Creating Pathways for STEM Higher Education Leadership

STEM高等教育领导者为教师和学生发挥着变革作用，但我们对如何招募和留住有效的STEM领导者知之甚少。什么因素促使STEM教师进入领导层？STEM领导者在追求领导机会时面临哪些挑战？高等教育背景、地区和位置或领导者人口统计数据如何影响机遇和挑战？该项目的目标是确定结构性障碍，以及最有效的组织战略，发展STEM高等教育领导者。拥有关于STEM领导力的不同挑战和机遇的明确信息，将使高等教育机构能够找到投资于体制变革的新方法，发展STEM领导者的职业生涯。作为这项研究的结果，项目团队计划传播最有效的战略，以培养来自各种背景的STEM领导者，同时也推荐策略，以解决最普遍的障碍。现有的研究集中在小样本，往往是在大学领导层的最高层，强调领导者必须具备的“勇气”。这些样本通常由一所学院或大学的领导者组成，没有捕捉到机构背景、地区、年龄组、领域或人口特征的差异。该项目以组织理论和地位期望理论为基础，旨在检验关于塑造领导轨迹的因素的假设。 该研究旨在使用一个具有全国代表性的大型调查样本，使团队能够研究不同背景下的领导力轨迹，包括博士授予大学，硕士授予大学，四年制学院和大学以及两年制学院。在选定的160个机构中，研究小组将调查约5,000名部门和学院级别的STEM领导者，以及具有STEM领域背景的大学领导者。然后，研究小组将使用多层次模型分析数据，探索领导者的经历如何根据制度因素、地区、何时获得最终学位和其他特征而变化。最后，项目团队将采访80位领导者，重点是那些领导者描述的特别具有挑战性的环境，以及特别顺利的领导过渡。该抽样策略旨在揭示STEM领导职位的结构性障碍和机会。该项目由NSF的EDU核心研究（ECR）计划支持。ECR计划强调基础STEM教育研究，产生该领域的基础知识。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力审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

STEM higher education leaders play transformational roles for both faculty and students, yet we know too little about how to recruit and retain effective STEM leaders. What factors encourage STEM faculty to move into leadership? What challenges do STEM leaders face in pursuing leadership opportunities? How do opportunities and challenges differ by higher education context, region and location, or leader demographics? The goal of this project is to identify the structural barriers to, as well as the organizational strategies that are most effective at, developing STEM higher educational leaders. Having clear cut information about the different challenges and opportunities to STEM leadership will allow higher education institutions to find new ways to invest in institutional change, developing the careers of STEM leaders. As a result of this research, the project team plans to disseminate the strategies that are most effective at developing STEM leaders from a wide variety of backgrounds, while also recommending strategies to address the barriers that are most prevalent.Existing research has focused on small samples, often at the highest echelons of university leadership, emphasizing the “grit” that leaders must have to lead. These samples typically consist of small groups of leaders at one college or university, not capturing differences by institutional context, region, age cohort, field, or demographic characteristics. Relying on organizational theory and status expectations theory, the project is designed to test hypotheses about the factors that shape leadership trajectories. The study aims to use a large nationally representative survey sample that will enable the team to examine leadership trajectories in different contexts including doctoral granting universities, masters granting universities, four-year colleges and universities, and two-year colleges. Within the 160 institutions selected, the research team will survey approximately 5,000 STEM leaders at the department and college levels, as well as university leaders with backgrounds in STEM fields. The team of researchers will then analyze the data using multilevel models that explore how leaders’ experiences vary depending on institutional factors, region, when they earned their terminal degrees, and other characteristics. Finally, the project team will interview eighty leaders, focusing on those in settings where leaders describe particularly challenging, as well as particularly smooth, transitions to leadership. This sampling strategy is intended to reveal insights into structural barriers to and opportunities for STEM leadership positions.This project is supported by NSF’s EDU Core Research (ECR) program. The ECR program emphasizes fundamental STEM education research that generates foundational knowledge in the field. Investments are made in critical areas that are essential, broad, and enduring: STEM learning and STEM learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM workforce development.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.