Board 416: Understanding the Experiences of Graduate Program Directors: The Intersection of Roles, Responsibilities, and Care in Engineering Graduate Education

Alexandra Coso Strong; Adam Kirn; Kaitlyn Anne Thomas; Mais Kayyali; Kelsey Scalaro

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Conference: 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Portland, Oregon
Publication Date: June 23, 2024
Start Date: June 23, 2024
End Date: July 12, 2024
Conference Session: NSF Grantees Poster Session
Tagged Topics: Diversity and NSF Grantees Poster Session
Page Count: 7
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/47005
Download Count: 4

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Paper Authors

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Alexandra Coso Strong Florida International University orcid.org/0000-0003-4988-361X

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As an assistant professor of engineering education at Florida International University, Dr. Alexandra Coso Strong works and teaches at the intersection of engineering education, faculty development, and complex systems design. Alexandra completed her graduate degrees in Aerospace Engineering from Georgia Tech (PhD) and Systems Engineering from the University of Virginia (UVa).

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Adam Kirn University of Nevada, Reno orcid.org/0000-0001-6344-5072

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Adam Kirn is an Associate Professor of Engineering Education at the University of Nevada, Reno.

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Kaitlyn Anne Thomas University of Nevada, Reno

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Ms. Thomas is a doctoral student at University of Nevada, Reno in Engineering Education. Her background is in structural engineering. She received her bachelor's and master's degrees in civil engineering from Southern Methodist University. Her research focus is in epistemology and epistemic injustice in engineering.

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Mais Kayyali Florida International University

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Mais Kayyali is the Associate Director of Academic Support Services in the Office of the Dean at Florida International University’s (FIU) College of Engineering and Computing (CEC). In her current role, she oversees all aspects of Graduate Education and Admissions for the schools and departments under CEC. Her duties vary from admissions, recruitment, marketing, data analysis, graduate funding, etc. She also provides administrative support to the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. Prior to her current position, she was the Program Coordinator/Coordinator of Administrative Services at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) and prior to that the Program Assistant at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) at the college. Mais holds a Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Master’s degree in Hospitality Management, and is currently a doctoral student in the Engineering and Computing Education program at FIU. Her research interests are in graduate and postdoctoral education with a focus on mentorship and transitions as well as faculty development and the use of technology in engineering and computing education.

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Kelsey Scalaro University of Nevada, Reno

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Kelsey is a recent Engineering Education PhD graduate from the University of Nevada, Reno. Her research focus is on identity development for undergraduate engineering students and is interested in exploring design as a fundamental engineering practice in support of identity supporting program design.

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Abstract

Whether in response to the mental health crisis or the widespread inequities and discrimination within engineering graduate programs, the graduate engineering education community needs to take targeted action to create systemic change and healing from standing systemic issues. This collaborative research project focuses on graduate program faculty administrators, or Graduate Program Directors (GPDs), who are central to improving and sustaining graduate mental health and well-being. GPDs can shape departmental procedures, enact institutional policies, and disrupt power dynamics between faculty and students. Yet, as prior work has shown, little attention is given to and little is known about GPDs. Through research on those who hold power in the graduate engineering ecosystem, we can re-imagine the defaults of graduate education to support students experiencing, or who have experienced, trauma, a severe and highly interconnected mental health outcome. In particular, we leverage trauma-informed frameworks of care, theoretically-informed models of care that guide practice. These frameworks can enable engineering graduate education to realize the widespread impacts of trauma, recognize the signs and symptoms of trauma, and respond by fully integrating knowledge about trauma into practice and policy to prevent (re)traumatization of individuals and groups.

