The Leadership Dimension: Association of American Universities Undergraduate STEM Education Initiative

• In Event: Collaborative Engagement in Higher Education Reform Networks: Applying a Framework to Understand Network Dynamics

Abstract

The Association of American Universities launched in 2011 an Undergraduate STEM Education Initiative. The initiative’s overall objective is to influence the culture of STEM departments at AAU institutions so that faculty members are encouraged and supported to use teaching practices proven by research to be effective in engaging students in STEM education and in helping students learn. To date, fifty-five AAU member universities have participated in the initiative with more than 700 unique faculty members and institutional leaders.

Earlier research and applications to practice identified a conceptual framework, Framework for Systemic Change in STEM Undergraduate Teaching and Learning, which provides a set of key institutional elements that need to be addressed to bring about sustainable change in introductory foundational courses at research universities; Essential Questions and Data Sources for Continuous Improvement of Undergraduate STEM Teaching and Learning, which provides a set of key questions designed to engage faculty and institutional leaders in discussions about undergraduate teaching and learning; and AAU’s five-year status report, Progress Toward Achieving Systemic Change, which identified several cross-cutting strategies research universities are implementing to achieve long-lasting improvements in undergraduate STEM education. Emergent findings from a study (NSF DUE IUSE 1625532) aimed at leveraging the AAU STEM Initiative to examine the institutional landscape in which innovations to undergraduate STEM education take place is identifying the institutional structures and leadership roles that campuses are putting in place to successfully coordinate multiple undergraduate STEM education reforms to achieve sustainable change in undergraduate STEM education on campuses.

The Collaborative Dynamics Framework, with its elements of motivation, group norms and processes, support resources, and leadership, reinforces critical elements that AAU has identified as important factors to successful reforms of undergraduate STEM education at research universities. One such element is leadership. Throughout the Undergraduate STEM Education Initiative, AAU has strategically worked to leverage leaders (formal and informal) at multiple levels (levels both within and beyond the institution, see Austin, 2011) to advance the goals of the Initiative.

Through annual meetings of the AAU STEM Initiative Network and STEM Department Chairs, AAU engages institutional leaders at the department, the college, and the university levels to discuss their critical roles in advancing effective undergraduate STEM education at leading research universities. AAU also uses these engagements to further understand the administrative roles, organizational structures, and innovative approaches being used to support and align efforts to improve undergraduate STEM teaching and learning. In addition, AAU continues to engage with leaders of other national associations, federal agencies, disciplinary societies, industry, and numerous multi-institutional efforts working to improve the effectiveness of undergraduate education. The experiences and lessons learned from the AAU Undergraduate STEM Education Initiative illustrate the “Leadership” element of the Framework.

Author

• Tara King, Association of American Universities