Changing the Dialogue and Thinking on Campus Regarding Sexual Harassment through a University-level Workshop Series for Academic Leaders, Staff, and Faculty – Moving the Needle Parts I and II

This presentation describes how one large private technical university is moving the needle in regards to sexual harassment on its campus. Through an ongoing NSF ADVANCE institutional transformation effort, a large-scale, two-day workshop focused on sexual harassment was offered in April 2019 to campus leaders, faculty, and staff. The event’s impact was strengthened through collaboration, coordination and involvement of over twenty Thought Partners from across campus who ensured that campus buy-in and involvement would maximize the impact of the programming. The workshop called Moving the Needle – Part I and II is facilitated by the University of Michigan’s CRLT Players. The workshop’s evaluation by the University of Washington Center for Evaluation & Research for STEM Equity will also be described as well as how the evaluation results and session participant outcomes were used to promote institutional transformation (IT) on the campus. The Moving the Needle workshops are based on the 2018 NASEM Report on Sexual Harassment. In Part I, 2.5 hour session titled Shifting the Conversation around Sexual Harassment, participants gain basic knowledge on the topic while beginning to develop a reflective practice. Part I event evaluation showed that there was a strong increase in awareness around sexual harassment. In Part II, which is titled Creating a Culture Resistant to Sexual Harassment Session, participants use design thinking in this 3 hour session to envision and articulate a different, more inclusive future. Evaluation results suggested that Part II helped people think through how units can shift their cultures, and how cultures come about in units and institutions. The presentation describes the Thought Partners effort, the Moving the Needle workshop details, the detailed evaluation results based on surveys at the event end and three-weeks later, and dissemination strategy of workshop outcomes

The Development and Use of a Theory of Change to Align Programs and Evaluation in a Complex, National Initiative

In a complex, multisite initiative, a well‐developed theory of change can help an organization&rsquo;s leadership make strategic decisions about program elements, organizational direction and priorities, as well as provide structure and accountability for evaluation. This article describes the multi‐step process used by the evaluation team of a large nonprofit to iteratively develop a theory of change for a complex national initiative, including challenges encountered during the creation process and the initial implementation phase. We describe the benefits derived from the development process and the uses of the theory of change by the program staff and by the evaluation team. Although the theory of change highlighted weaknesses in the evaluation, it also provided us with an opportunity to improve the evaluation. Recommendations are included for those evaluators seeking to develop a theory of change for their own organizations.</p

S-STEM Becoming Engaged Engineering Scholars (BEES): Insights From Year 1

The Becoming Engaged Engineering Scholars (BEES) is an NSF S-STEM project that responds to the challenges in recruiting and retaining academically talented, low-income students from diverse backgrounds into undergraduate engineering programs. The new, ABET-accredited engineering programs at Western Washington University (WWU) have faced unique challenges in recruitment and retention, particularly in the first two years for pre-engineering students. Building on the success of prior S-STEM awards in other disciplines at WWU, the proposed program provides a systematic sequence of academic, social, and career support services specifically designed to enhance the success of engineering students during these first two years of undergraduate study. The primary program goal is to ensure the engineering programs offer an equitable pathway into engineering careers, particularly for low-income, academically talented students. In addition to providing financial support for participants, the BEES program adapts existing institutional support structures to offer a one-week bridge program prior to the start of their first year, implements a multi-level mentoring system that includes internal and external mentors, engages students in multiple curricular and co-curricular activities including an engaged engineering project experience, and offers a first-year seminar focused on engineering and society. The project devotes significant resources to studying the impact of the proposed activities. Specifically, the research seeks to answer how and to what extent the program activities support retention through the end of the 2nd year of engineering study, as well as how and to what extent the program activities impact students\u27 self-efficacy, identity, and sense of belonging. In this paper, the proposed program and its various support structures are described in detail, and some insights and results from the first year of the project are reviewed and discussed

Expanding Our Understanding of Backbone Organizations in Collective Impact Initiatives

This article explores the question of what mechanisms a backbone organization uses in a collective impact initiative to help diverse participants make organizational and social change. Qualitative data gathered from interviews with and observations of the participant organizations illustrate the ways that the backbone organization facilitated movement toward a common goal, making change. In this initiative, the participants were responsible for making their own organizational changes, which in turn, help to change the larger inequitable ecosystem. Data revealed five key mechanisms the backbone organization used to facilitate change-making among participating organizations: regular convenings, accountability, national visibility, toplevel leader involvement, and coaching. These mechanisms helped participant organizations integrate new knowledge and implement multi-pronged, customized strategies to navigate systemic change together. Finally, four suggestions for intentional backbone facilitation are proposed to help strengthen collective impact initiatives.</p