This paper and poster will provide an overview of the entire project plan and preliminary results of our first two research questions: (1) What are the characteristic roles of engineering graduate program directors in fostering cultures of care in their programs? and (2) How do the systemic structures within higher education impact engineering graduate program directors’ implementation of trauma-informed frameworks of care? Using a two-phase research design, the research team, composed of faculty and graduate students, seeks to learn from and with GPDs. Through multiple forms of data collection (i.e., national survey, interviews), Phase 1 is characterizing the extent to which and how programs leverage care practices and where change is needed. Phase 2 will leverage the resulting characterizations to co-create an evidence-based professional development framework for designing trauma-informed systems of care within engineering graduate programs. As part of Phase 1, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 8 Graduate Program Directors and Coordinators (i.e., administrative staff who support the graduate program) from a diverse set of institutions and disciplinary programs. The interviews sought to understand the roles and responsibilities of the GPDs and coordinators as well as the experiences of the GPDs and coordinators as they seek to support their students, especially in cases where students could or are experiencing trauma. Leveraging trauma-informed frameworks of care and systems analysis techniques, the data analysis has focused on the first two research questions. Preliminary results will be shared to provide a foundation for future professional development activities that seek to partner and co-create with engineering GPDs ways that can make care a programmatic default within their programs and institutions.

Citation
Format

Strong, A. C., & Kirn, A., & Thomas, K. A., & Kayyali, M., & Scalaro, K. (2024, June), Board 416: Understanding the Experiences of Graduate Program Directors: The Intersection of Roles, Responsibilities, and Care in Engineering Graduate Education Paper presented at 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Portland, Oregon. https://peer.asee.org/47005

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - Whether in response to the mental health crisis or the widespread inequities and discrimination within engineering graduate programs, the graduate engineering education community needs to take targeted action to create systemic change and healing from standing systemic issues. This collaborative research project focuses on graduate program faculty administrators, or Graduate Program Directors (GPDs), who are central to improving and sustaining graduate mental health and well-being. GPDs can shape departmental procedures, enact institutional policies, and disrupt power dynamics between faculty and students. Yet, as prior work has shown, little attention is given to and little is known about GPDs. Through research on those who hold power in the graduate engineering ecosystem, we can re-imagine the defaults of graduate education to support students experiencing, or who have experienced, trauma, a severe and highly interconnected mental health outcome. In particular, we leverage trauma-informed frameworks of care, theoretically-informed models of care that guide practice. These frameworks can enable engineering graduate education to realize the widespread impacts of trauma, recognize the signs and symptoms of trauma, and respond by fully integrating knowledge about trauma into practice and policy to prevent (re)traumatization of individuals and groups.  

This paper and poster will provide an overview of the entire project plan and preliminary results of our first two research questions: (1) What are the characteristic roles of engineering graduate program directors in fostering cultures of care in their programs? and (2) How do the systemic structures within higher education impact engineering graduate program directors’ implementation of trauma-informed frameworks of care? Using a two-phase research design, the research team, composed of faculty and graduate students, seeks to learn from and with GPDs. Through multiple forms of data collection (i.e., national survey, interviews), Phase 1 is characterizing the extent to which and how programs leverage care practices and where change is needed. Phase 2 will leverage the resulting characterizations to co-create an evidence-based professional development framework for designing trauma-informed systems of care within engineering graduate programs. As part of Phase 1, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 8 Graduate Program Directors and Coordinators (i.e., administrative staff who support the graduate program) from a diverse set of institutions and disciplinary programs. The interviews sought to understand the roles and responsibilities of the GPDs and coordinators as well as the experiences of the GPDs and coordinators as they seek to support their students, especially in cases where students could or are experiencing trauma. Leveraging trauma-informed frameworks of care and systems analysis techniques, the data analysis has focused on the first two research questions. Preliminary results will be shared to provide a foundation for future professional development activities that seek to partner and co-create with engineering GPDs ways that can make care a programmatic default within their programs and institutions. 
AU  - Alexandra Coso Strong
AU  - Adam Kirn
AU  - Kaitlyn Anne Thomas
AU  - Mais Kayyali
AU  - Kelsey Scalaro
CY  - Portland, Oregon
DA  - 2024/06/23
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Board 416: Understanding the Experiences of Graduate Program Directors: The Intersection of Roles, Responsibilities, and Care in Engineering Graduate Education 
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/47005
ER  -