The AAAS-IUSE Disruptor blog is dedicated to exploring strategies that empower faculty, administrators, and other stakeholders to create systemic change that improves diversity, equity, and inclusion at institutions of higher education and supports students from underrepresented and underserved communities to participate and succeed in STEM. Posts reviewing research or case studies focusing on strategies that improve equity within STEM education are of interest.
Blog Theme & Topics
2022 Blog Theme: Catalyzing Sustainable Evidence-Based Strategies to Create an Equitable Future for STEM Education
The blog theme above will be addressed through the following subtopics. Submissions should align with at least one subtopic:
Topics
How Communities Support Faculty and Administrators to Drive Change
- Editor: Sibrina Collins, Ph.D., Executive Director, The Marburger STEM Center, Lawrence Technological University
- How do innovative communities help us identify and implement effective evidence-based strategies? How can we create and/or nurture these communities? How do we make sure all stakeholders have representation in our communities?
Rethinking Reappointments, Promotion, and Tenure
- Editor: Malika Jeffries-EL, Ph.D., Associate Dean for the Graduate School in Arts and Sciences and Associate Professor of Chemistry, Materials Science, and Engineering, Boston University
- How do we change university metrics for faculty excellence to encourage equitable change? How do we align intentions with actions?
The Role of Deans, Department Chairs, and Institutional Leaders in Supporting Change
- Editor: Susan Singer, Ph.D., Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost, Rollins College
- How can institutional leaders help faculty and administrators succeed in creating transformational, equitable change in classrooms, departments, and institutions? What is the role of chairs and deans in changing the incentive system to bring about change?
Innovative Learning Environments
- Editor: Stephanie E. August, Ph.D., Independent Consultant, Engineering Education
- We live in an era of creative, engaging, robust interactive digital interfaces that put a wealth of knowledge and activities within easy reach. A collective effort to integrate them more fully into higher ed learning environments will move us toward more equitable and relevant STEM education in the future.
Authors should focus on the implications of their work, how studies, strategies, and examples can serve as a model for others, and identifying opportunities, barriers, and questions surrounding these strategies.
Format
Word Count: If your submission is selected, the maximum word count of your finalized blog post is 1600. The minimum word count is 1000.
Selected authors are encouraged to develop resources that further illustrate the information in their blog post such as graphs, charts, infographics, embedded videos, references, and links to additional resources for further reading and analysis. Authors may wish to create a short video for their finalized blog post. Videos should not exceed 5 minutes or solicit funding. Videos support the blog post in one of the following ways:
- An introduction to your post that tee’s up the content that will be covered in greater depth below, or
- A video inserted into the main body of your post that illustrates an example of your work or the idea you’re discussing.
- IUSE program PIs & Co-PIs
- Educators, researchers, evaluators, and representatives of academic institutions
- Representatives from non-profits, STEM centers, STEM discipline societies, funders, or government entities with a focus on undergraduate STEM education
- Experts in the field of undergraduate STEM education
Speakers will be chosen based on the following criteria:
- Relevancy to the overall blog theme and at least one topic listed in the description above
- Relevancy to an audience of IUSE principal investigators, higher education stakeholders, and the larger undergraduate STEM education community
- Compelling title, subtitle, and description of the subject you plan to cover
- Content advances and pushes the field beyond the status quo, introduces compelling evidence, clearly describes implications and practical steps readers can take, and does not shy away from uncomfortable conversation or stop short of audience empowerment
Please be prepared to submit the following:
- Personal information such as name, affiliation, email address, discipline, and demographic information
- IUSE award recipient status, category of award, project role, and additional project personnel
- Tentative blog post title and subtitle
- A short description of your idea for a blog post (up to 300 words)
- How does your blog post relate to the 2021 blog theme? (up to 250 words)
- What implications will your blog post have on IUSE PI’s and/or the larger STEM education community?
- Optional: A draft outline of your blog post
- Would you like to include any links to your research, program, bio pages, or resources that are relevant to your topic?
Questions?
Please contact the AAAS-IUSE team at iuse@aaas.org.
