NSF Award
2311493
This workshop will serve the national interest by enhancing the involvement of two-year college faculty in the fabric of disciplinary societies. Two-year colleges play a critical role in undergraduate education, development of the local workforce, and promoting the stability of their communities. As such, they hold tremendous potential for disciplines to expand the number and diversity of majors and professionals in the field. Yet, national and disciplinary reports highlight a disconnect between two-year college instructors and their respective disciplinary societies. This project will facilitate and evaluate a multi-stage virtual workshop that includes participants from disciplinary societies and two-year college faculty to enhance two-year college disciplinary engagement and raise awareness of funding opportunities applicable to two-year colleges. The workshop will be significant in supporting the development of discipline-specific action plans, exploring cross-disciplinary possibilities, and identifying ways to sustain two-year faculty involvement in disciplinary societies. <br/><br/>The virtual workshop will include 60 to 75 participants from 12 disciplines from multiple institutions and will consist of two synchronous two-day meetings with asynchronous work in between. The goal will be for participants to develop and initiate discipline-specific and cross-disciplinary action plans that enhance the involvement of two-year college faculty in their respective disciplinary societies. During the first two days of the workshop, participants will participate in active plenary sessions, develop discipline-specific action plans and explore multi-discipline STEM-focused projects. Then, asynchronously over several months, teams will receive feedback, revise action plans, and begin implementation. Finally, during the last two days of the workshop, teams will present and receive feedback on action plans and learn more about external funding opportunities. Cross-disciplinary teams will also engage in discussions regarding initiating and sustaining ongoing support for partnerships between two-year colleges and disciplinary societies. The project will be evaluated through surveys and project artifacts and will advance understanding of how organizational identity influences change processes. The project website and the associated report will be distributed to all participants, professional disciplinary societies, and will be available to all in the professional and academic scientific community. The NSF program description on Advancing Innovation and Impact in Undergraduate STEM Education at Two-year Institutions of Higher Education supports projects that advance STEM education initiatives at two-year colleges. The program description promotes innovative and evidence-based practices in undergraduate STEM education at two-year colleges.<br/><br/>This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
