The Advanced Technological Education program is one of six postsecondary education networks that National Science Foundation-funded researchers have studied to understand how institutional change occurs to improve teaching.
Of the six organizations in the Organizational Change Networks study, ATE is the only one that solely targets associate-degree-granting institutions. Other aspects of ATE that attracted the researchers’ attention are the inter- and cross-discipline collaborations within the program, its projects to mentor new STEM education leaders, and its built-in partnerships with employers in multiple industry sectors.
“That’s why it’s so fascinating,” said Susan Rundell Singer, co-principal investigator. She added, “It’s more than a network of networks. It’s got these really deep relationships and overlapping types of networks, and that’s why we were fascinated by it.”
The study is led by Ann E. Austin, interim vice provost for Faculty and Academic Staff Affairs as well as University Distinguished Professor at Michigan State University, and Singer, who became president of St. Olaf College on June 1. Singer had been vice president for Academic Affairs and provost at Rollins College since 2016.
During a Zoom interview Austin and Singer shared their hope that the framework and their other findings will help educators who are forming or managing networks plan their responses to challenges. Adam Grimm, a postdoctoral research associate at Michigan State, also participated in the interview.