Professional Enhancement Programs (PEPs)

This PEP introduces participants to a variety of sustainability topics that they can use in their teaching, either as part of existing courses or as a full course in mathematical modeling. We also discuss having students undertake community-based sustainability projects that can lead to positive change in the community. Participants will be provided with a links to data sets and other resources.

Pre-session work and homework will be assigned to accompany in-person learning.

COME-In: Creating Opportunities for Mathematics Engagement and Inspiration is a demonstrated framework for leaders to conduct a holistic self-assessment of department or program policies, practices, and outcomes and to identify opportunities to increase engagement and inspiration of people in mathematics education and careers. The framework includes a specific focus on those whose participation has been hindered or who have been left behind. By the end of this interactive workshop, participants will have tangible tools to begin this self-assessment process specific to their individual contexts and challenges.

COME-In uses a collaborative model for change in which trained consultants with backgrounds in DEI were paired with departmental leaders at Eastern Michigan University, University of Alaska-Anchorage, Queensborough Community College, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Carthage College, and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Collectively, the program included 2-year, 4-year, masters, PhD-granting, and R1 institutions, an MSI and several with high populations of underserved populations, and public and private institutions.

Teams have already made significant inroads for change, building buy-in for what is needed for meaningful impact. They have built institutional change teams, navigated institutional structures, engaged stakeholders across their institutions, gained access to existing data and implemented surveys to gauge the current state of their departments and programs. For example, they are creating and implementing new placement processes, an emerging scholars program, and programs to enhance undergraduate engagement in the major.

This workshop has three main objectives. First we will form a community around institutional change through sharing current approaches, successes, and challenges, allowing each participant to craft a clear problem statement to carry forward after the session. Second, we will introduce the COME-In framework as an instrument of impact and change, detailing how it is being used with case studies from the current institutions. Finally, we will draft how the COME-In framework would look for each participant as a potential opportunity to bring the framework to their institution and be part of the next cohort of institutions working for change.

COME-IN was developed by a group of mathematical and statistical scientists, diverse in their mathematical, professional, and personal identities and their leadership roles in the mathematical and statistical sciences. The framework was inspired by the STEMM Equity Achievement (SEA) Change program of the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences (AAAS), adapted to the needs and challenges of the mathematical and statistical sciences. With support of TPSE, a two-year, NSF-funded pilot test of the COME-In framework led the six departments and six trained consultants through this framework. This PEP will incorporate the things learned from this pilot test.

Math departments are grappling with how they should update their courses to meet the future needs of their students, while also trying to attend to new realities in student preparation, faculty mindset, evidence-based instructional practices, and unknown future funding opportunities. In this PEP, we suggest that the alignment of frameworks, reports, and calls to action on teaching and learning from professional organizations representing STEM faculty suggest that we should be seeking to increase our students' curiosity about the interrelatedness of mathematics and adjacent disciplines, make connections between theoretical ideas and applications, and help students create valuable learning experiences by solving problems on issues they care about.

The KEEN framework for engineering education, Engineering Unleashed, takes an opportunity- and impact-oriented approach to teaching undergraduates, and we posit that we can enact a similar framework in mathematics education. We will ask participants to engage in creation of mathematical learning activities that focus on curiosity, connections, and creating value and will introduce them to the 5000+ existing activities in the KEEN database. We explicitly engage in discussions about the GAIMME report on math modeling, the MAA IP guide, the ASEE mindset report, and other professional best-practice reports that can be leveraged to inform both content and pedagogical change in math departments.