their challenges to change
• Led discussion panels with faculty, students, and other stakeholders

Activity Report

Activity Plan

What did the LCC team do?

We held three events: two panels aimed at faculty, with a transfer fair for students sandwiched between them. The events were recorded and are available on our website.

Why did we choose this topic and format? 

The topic: After analyzing pass rates and transfer rates, we realized that there is a gap in students' academic success in 200-level courses and students' transfer rates because of race/ethnicity and/or sex and/or PELL status.

The goal:To facilitate a dialogue between stakeholders, to have a better understanding of the different sides of the same problem (faculty perspective, alumni perspective, representatives perspectives), and to formulate concrete actions to take to begin solving the problem.

The format:We decided that a series of panels would help us a) understand the problem by engaging stakeholders from many perspectives (Faculty and Student panels), b) help to share key resources with students and bring that "support web" together into one shared space (Transfer Fair), and c) discuss some concrete strategies to improve transfer success throughout the web (Faculty Roundtable).

Who was involved and how did we engage them?

• Transfer Student Success: Barriers and Strategies Faculty Panel
  • Sent faculty a survey to gather questions they would ask about transfer supports and successes / challenges, with list of folks who will be on the panel
  • Invited faculty panelists from LCC, UO, OSU, SWOCC (Patrick Blaine, LCC: Dean of Curriculum, Assessment, and Grants Development; Rick Glover, LCC: Science, Math, and Engineering Faculty Coordinator; Jane Reeder, LCC: Interim Dean of Student Success; Claudia Riumallo, LCC: STEM / CIT Advisor; Ce Rosenow, LCC: Honors Program Coordinator; Dr. Patty M. Scott, President of SWOCC; Brian Stanley, UO: Senior Assistant Director for Transfer and Residency; Jose Ceja Garibay, OSU: Transfer Services Manager, LCC Liaison)
  • Invited Provost Paul Jarrell to deliver introductory remarks
  • Met with SAGE alumnus Rick Glover to discuss questions to ask each of our panelists
  • Hosted panel, 18 participants (8 guests, 8 panelists, 2 organizers)
• LCC STEM Transfer Fair
  • Recruited student panelists (7 total) through faculty from LCC, UO, OSU
  • Invited members of our transfer "support web" to "table" at our virtual event on Gather.town :
    • TRIO STEM
    • Alumni Association
    • Advisors
    • Faculty to promote undergraduate research opportunities
    • UO Knight Campus (an industrial internship master's program)
    • Student organizations
  • Advertised through:
    • LCC 200-level classes (Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, Physics)
    • This YouTube video (54 views, English and Spanish language),
    • Email newsletters (SME Weekly, Lane Weekly)
    • STEM Transfer Pathway Club emails and gift card raffle
  • Hosted panel and Fair, 35 total participants at the panel (9 student guests, 9 faculty guests, 7 student panelists, 6 faculty/staff involved in the Fair, 4 organizers)
• Transfer Success Roundtable
  • Invited faculty and staff through the same recruiting means as before; and specifically from faculty who engaged at the first or second event.

Hosted guided discussion, 12 total participants (10 guests, 2 organizers)

Results

• Recordings and Notes which we will compile into a final report for our transfer community
  • Faculty Panel, Friday, May 14, 9 - 10am
  • Student Panel, Friday, May 21, 4:00 - 5:30pm PST
  • Faculty Roundtable, Friday, May 28, 9 - 10am PST
• What did you accomplish in your activity?
  • We have a better understanding about the support web that transfer students have at LCC and 4-year institutions
  • We better understand the barriers that transfer students may face when transferring to 4-year institutions (E.g.: Transfer shock) and the strategies that students can implement to reduce those barriers.
• What is different now than before (in people, in practices, in policies?)
  • There is a group of faculty at LCC and 4-year institutions that are interested on working together to communicate research projects and transfer services to transfer students
  • The SME dean is interested in continuing work on this topic
• What feedback from participants did you receive?
• Participants (especially faculty) commented on how important this topic is
• Students expressed their gratitude to us for hosting
• About the Gather.town platform: "this was fun!"
• We have received invitations to continue engaging, especially with:
  • The possibility of a "research prep class" and of developing transfer-specific materials (perhaps with funding from Oregon's Open Educational Resources granting body)
  • LCC's new Alumni Association, who didn't have the chance to participate in the Roundtable but who want to find ways to partner to support transfer student success
  • Faculty in the UO physics department
    • (Dean Livelybrooks) has been very involved in 2YC efforts in the past (e.g., the STEM-CORE program which partnered 2YC students with summer REU students; has recently submitted a grant application to create a "pipeline" to their industrial master's program) and who connected with our local 2YC research champion (Stacey Kiser) in the Roundtable
    • Jayson Paulose, who is hosting an LCC student in his lab for research this summer and forming close ties with the LCC physics faculty - he is also the SPS advisor, and so we have the chance to develop a model for how to integrate LCC students into student orgs at 4YUs; can share insights and lessons with other disciplines

Lessons Learned

• What worked well, and why?
  • LCC and 4-year representatives were highly receptive to participating in our panels.
  • The STEM Pathway club was great about leading the student transfer panel. This helped to facilitate the conversation between students in a more student oriented format
  • Advertising the event through different media (class visits, SME weekly, Lane weekly). This helped to engage both students, faculty, and staff that we didn't expect (Alumni Association).
• What would you do differently, and why?
  • There was a low faculty and students' attendance to the planned panels. We can improve this issue by scheduling future panel sessions during Fall and/or Winter terms. Advertising on campus via flyers, speaking in classes, etc would probably enhance student participation, as would offering extra credit for attendance in more science classes (two biology classes offered extra credit, but no other disciplines did).
  • Advertise to both 100- and 200- level classes equally (advertising is almost as much for the faculty as it is for the students!)
  • Explain our plan to faculty leadership early on (discipline representatives, for instance)
  • Try to complete workshops earlier in the term (week 7) to avoid the busy time at end-of-term
  • Work on data earlier; we did not have a chance to integrate data into the sessions as much as might have been useful (on the other hand, our short sessions didn't leave a lot of time for data presentation)
• What are one or two pieces of advice you would give to another team working on a similar project?
  • To review the existing SAGE materials on transfer success, especially the webinar recordings; this helped to frame our understanding
  • Take advantage of peer consultations; others can help advise
  • To schedule the panels in Fall or Winter terms (rationale: Spring is a busier term for everyone; our research fairs already occur in Spring; Fall is a "fresh start" term with lots of excitement; Spring may be too late to get involved / apply for opportunities on specific calendar cycles; Winter is a very "empty" term, but people may be less engaged in winter (seasonal affective issues)
  • To involve student clubs
  • To engage leadership in the process (our Dean had recently retired and the new one started just before the workshops were complete)