Zoom Only - Email office@phys.ksu.edu for link
Creating change in academia is a difficult challenge, especially when it comes to complex issues like undergraduate education, climate, or equity and inclusion. The problem is not that there are a lack of good ideas for what changes to make, but rather that the strategies that are being used to create change are inappropriate or ineffective. One successful mechanism for creating change is a Departmental Action Team (DAT). A DAT is an externally-facilitated working group of 4 to 8 faculty, staff, and students that is created by a department to achieve two goals: (1) create sustainable change around a broad-scale issue related to undergraduate education in the department and (2) help develop DAT participants' capacity for creating future change through developing facilitation and leadership skills. Through implementing and studying these groups, the DAT project team has learned a great deal about the strategies, structures, and principles that lead to successful change efforts. In this presentation, I will share the DAT model and stories of successful (and not so successful) DATs to provide examples for engaging in departmental change.
Website: dat-project.org