Dr. Rachel Renbarger became the Research Director in January 2021. She identifies as a former rural, low-income, and first-generation student from Oklahoma who loves traveling, reading, and eating good food. Her undergraduate degree was in Language Arts Education at the University of Oklahoma where she was also a McNair Scholar. She then became a teacher and has taught all age groups in a variety of settings. As a former teacher and university instructor, she will be joining the ASCN to help support the inclusion of research-based educational strategies. With her PhD in Educational Psychology, her research works to address issues of access and equity in postsecondary education. This includes undergraduate as well as graduate education in all subject areas. As such, she is excited to collaborate with working groups to better equity in all realms and for all student groups. Follow her on Twitter: @Dr_Rachel_Ren

 

Facilitating Change Through the Departmental Action Team (DAT) Model
Tuesday, March 30, 2021
9:00 am PT | 10:00 am MT | 11:00 am CT | 12:00 pm ET
(Note: the duration of this webinar is 90 minutes)
Presenters: Joel Corbo, Center for STEM Learning, University of Colorado Boulder; Courtney Ngai, The Institute for Learning and Teaching, Colorado State University; Gina Quan, Department of Physics and Astronomy, San José State University; & Sarah Wise, Center for STEM Learning, University of Colorado Boulder
 
Join us for a conversation about the Departmental Action Team (DAT) Model, which utilizes facilitated teams to promote positive and sustained change in higher education. The presenters have co-facilitated 10+ DATs and are investigating the short and long-term impacts of the DAT model.

In this webinar, they will introduce the DAT model and its guiding principles for change. Participants will leave the webinar with a foundational understanding of the DAT model, how to apply the DAT model to new or ongoing change initiatives, and types of changes DATs can catalyze. Participants will discuss ideas about how the DAT model may work with national-scale change initiatives. Throughout the webinar, the presenters will point participants to resources that have been developed to support change, including their book Facilitating Change in Higher Education: The Departmental Action Team Model and a free toolkit of materials available at dat-project.org.

Register for this webinar here! 
 

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Spring 2021 Informal Discussions 

Recruiting, Supporting and Retaining Diverse Faculty
Part One- Overview: Why now? 
February 25th at 12pm PT | 1pm MT | 2pm CT | 3pm ET

This is the first in a series of 5 discussions that invites faculty members, department chairs and deans to engage with new approaches to recruiting diverse STEM faculty. We will share resources accumulated by ASCN Working Group 5, share collective knowledge and experiences, and discuss strategies for working towards a more diverse academy. At the end of each session, participants will apply what they learned to hiring practices in their own departments and institutions, culminating in a strategic plan. Participants will identify levers for change, and be supported by the working group and fellow participants in advocating within their sphere of influence. All will take place from 3-4:30 ET on the last Thursday of the month. Participants who attend all five sessions will receive a certificate of completion.


Register for one or more of the discussions here! 
 

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New! “Short Courses” on Change
ASCN "Short Courses" are a collection of past webinars and resources on a specific topic created by Working Group 3 (Change Leaders). You may engage in these resources however you wish (e.g. watching recordings, reading slides or resources), and then join us for an informal discussion with colleagues on the topic.
 
Short course #1: 
Collaboration for Change
Engaging stakeholders and working together on common goals
Look through previous webinars and then join us for an
informal discussion on Thursday, March 4th
Presenter: Stephanie Chasteen (Chasteen Educational Consulting)


Access short course and register here
 

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Consider sharing your ideas for ASCN blogs, webinars or informal discussions! We still have space in Spring 2021. Email the research director (cricpe-ascn@wmich.edu) if you are interested. 

 

The 2021 Transforming Institutions Virtual Conference will be jointly hosted by the Accelerating Systemic Change Network (ASCN) and the Network of STEM Education Centers (NSEC). 

This conference will bring together researchers, faculty, center directors and staff, change agents, administrators, and policymakers to focus on transforming undergraduate education. We will address critical questions related to institutional change in higher education and foster connections between researchers and change agents across fields. There will be opportunities for cross-disciplinary discussion and collaboration as we work together to bring about institutional change and to define the future of this work.

Proposals are now open. We invite submissions of both early and mature projects that focus on all aspects of institutional change, including change outcomes, change processes, and contexts of change. We encourage submissions from groups as well as from individuals. We also encourage presentations from the NSEC community, including STEM Education Centers and Centers for Teaching and Learning with a STEM focus.

Submit your presentations and/or posters here! 

 

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As you know, many upcoming conferences& events have gone virtual or hybrid and we want to promote these opportunities.

• Association for the Assessment of Learning in Higher Education (AALHE) proposals due February 7, 2021. Virtual conference in June.
• American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) conference, February 8-11. 
• Modern Meta-Analysis for STEM education workshop through NSF grant by AERA & ICPSR. Free to attend. February 10, 1-3:30pm ET. 
• Association of American Colleges & Universities (AACU) conference on General Education, Pedagogy, and Assessment, February 11-13.  
• 2021 International Conference on Teaching and Leadership Excellence proposals due February 19, 2021. Virtual conference in April. 
• American Educational Research Association (AERA) call and guidelines for education research conference proposals. Due February 26. Virtual conference in April. 
• American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education annual conference February 26 & March 1-4, 2021.
• Program to Enhance Organizational Research Impact Capacity (ORIC) call for applications due March 1.
• Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE) call for proposals now open. Due April 20th. Expected hybrid conference in November.

Please help us stay up-to-date on conference proposal deadlines or presentations. You can explore what presentations your fellow ASCN members have scheduled and share your own in our spreadsheet: bit.ly/ASCNatConferences

By Joel Corbo, Courtney Ngai, Gina Quan, &
Sarah Wise

The Departmental Action Team (DAT) Project supports departments as they make changes to their undergraduate programs. Project team members use the DAT Project's six Core Principles to guide their decision-making around change efforts. In this post we share why a principles-based approach supports successful change. This post is a great introduction for our free upcoming webinar on Tuesday, March 30, 2021 about facilitating change using the DAT model. Register for the webinar here. Read more on the ASCN blog →

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