Quantitative and Mathematics Support Center Workshop to Develop Handbook of Best Practices, Professional Organization and STEM Infrastructure

该项目正在召集来自各种不同类型机构的定量和数学支持中心（QMaSC）主任的研讨会。这样的中心每年为全国各地的数万名学生提供服务，如果不是数十万的话;它们存在于大型大学，文科学院和社区学院。虽然每个中心都在其特定的机构服务于不同的需求，但它们都有一套共同的关注点和问题。然而，目前没有任何资源可供优质医疗服务中心的董事及其工作人员使用。为了填补这一空白，PI团队为本次研讨会设定了三个主要目标：1）开始关于指导QMaSCs的全国对话，以支持校园STEM基础设施的这一关键方面; 2）建立一个参与QMaSCs工作的可持续网络，以提供和共享资源;（3）为优质服务及行政支援中心的负责人或将来可能负责的人编写一本最佳做法手册。参与者须制订架构，以便为优质服务及行政支援中心的员工成立这类专业组织。此外，讲习班的主要产品是QMaSC主任手册，仿照全国校园使用的写作中心主任手册（Murphy和Stay，莱亚出版社，2006年）。QMaSC手册预计将是一份公开文件，旨在为QMaSC主任提供材料和经验证的实践，包括关于指导中心的各种共享方面的章节和反映QMaSC开展的广泛活动的案例研究。

This project is convening a workshop of directors of Quantitative and Mathematics Support Centers (QMaSCs) from across a range of different types of institutions. Such centers serve tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of students across the country each year; and they are present at large universities, at liberal arts colleges, and at community colleges. While each center services a diverse set of needs at its specific institution, collectively they all share a common set of concerns and issues. Yet, there is currently no body of resources from which directors of QMaSCs and their staffs can draw. To fill this void, the PI team has set three principal goals for this workshop:1) to begin a national conversation on directing QMaSCs, in support of this key aspect of the STEM infrastructure on campuses; 2) to establish a sustainable network of people involved in the work of QMaSCs in order to provide and share resources; and3) to create a handbook of best practices for those who direct QMaSCs or those who may direct QMaSCs in the future.Workshop leaders are working with the participants to formulate a framework for establishing such a professional organization for staff members of QMaSCs. In addition, the primary product of the workshop is a handbook for directors of QMaSCs, modeled after the Writing Center Directors Handbook (Murphy and Stay, LEA Publishers, 2006) used on campuses nationwide. The QMaSC handbook is expected to be a publicly available document geared at providing materials and proven practices for QMaSC directors, including chapters on the various shared aspects of directing a center and case studies that reflect the broad range of activities undertaken by QMaSCs.