| NSF Org: |
DUE Division Of Undergraduate Education |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | June 14, 2019 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | March 22, 2022 |
| Award Number: | 1903498 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Mary Crowe
mcrowe@nsf.gov (703)292-5188 DUE Division Of Undergraduate Education EDU Directorate for STEM Education |
| Start Date: | July 1, 2019 |
| End Date: | June 30, 2022 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $99,893.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $99,893.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
1776 E 13TH AVE EUGENE OR US 97403-1905 (541)346-5131 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
Eugene OR US 97403-1253 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): | Advanced Tech Education Prog |
| Primary Program Source: |
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| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.076 |
ABSTRACT
It is often assumed that a technologically trained workforce requires a four-year degree. However, the workforce has a significant need for skilled technicians educated at two-year colleges. Recent employee surveys and government reports have noted concerns that the U.S. faces an increasing shortage for the technically trained workers needed to maintain the country's competitiveness and economic growth objectives. For these jobs, education and training programs at community and technical colleges have proven to be effective and efficient in producing right-skilled graduates who are ready for the workforce. The ideal faculty members to educate such students are those who have more than just the appropriate technical skills. They also need additional knowledge, skills, and connections. Examples include knowledge about how to update course content to match emerging trends, contacts with industries that will employ their students, knowledge about and capabilities for obtaining funding for course and career advancement, and access to professional networks with like-minded educators. The goal of this project is to empower faculty at two-year community and technical colleges to acquire such additional knowledge, skills, and connections. To that end, this project will develop and deliver two workshops that will assist faculty in Advanced Technical Education fields to become better educators, to increase their awareness of new career growth opportunities, and to develop career-building skills. This project aims to advance the professional growth of two-year college faculty by enhancing their ability to train, mentor, and prepare students for current and emerging workforce needs.
The project will develop and deliver two workshops that, together, will engage ~60 ATE faculty. The workshops will assist the faculty with developing and implementing career advancement plans that increase career progress, diversify interests, provide further job satisfaction, and boost the quality of their teaching and educational efforts. This effort is a collaborative project between current ATE Principal Investigators who have extensive experience in mentoring and guiding two-year college technical faculty, and the COACh program at the University of Oregon that has extensive experience in developing and providing career building workshops to thousands of scientists and engineers at all levels of academia. The workshops also have the potential to draw new faculty and new institutions into the ATE community. The workshops will provide information about the opportunities for faculty to remain current in their disciplines. Examples of topics will include industry interaction and involvement, American National Standards Institute Certification, certification development, professional society leadership opportunities, board of director opportunities, travel through faculty study exploration, collaborative grant writing, and obtaining funds to attend professional meetings. Workshops will also help faculty develop develop a plan for further professional development, including skills to take advantage of and succeed in new leadership opportunities. Evaluation data collected from the workshops will be used to inform future career development offerings and related efforts to meet the needs of the ATE community. This project is funded by the Advanced Technological Education program that focuses on the education of technicians for the advanced-technology fields that drive the nation's economy.
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.
PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
Charting the Course: Career Advancement Strategies & Planning for Two-Year Technical Educators
PI: Geraldine L. Richmond
EHR-1903498
COACh (Committee on the Advancement of Women Chemists) is a grass-roots organization of scientists and engineers committed to increasing the number and success of faculty and students in STEM fields. Formed in 1997 it is most widely known for the series of career-building workshops that it offers on topics that are generally not taught to scientists and engineers in their undergraduate or graduate classes, yet are essential for career success once they enter the workplace. Although initially focused predominately on underrepresented groups in STEM fields, women and underrepresented minorities, in recent years (due to high demand) workshops have been open to all. To date over 20,000 scientists and engineers from universities, 4-year and 2-year colleges have been involved in COACh career-building workshops. Workshop topics include skills training in leadership, network building, successful mentorship techniques and practices, effective communication techniques relevant to the classroom and professional presentations, career launch and acceleration and, effective negotiation for career needs and resources.
As emergent and evolving technologies continue to be adopted by engineering, manufacturing, bioscience, energy, information security, materials science and other sectors, the need for a technologically adept workforce continues to grow. In 2018, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation commissioned a study comparing worker availability and job openings and found similar results. Twelve of the seventeen career clusters for which data was collected demonstrated more demand than workers. Eight of those twelve predominantly hired skilled technical workers. These studies and others have quantified what is now a generally accepted fact: the need for a technologically trained workforce is growing and is key to U.S. advancement and competitiveness.
While it is often assumed that such jobs require a four-year degree, much of the workforce need actually occurs at the skilled technician level, often presented as industry requests for workers with explicit technical skills. For these types of jobs, education and training programs at community and technical colleges have proven to be very effective and efficient in producing right-skilled graduates for jobs as technicians for the emerging workforce. Although most colleges have some type of professional development office to support continuing education for instructors, there is a general lack of guidance to help faculty develop long-term career goals and the creation of career plans that will ensure both career advancement and job satisfaction.
This project helped meet that need. The outcome of this project has been that we have developed a series of professional development workshops specifically tailored to the needs of ATE Community College/Technical faculty. Due to the timing of the grant, the workshops were conducted virtually, but were well attended and well received. The participants reported that they learned skills that help them to know more about how to leverage both internally and externally to their institutions, skills in negotiation and the ability to negotiate within the community college environment; recognizing entrepreneurial opportunities and how to manage changes as well as being able to transfer these skills to their students.
Last Modified: 11/17/2022
Modified by: Jean Stockard
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