Contingent, VITAL faculty make up the majority of faculty positions in the United States, and their role is primarily instruction. Yet they often face numerous barriers to participating in professional development and engaging in the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL), activities that can support their instructional effectiveness. This…

This report, the fifth in the "On Shared Equity Leadership series," explores ways to build capacity for the work of shared equity leadership (SEL) in higher education. SEL is a leadership approach that scales diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) work and creates culture change by connecting individual and organizational transformation.…

The purpose of this article is to describe a new variation of communities of practice: communities of transformation. We define communities of transformation as communities that create and foster innovative spaces that envision a new future. This article is based on research examining four undergraduate STEM faculty communities of practice…

In this publication, the first in the "On Shared Equity Leadership" series, we describe how broadly inclusive and collaborative approaches to leadership are necessary to achieve equitable outcomes. We term this approach "shared equity leadership" (SEL), in which equity becomes everyone's responsibility and multiple campus…

Emerging evidence demonstrates that integrated programs, which combine academic and socioemotional supports and bridge boundaries between academic and student affairs, can improve college success rates for low-income, first-generation college students. This article explores the organizational value of integrated transition programs across several…

The purpose of this article is to describe the strategies that four undergraduate faculty science, technology, engineering, and mathematics reform communities of practice use to sustain themselves to scale up reforms in higher education. The study was informed by literature on communities of practice and analyzed data gathered through document…

Certain widely tested educational practices have been shown to have a significantly beneficial impact on student learning and success in college. These "high-impact practices" include first-year experiences, common intellectual experiences, learning communities, writing-intensive courses, collaborative assignments and projects,…

STEM undergraduate education reforms are more likely to be effective if undertaken not by individual faculty members but by faculty networks or "communities of transformation." The article describes four such communities that have persisted over many years and served large numbers of faculty through annual events, newsletters and…

A community of practice (CoP) is a group of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it as they interact regularly. Higher education leaders are attracted to CoPs because they are a peer-based model of learning with colleagues, which works well for professionals such as faculty. These authors identified…

It is important for administrators, faculty, and policy makers to understand and consider how policies commonly associated with non-tenure-track faculty roles and working environments impact student learning. Many policies impede the ability of faculty to provide effective instruction that is aligned with departmental and institutional goals for…

A substantial body of research, conducted over more than 50 years, makes clear that faculty-student interaction is a key factor in promoting student success, particularly among those students who most need support, such as first-generation college students and students of color. This research is consistent, pervasive, and has informed the…

This mixed-methods study examined four STEM communities (BioQUEST, Project Kaleidoscope, the POGIL Project, and SENCER) in order to better understand the roles of these communities in advancing the goals of scaling STEM education reform. The project explored three key questions: (1) How do members and leaders of communities of practice (CoPs1)…

This monograph provides a portrait of non-tenure-track faculty, describes studies of their experiences, and proposes plans of action. Much of the research, particularly early on, tried to provide a picture and description of this faculty that have been largely invisible for years. Therefore, "Portrait of Non-Tenure-Track Faculty" focuses on the…

During the 2002-2003 academic year, six roundtables were held to explore uses of the data from the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) for improvement of student learning. This paper describes the roundtable discussion held in October 2002 at the Professional Organizational Development conference in Atlanta, Georgia. Thirteen faculty…

Discusses the value of institutional reading groups as vehicles for engaging faculty in the body of higher education literature and encouraging the use of research in decision making. Suggests these groups are an effective and efficient strategy for assimilating large amounts of complex information, fostering new knowledge, and sparking campus-…