Abstract
Promoting excellence in undergraduate STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education at major research universities is necessary to ensure that we have the STEM-literate workforce and general population required to propel the nation forward into the twenty-first century and beyond. This essay provides a brief contextual history of the Association of American Universities' (AAU) effort to improve the effectiveness of undergraduate STEM education at member campuses and delineates the specific goals of this initiative. The essay then illuminates the essential role of the academic department and department chair in achieving long-lasting change and improving the quality of undergraduate education. It also discusses critical strategies and approaches for promoting the most effective methods for undergraduate STEM teaching and learning, with numerous examples from AAU member universities. The essay concludes with an acknowledgment of key challenges and opportunities that continue to face undergraduate education at research universities.
Highlights
This essay provides a brief contextual history of the Association of American Universities’ (AAU) effort to improve the effectiveness of undergraduate STEM education at member campuses and delineates the specific goals of this initiative
I n the late 2000s, Association of American Universities (AAU) staff recognized that its member institutions were vulnerable to criticisms concerning the quality of undergraduate STEM teaching, learning, and retention, such as those raised in the 1998 Boyer Commission Report on educating undergraduates in the research university.[1]
Reflecting on undergraduate STEM education from 2009 to 2012, the AAU found that most university efforts to support student success in STEM fields occurred outside the classroom, and that a majority of STEM faculty members remained inattentive to scholarship on effective pedagogy
Summary
I n the late 2000s, Association of American Universities (AAU) staff recognized that its member institutions were vulnerable to criticisms concerning the quality of undergraduate STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) teaching, learning, and retention, such as those raised in the 1998 Boyer Commission Report on educating undergraduates in the research university.[1]. By engaging STEM department chairs in these critical teaching and learning issues, the AAU has worked to increase the magnitude and speed of change in the quality and effectiveness of undergraduate STEM education at research universities.
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