HHMI Team

The OREGON STATE ADVANCE Seminar engages institutional leadership in systems of oppression theory, and the intersections of identity and inequality in the academy. Seminar participants develop action plans to catalyze transformation within and across units at the personal, symbolic, and institutional levels. Action plans can take many forms and cover a wide range of topics including promotion and tenure, recruitment and retention, campus climate, curriculum development, mentoring, and communications. Julie Greenwood, Associate Provost for Transformative Learning in the Division of Undergraduate Education at the Center for Teaching and Learning and ADVANCE Seminar graduate, was inspired to create an action plan that, in partnership with Martin Storksdieck Director of the Center for Research on Lifelong STEM Learning and fellow ADVANCE graduate, ultimately resulted in a million dollar grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI). A total of 594 instutions submitted applications to HHMI, and 57 were selected for funding.

Greenwood's action plan centered on supporting the application for a HHMI grant to create an Inclusive Excellence @ Oregon State program. The program will conduct a summer academy for faculty in STEM to assist in the development of more inclusive STEM classrooms and education. Participants will hone active learning strategies and culturally responsive pedagogies to increase the participation, retention, performance, and learning outcomes for all students, especially those from under-represented groups. Active learning moves away from traditional lecture pedagogy to more hands-on learning. In the grant proposal culturally responsive teaching is defined as "using the cultural knowledge, prior experiences, frames of reference, and performance styles of ethnically diverse students to make learning encounters more relevant to and effective for them" (Gay, 2010, p.31).

"The ADVANCE Seminar definitely influenced my thinking" noted Greenwood, and the Difference, Power, and Discrimination program (DPD) was an important influence as well. DPD has been noted for its outstanding faculty development, and placed OSU on the map as a national leader in faculty development and curriculum change regarding DPD issues. The DPD Academy is designed to engage faculty in relevant, multidisciplinary scholarship on difference, power, and discrimination; critical pedagogies; and curriculum transformation. Both the DPD Academy and the ADVANCE Seminar operate from a position that "education about issues of difference can change attitudes and behaviors" (OREGON STATE ADVANCE, Project Description).

When Greenwood, who was Associate Dean, of Undergraduate Studies in the College of Science when she participated in the seminar, moved from the College of Science to the Division of Undergraduate Learning, Storksdieck took the lead on the project. Greenwood will still have opportunities to support the program in her new role, and stated that the program has a "dream team" with Storksdieck and the 16 other team members. "I trust them. I respect them, and will do whatever I can to support them. I have learned so much from them, and hope that they have learned from me too." said Greenwood. The team consists of a program director, summer academy curriculum and facilitation team, core leadership team, a project coordinator, a partner institution lead, and an advisory board (all pictured above and named below). Among them are the Director of the Difference, Power, and Discrimination (DPD) Program and ADVANCE Senior Staff member Nana Osei-Kofi, and five ADVANCE Seminar graduates: Martin Storksdieck, Andrew Karplus, Milo Koretsky, Kathryn Ciechanowski, and Robert Mason. ADVANCE Co-PI, Seminar facilitator, and research team co-chair Michelle Bothwell also serves on the Inclusive Excellence advisory committee, as does Chief Assistant to the President and ADVANCE Research team member, Jennifer Almquist.

Pictured above from left to right
Program Director 
Martin Storksdieck, Director/ Full Professor STEM Center/Education and Public Policy
Core Leadership Team/Summer Academy Curriculum and Facilitation
Nana Osei-Kofi, Director/Associate Professor Difference, Power, and Discrimination Program/ Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; Mary Beisiegel, Assistant Professor, Mathematics; Lori Kayes, Senior Instructor I, Integrative Biology; Julie Risien, Associate Director, STEM Center
Implementation Team/Summer Academy Curriculum and Facilitation
Devon Quick, Senior Instructor, Integrative Biology
Advisory Board Members
Rober Mason, Associate Head/ Full Professor, Integrative Biology; Andrew Karplus, Department Head/Full Professor, Biochemistry and Biophysics; Jennifer Almquist, Special Assistant to University President, Office of the President; Thomas Dick, Full Professor, Mathematics; Milo Koretsky, Full Professor, Chemical and Biological Engineering;  Allison Hurst, Associate Professor, Sociology; Kathryn Ciechanowski, Associate Professor, ESOL, Bilingual and Literacy Education; Michelle Bothwell, Associate Professor, Bioengineering
Partner Institution Lead
Sally Widenmann
ADVANCE Seminar Action Plan Author
Julie Greenwood