Lois Calian Trautvetter

Reducing Stress for New Faculty at Church-Related Colleges and Universities

SUMMARY New faculty in church-related institutions can struggle with many stresses (e.g., meeting expectations, lack of collegiality, time restraints, balance of work and their contributions to their discipline, and balance of work and non-work activities). In addition, these faculty members are being asked to develop students holistically within a campus community and also to share their talents by being engaged in multiple external communities, as well. Since there is very little or no graduate preparation for these new faculty, it is important for them to understand the mission and identity of the institution and become engaged in its community by taking part in faculty development activities to receive clear expectations about their contributions, thereby reducing stress. Also colleges need to design an assessment program that simultaneously fosters the development of faculty and fulfills the mission of the institution, by looking at worth, as well as merit.

Work in progress - Prototyping the Engineer of 2020: A curricular examination of two exemplary institutions preparing undergraduate engineers

Highlighting two higher education institutions that have been identified as exemplary in preparing engineering undergraduates for 2020, this work in progress paper focuses on what these institutions are doing to prepare their students. Using case study approaches, findings suggest that engineering undergraduate students gain contextual competence, design and problem solving, and interdisciplinary competence skills through curriculum redesign efforts at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Howard University. These design efforts include innovative teaching strategies, year-long undergraduate research opportunities, and extracurricular activities.

Panel session - preparing the engineers of 2020 - emerging evidence from six exemplary colleges and universities

This session will present preliminary findings from Prototyping the Engineer of 2020: A 360-degree Study of Effective Education (P360), funded by the National Science Foundation. The study is designed to provide empirically based guidance for engineering programs seeking to recruit and retain diverse students and to prepare all new engineers for work in a changing global economy. Researchers identified six institutions that are, in different ways, already producing engineers with some of the attributes of the Engineer of 2020: Arizona State University, Harvey Mudd College, Howard University, MIT, the University of Michigan, and Virginia Tech. Brief presentations will identify educational and institutional practices and policies that appear to be especially effective in producing engineers with superior design, interdisciplinary, and contextual knowledge and skills. Presenters will also discuss linkages between effective curricula, instruction, and student experiences and supportive institutional cultures, practices, and policies.