Storytelling for Change: Leveraging the Symbolic Power of Institutional Histories in Engineering Education

• In Event: Sustainability & Transformation in Engineering Education - II: The Narratives & Limits of Engineering Education Reform

Abstract

Although engineering departments have developed a wide variety of strategies to make bold changes in curriculum - such as ethics, teambuilding, diversity efforts, interdisciplinary projects, and collaborations with the liberal arts and humanities - institutional storytelling is often overlooked as a strategic tool. Building upon Bourdieu’s concept of “symbolic capital” (1986), and his later work exploring the “labors of eternalization” (2001) - or mechanisms that prevent systemic change - we examine institutional histories as untapped wells of symbolic power. These histories are stories that institutions tell about themselves, enshrining institutional values that either endorse or undermine reform efforts. We draw upon interviews at eight (8) universities in the United States, collected as part of a multi-site, multi-scale study on engineering education reform; interviewees include faculty, administrators, and academic advisors. We analyze the official institutional history statements found on publicly-available websites, and compare these statements with oral histories found in our interview data. Several universities have strongly linked stories about “who we are” with reform efforts that seek to improve, for example, diversity or social mobility. These stories are repeated with little variation by multiple faculty at the university. In addition, by advertising these values, universities leverage this symbolic capital to increase their prestige and attract additional resources associated with these reforms. Stories alone cannot solve problems – they must be followed up with action; however, we show that linking institutional histories and reform efforts is a critical alignment of symbolic and material capital, reducing friction in the implementation of education reforms.

Authors

• Sarah Appelhans, University at Albany

• Soheil Fatehiboroujeni, Purdue University

• Atsushi Akera, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

• Alan Cheville, Bucknell University

• Thomas De Pree, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

• Jennifer Karlin, Minnesota State University, Mankato

• Donna Riley Riley, Purdue University