Leadership Succession in the National Science Foundation Revolutionizing Engineering Departments Projects
- Conference
- Location
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Minneapolis, MN
- Publication Date
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August 23, 2022
- Start Date
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June 26, 2022
- End Date
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June 29, 2022
- Conference Session
- Page Count
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7
- DOI
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10.18260/1-2--41954
- Permanent URL
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https://peer.asee.org/41954
- Download Count
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235
Paper Authors
Julia Williams Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
Julia M. Williams joined the faculty of the Humanities and Social Sciences Department at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in 1992, then assumed duties as Executive Director of the Office of Institutional Research, Planning, and Assessment in 2005. From 2016-19, she served as Interim Dean of Cross-Cutting Programs and Emerging Opportunities. In this role, she supported the work of faculty who create multi-disciplinary learning opportunities for Rose-Hulman students. Williams’ publications on assessment, engineering and professional communication, and tablet PCs have appeared in the Journal of Engineering Education and IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, among others. She has been awarded grants from Microsoft, HP, the Engineering Communication Foundation, the Kern Family Foundation, and National Science Foundation. Currently she supports the work of the Revolutionizing Engineering Departments (NSF RED) grant recipients. She has received numerous awards including the 2015 Schlesinger Award (IEEE Professional Communication Society) and 2010 Sterling Olmsted Award (ASEE Liberal Education Division).
Eva Andrijcic Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
Cara Margherio University of Washington
Dr. Cara Margherio is the Assistant Director of the University of Washington Center for Evaluation & Research for STEM Equity (CERSE). Her research interests span the study of intersectionality, higher education, organizational change, and social movements. Cara uses mixed methods to understand the social mechanisms which may dismantle inequities within higher education. She recently served as a Virtual Visiting Scholar with the ADVANCE Resource and Coordination Network. Cara earned a PhD and MA in Sociology at the University of Washington, and a BPhil in Sociology and BS in Psychology from the University of Pittsburgh.
Elizabeth Litzler University of Washington
Elizabeth (Liz) Litzler, Ph.D., is the Director of the Center for Evaluation & Research for STEM Equity (CERSE) at the University of Washington (UW) and an Affiliate Assistant Professor in UW Sociology. She was the 2020-2021 Chair of the ASEE Commission on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (CDEI). She is a former Board Member of Women in Engineering ProActive Network (WEPAN) and the recipient of the 2020 WEPAN Founders Award. She has led social science research projects such as the UW portion of NSF funded Revolutionizing Engineering Departments Participatory Action Research (REDPAR) and the Sloan funded Project to Assess Climate in Engineering (PACE). She also manages program evaluations that provide actionable strategies to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion in STEM fields. This includes evaluation of NSF ADVANCE, S-STEM, INCLUDES, and IUSE projects, and climate studies of students, faculty, and staff. Her social science research covers many topics and has used critical race theories such as Community Cultural Wealth to describe the experiences of systemically marginalized students in engineering.
Sriram Mohan Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
Sriram Mohan is a Professor of Computer Science and Software Engineering at Rose-Hulman institute of Technology.
Selen Güler
Selen Güler is a PhD student in Sociology at the University of Washington and a research assistant in the University of Washington’s Center for Evaluation & Research for STEM Equity (UW CERSE). Selen’s research interests include institutional change, cultural foundations of policy making, and how people use fiscal policy to morally and politically construct the state.
Abstract
In research communities focussed on leadership, focus is often on the qualities and skills that an individual must develop in order to lead successfully. Goleman, for example, identifies emotional intelligence--self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills--as the core leadership quality. Similarly, Bennis and Thomas highlight the importance of “crucible” experiences, negative events that allow the leader to learn and grow four leadership skills. Leadership succession, in contrast, is often relegated to status as a managerial activity intended to ensure the continuity of the project team. In contrast, we believe that leadership succession is an important leadership skill that team members should prepare themselves for. Our poster will focus on what we are learning about leadership succession in the context of National Science Foundation Revolutionizing Engineering Departments (RED) projects, academic change projects that involve diverse teams and multiple years.
As defined by the RED solicitation, each RED project must be led by a department chair and/or dean. Through focus group interviews with RED project team members, we have identified leadership succession challenges that are common across all teams. Nearly all RED teams experienced leadership changes during the life of their projects: a dean serving as a RED PI who decides to leave for a different institution, a department chair who moves to a new campus. While the RED project team members acknowledge in hindsight that leadership succession is something that they must deal with, they seldom anticipate or prepare for it in advance. Our work as members of the RED Participatory Action Research (REDPAR) team is to help RED project teams develop their skills and prepare for succession. Emerging from our research is the REDPAR Tip Sheet on the topic of Leadership Succession, the sixth in a series of research-based, practice-focused guides that present our findings in an accessible way. In our poster, we will review our findings regarding leadership succession as it impacts RED teams and discuss the importance of preparing all team members, not just team leaders, for developing and implementing leadership succession plans.
Williams, J., & Andrijcic, E., & Margherio, C., & Litzler, E., & Mohan, S., & Güler, S. (2022, August), Leadership Succession in the National Science Foundation Revolutionizing Engineering Departments Projects Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, MN. 10.18260/1-2--41954
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