Workshop on Engaging Faculty

The Association of Public and Land-grant Universities is now seeking proposals for institutional teams for the 2015 STEM Education Centers’ Workshop on Engaging Faculty on June 5, 2015. The workshop will follow a longer meeting with STEM education centers on June 3-4, 2015. This workshop is funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Date and Time

Starts at 8:00 am until 3:30 pm on June 5, 2015.

Location

Hotel Monteleone in New Orleans.

Keynote Speaker

Susan R. Singer, Division Director for Undergraduate Education at the National Science Foundation and the Laurence McKinley Gould Professor, in the Biology and Cognitive Science Departments at Carleton College.

Download the Application for the Workshop on Engaging Faculty. Deadline is March 2, 2015.

Workshop Goal

Along with Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, APLU has identified upper division course transformation and engagement of senior faculty as key levers to sustainably transform undergraduate STEM education. The goal of this one-day workshop is to bring together key members from select institutions with national leaders in departmentally-based transformation to explore innovative and effective ways to engage the majority of faculty in physics and/or chemistry departments in their campus-based efforts.

Workshop Objectives

APLU will convene teams that bring administrators, representatives of STEM education centers, and key physics or chemistry faculty to a workshop to review what new resources are available for improving undergraduate STEM education, to contextualize these resources to their local environments, and identify barriers and opportunities for implementing these tools in ways that are most likely to engage their faculty.

Workshop Activities

Five to six teams of four people will receive registration to a conference for STEM education centers with presentations from the nationally leading experts on the latest tools to reform undergraduate education. Immediately following the conference, teams will participate in a one-day workshop to synthesize what they have learned and draft a work plan for local implementation and action on their campus. We will also discuss additional funding opportunities from the Sloan Foundation.

Application to be a Workshop participant

To participate as a team in the STEM Education Center Workshop on Engaging Faculty, you should have the following:

• your institution must be research high or very high but may be a non-APLU institution;
• the application must come from the physics or chemistry department chair;
• The team should include a center director, senior faculty, department chair, and an administrator with access to funds (associate dean, dean, associate provost, provost). Or suitable alternatives, justifying these substitutions;
• The team must complete the readiness questionnaire in the workshop application; and
• Travel and lodging must be provided by your institution. (Registration and associated meals will be provided by APLU and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.)

Expectations for Workshop Participants

Teams that are selected are expected to complete the following once they return to their campus:

1. Convene an on-campus symposium or workshop on resources for improving undergraduate education.
2. Convene a group discussion with department on thoughts about the meeting and to share their draft work plan.
3. Submit for a panel discussion or presentation at one external disciplinary or higher education association meeting. The next national conference of STEM education centers would be a natural place.
4. Participate in a conference call in early December to debrief on activities undertaken since the workshop.

Deadline

Deadline for application materials is March 2, 2015. Reviewers will select teams and notifications will be sent by April 10, 2015.