Enhancing institutional learning: The staff excellence fellowship as a catalyst for change

• In Event: Bridging divides: Building educational leadership and faculty & staff capacity for learner-centered higher education in a post-conflict society

Proposal

While faculty development often anchors institutional change toward learner-centered education, sustainable transformation in post-conflict higher education also depends on staff who shape the daily experiences that enable student learning and well-being. The Staff Excellence Fellowship (SEF) at the American University of Iraq–Baghdad (AUIB) is a yearlong professional learning program designed to build staff capacity in evidence-based, learner-centered practices, collaborative problem-solving, and data-informed decision making. Developed in collaboration with Vanderbilt University Peabody College, SEF equips cross-functional teams to enact real-time improvements in student-facing services and operational processes while reinforcing university’s commitment to trust, inclusion, and social cohesion.
SEF works to strengthens a whole-university culture of learning by engaging 26 staff (selected by application) from across units (student affairs, advising, admissions, registrar, IT, finance) in a 12-month sequence of monthly virtual workshops (90 minutes) and monthly peer consultation, and final project/presentation.
Key Questions
1. To what extent does the Staff Excellence Fellowship (SEF) improve staff knowledge, skills, and dispositions in learner-centered, data-informed, and collaborative practices?
2. How do SEF learning activities (monthly workshops, peer consultancies, Coffee Chat Connections, final projects) influence changes in staff practice and cross-unit collaboration?
3. What measurable improvements in student-facing processes (e.g., registration, advising, financial services, communication) are associated with SEF capstone projects?
4. How does SEF alignment with faculty and Academic leadership fellowships contribute to shared language, coherent practices, student centeredness, and organizational learning and process?

We use a participatory mixed-methods case study to document how staff implement learner-centered, data-informed practices in real time across student-facing units during organizational transitions. Drawing on exit tickets, surveys, session artifacts and reflection journals, workshop observations, Coffee Chat network maps, focus groups with fellows, supervisors, and students, we trace shifts in decision-making, collaboration, and learner centered process. These insights can inform how culturally diverse start-up universities build staff capacity and coherent learner-centered systems in transitional environments.

Authors

• Emily House, Peabody College (Vanderbilt University)

• Kristen Tompkins, Peabody College (Vanderbilt University)

• Balkis Boum, Solutions and Partnerships for Advancing Research and Knowledge