NSF Org:	DUE Division Of Undergraduate Education
Recipient:	THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO
Initial Amendment Date:	July 27, 2022
Latest Amendment Date:	July 27, 2022
Award Number:	2230271
Award Instrument:	Standard Grant
Program Manager:	Kalyn Owens kowens@nsf.gov  (703)292-4615 DUE  Division Of Undergraduate Education EDU  Directorate for STEM Education
Start Date:	December 1, 2022
End Date:	May 31, 2026 (Estimated)
Total Intended Award Amount:	$211,261.00
Total Awarded Amount to Date:	$211,261.00
Funds Obligated to Date:	FY 2022 = $211,261.00
History of Investigator:	Sarah Wise (Principal Investigator) sarah.wise@colorado.edu Tara Holmberg (Co-Principal Investigator) Joel Corbo (Co-Principal Investigator) Courtney Ngai (Co-Principal Investigator)
Recipient Sponsored Research Office:	University of Colorado at Boulder 3100 MARINE ST Boulder CO  US  80309-0001 (303)492-6221
Sponsor Congressional District:	02
Primary Place of Performance:	University of Colorado at Boulder 3100 Marine Street, Room 481 572 Boulder CO  US  80309-0058
Primary Place of Performance Congressional District:	02
Unique Entity Identifier (UEI):	SPVKK1RC2MZ3
Parent UEI:
NSF Program(s):	IUSE
Primary Program Source:	040V2122DB EHR ARP Act DEFC V
Program Reference Code(s):	102Z, 7556, 8209, 9178
Program Element Code(s):	199800
Award Agency Code:	4900
Fund Agency Code:	4900
Assistance Listing Number(s):	47.076

ABSTRACT

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2). This project aims to serve the national interest by developing and disseminating knowledge about innovative, effective change processes and strategies for two year colleges. The project will convene a four-part workshop for a wide variety of two-year college (2YC) STEM faculty/staff/administrator teams interested in advancing curricular and cultural change in their academic units. Workshop activities will result in several outcomes: 1) the workshop?s consensus recommendations on processes and strategies that support change in the 2YC context, 2) a curated set of resources that workshop participants find promising to support such change, 3) a variety of change-related awareness-raising activities and change projects, implemented at the participating 2YCs, 4) a self-sustaining network of 2YC STEM faculty, staff, and administrators engaged in advancing academic unit-level change, and 5) articles and other dissemination products sharing the workshop outcomes to the broader 2YC community and higher education change communities. These outcomes are significant because most academic unit-level improvement projects to date have focused on the four-year college context, whereas this project is focused on making systemic improvements in STEM education at 2YCs.

The four workshop sessions will be spread across a year to further the project goals of 1) exploring change processes in-depth, in 2YC STEM academic contexts and 2) supporting participating 2YC teams in engaging their units or institutions in a local project related to advancing academic unit-level change. Each session intends to be 2-3 hours in length and be attended by 50 2YC faculty, staff, and administrator teams, representing at least 15 different institutions. Session topics aim to explore understanding 2YC STEM unit change needs, conceptualizing effective change processes at 2YCs, sharing plans and feedback around change-related projects at participating 2YC STEM units, and sharing results and lessons learned from implemented projects. Overall, the sessions seek to promote change efforts in STEM units in participating 2YCs, produce new knowledge around the types of change that are desired at 2YCs, and identify which evidence-based processes and structures are most likely to be effective at supporting and sustaining change in these contexts. The project team will be led by two 2YC STEM faculty members with professional development experience and supported by researchers with expertise in evidence-based institutional change. Researchers plan to apply the organizational learning framework across the project?s programs, research, and evaluation activities to support the design of an effective workshop and to synthesize the contributions of workshop participants. The organizational learning framework helps examine the individual, group, and organizational factors and processes that influence the ways change ideas and initiatives are received and integrated (or not integrated) by an organization. The framework will support a qualitative analysis of workshop artifacts to identify processes and structures supportive of change in STEM units at 2YCs. This work will help distinguish processes enabling cultural changes, which are more likely to be sustained. The project team and interested participants intend to collaborate on writing up consensus recommendations and other findings from the workshop series to be disseminated through a number of higher education change and two-year college organizations, including the Accelerating Systemic Change Network, the Council for the Study of Community Colleges, and the Community College Research Center. 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.

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.

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