In this research paper, we focus on evidence of successful and sustained faculty change as part of our design-based implementation research project contextualized in the COVID-19 pandemic. This work draws on previous collaborative change efforts implemented in a multidisciplinary engineering department at a Hispanic-serving research institution in the Southwest and supported by a multiple-year NSF-funded Revolutionizing Engineering Departments (RED) grant. The abrupt shifts in instructional environments and practices brought on by the pandemic provide a valuable opportunity for us to explore whether and how faculty changes inspired and supported by RED-related activities were sustained during a time of crisis and upheaval. By analyzing and triangulating qualitative data sources such as interviews, recorded faculty meetings and professional development workshops, archived emails, and student surveys, we identified and reported salient indicators of sustained faculty changes, including their awareness and care related to students’ success, their readiness and implementation of online teaching pedagogy, and their initiatives in creating inclusive learning environments for diverse student needs. Results suggest the importance of fostering and sustaining change by creating collaborative spaces for faculty to reflect on and support each other’s teaching practice. A departmental Community of Practice (COP) related to teaching provided faculty with existing space, norms, and practice supporting each other in reflecting on, adapting, and improving their teaching to support the needs of diverse learners. We share our findings and implications in a traditional lecture.
http://orcid.org/https://0000-0003-4610-8052
University of New Mexico
[biography]
Susannah C. Davis is a research assistant professor at the University of New Mexico. She holds a Ph.D. and M.Ed. from the University of Washington and a B.A. from Smith College. Her research explores how postsecondary institutions, their faculty, and thei
Yan Chen is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of New Mexico. Her research interests focus on computer supported collaborative learning, learning sciences, online learning and teaching, and educational equity for multicultural/multiethnic education.
Dr. Vanessa Svihla is a learning scientist and professor at the University of New Mexico in the Organization, Information and Learning Sciences program and in the Chemical and Biological Engineering Department.
Sung “Pil†Kang is an assistant professor at the University of New Mexico. His academic interests include change management, change model validation, and mindset evolution. He may be reached at pilkang@unm.edu
Abhaya Datye has been on the faculty at the University of New Mexico after receiving his PhD in Chemical Engineering at the University of Michigan in 1984. He is presently Chair of the department and Distinguished Regents Professor of Chemical & Biological Engineering. From 1994-2014 he served as Director of the Center for Microengineered Materials, a strategic research center at UNM that reports to the Vice President for Research. He is also the founding director of the graduate interdisciplinary program in Nanoscience and Microsystems, the first program at UNM to span three schools and colleges and the Anderson Business School. He served as director of this program from 2007 – 2014. His research interests are in heterogeneous catalysis, materials characterization and nanomaterials synthesis. His research group has pioneered the development of electron microscopy tools for the study of catalysts.
Eva Chi is a Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering Department at the University of New Mexico. The research in her lab is focused on understanding the dynamics and structures of macromolecular assemblies including proteins, po
Dr. Han is a Regents Professor in the Departments of Chemical & Biological Engineering and Electrical & Computer Engineering at the University of New Mexico. He earned his Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of California at Santa Barbara and his B.S. in chemical engineering with honors from the University of California at Berkeley. Dr. Han has over 25 years of experience in electronic and photonic materials engineering and fabrication. His current research topics include (1) writable/rewritable quantum structures by stress patterning; (2) low-cost, crack-tolerant, advanced metallization for solar cell durability; (3) thin film processing and nanoscale surface corrugation for enhanced light trapping for photovoltaic devices; and (4) microsphere-based manufacturable coatings for radiative cooling. He has close to 70 publications in peer-reviewed journals and over 200 invited/contributed papers at academic institutions, national laboratories, and conferences. He received a UNM Junior Faculty Research Excellence Award in 2005 and an NSF Career Award in 2001. He is a recipient of STC.UNM Innovation Award consecutively from 2009 to 2018, and he was elected as the 2018 STC.UNM Innovation Fellow. Dr. Han holds 17 UNM-affiliated U.S. patents and 6 pending U.S. and PCT patent applications. He currently serves as the Chief Technical Officer of Osazda Energy LLC, a startup company based on his intellectual property generated at UNM. Prior to his entrepreneurial venture, Dr. Han served as the main campus faculty member of the STC.UNM Board of Directors from 2015 to 2016.
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