Strengthening and Supporting the Community College Leadership Role in Advancing STEM Technician Education

先进技术教育（ATE）计划的重点是教育熟练的技术劳动力，以保持美国先进技术产业的全球竞争力，并在过去25年中一直支持这一目标。这项工作的一个关键合作伙伴一直是并将继续是美国社区学院协会（AACC），它提供了该计划与美国社区和技术学院之间的直接联系。AACC支持社区大学领导人建立建立和维持STEM项目所需的联系。AACC还指导了教师，并促进了新的合作，加强了全国各地的技术人员教育计划。该项目将通过支持ATE主要研究者（PI）会议和MentorLinks计划提供的网络和专业充实来继续这项工作。 它还将为社区和技术学院的高级领导人创建一个新的项目，以提高对先进技术教育的理解并在全国范围内扩大其实施。在这个项目中，AACC旨在：扩大社区学院领导在推进STEM技术人员教育方面的影响;鼓励更多的社区学院开发和/或加强现有的ATE-related项目;创建和支持STEM专业和领导力发展的场所;通过与社区大学校长和高级管理人员的直接接触来支持STEM能力建设;并传播ATE计划的价值，资源和成就。项目活动包括组织四次ATE PI会议，并扩大AACC成功的MentorLinks计划，使20所社区学院能够开发新的或加强现有的STEM技术人员教育计划。 它还将制定和实施ATE行政领导参与计划，旨在为社区学院院长和高级管理人员提供同行专业发展，以提高对ATE奖励和STEM能力建设实施的认识和支持。 该行政领导计划将提供：（1）在AACC的年度大会ATE总统早餐讨论圆桌会议;（2）与2020年ATE会议一起举行的社区学院校长研讨会，重点是确定和分享有前途的战略，以支持ATE奖项在校园内的成功实施;（3）针对通过研讨会和圆桌会议确定的与管理员相关的主题的网络研讨会系列;该项目还将通过项目网站，专题文章，演示文稿，会议记录和使用社交媒体传播ATE计划资源，信息和机会;评估项目活动，包括旨在加强年度ATE会议的两个ATE焦点小组;并公布AACC的MentorLinks计划的研究结果，该计划是2018年-2019年的纵向研究，涵盖了该计划在14年内的影响。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准。

The Advanced Technological Education (ATE) program focuses on educating a skilled technical workforce to keep the United States advanced technological industries globally competitive, and has supported this goal for the past 25 years. A critical partner in this effort has been and continues to be the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC), which provides a direct link between the program and US community and technical colleges. The AACC has supported community college leaders to make the connections needed to build and sustain STEM programs. The AACC has also mentored faculty and catalyzed new collaborations that have strengthened technician education programs across the nation. This project will continue this work by supporting the networking and professional enrichment provided by the ATE Principal Investigator (PI) Conferences and the MentorLinks program. It will also create a new program for senior leaders of community and technical colleges, to enhance understanding of advanced technological education and nationally expand its implementation.In this project, the AACC aims to: broaden the impact of community college leadership in advancing STEM technician education; encourage greater numbers of community colleges to develop and/or to strengthen existing ATE-related programs; create and support venues for STEM professional and leadership development; support STEM capacity building through direct engagement with community college presidents and senior administrators; and disseminate the value, resources, and accomplishments of the ATE program. Project activities include organizing four ATE PI Conferences and expanding the AACC's successful MentorLinks program to enable 20 community colleges to develop new or strengthen existing STEM technician education programs. It will also develop and implement an ATE Administrative Leadership Engagement program, designed to provide peer-to-peer professional development for community college presidents and senior administrators, to raise awareness of and support for the implementation of ATE awards and STEM capacity building. This Administrative Leadership Program will offer: (1) ATE Presidents' Breakfast Discussion Roundtables at the AACC's annual convention; (2) A workshop for community college presidents with resulting proceedings report, held in conjunction with the 2020 ATE Conference focused on identifying and sharing promising strategies to support the successful implementation of ATE awards on their campuses; (3) A webinar series targeting topics relevant to administrators, as identified through the workshop and roundtables; The project will also disseminate ATE program resources, information, and opportunities through the project website, feature articles, presentations, conference proceedings, and the use of social media; evaluate project activities including two ATE focus groups designed to strengthen the annual ATE Conference; and publish research findings on AACC's MentorLinks program resulting from a 2018-2019 longitudinal study covering the program's impact over a period of 14 years.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.