GROWTH Change Team

The GROWTH Change Team was formed at the end of the fall semester 2019, with input from all college Deans and other campus stakeholders to provide more professional development opportunities for faculty/staff in their own departments/colleges, with topics and examples relevant to their disciplines.

The GROWTH Change Team is a University-wide structure for college-specific PD and is charged with: 

1. Building the capacity within colleges and departments to design, implement, and assess a yearly faculty/staff PD plan aligned with local faculty needs to support student success in alignment with the Framework for Inclusive Teaching Excellence (FITE) and/or the Framework for Inclusive Service and Support Excellence FISSE).

2. Promoting faculty/staff responsibility for continuous growth to be effective in and outside the classroom.

3. Building and archiving resources to support evidence-informed PD for each college/unit.

4. Identifying individuals who could provide and/or support PD programming in alignment with college-specific needs.

5. Collaborating with CTLT, UAS, and other campus units to support college-specific GROWTH efforts. 

Leading this work is the GROWTH Leadership Team, a set of advisors/coaches working in collaboration with Dr. Cuenca-Carlino to support each college/unit leader in developing, implementing, and assessing their college/unit professional development plans. The leadership team is composed by the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Technology (CTLT) interim Director and professional developers; the Cross Endowed Chair in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning; the Director of Center for Mathematics, Science, and Technology (CeMaST); the Associate Director of University Assessment Services; the Director of the Center for Civic Engagement, and the Director of the Office of Student Research. Further, the interim AVP for Student Success works closely with the GROWTH Change Team to make sure faculty success professional development initiatives are aligned with student success initiatives.

GROWTH Year 1 (2020-2021)

During spring 2020, each college/unit team worked with their leadership advisor to analyze disaggregated college-level data from the university-wide needs assessment that was administered in fall 2019. This analysis helped college/unit leaders identify professional development priorities (PD) for their colleges/units during the 2020-2021 academic year.  

The GROWTH Change Team met during the summer (June 8-12, 2020) for a retreat organized by the leadership team to engage in PD and develop college-specific PD programming aligned to the new Framework for Inclusive Teaching Excellence (FITE) and/or the Framework for Inclusive Support and Service Excellence (FISSE). Based on data analyzed, college/unit leaders identified the FITE/FISSE dimension(s) on which they focused their PD programming, established goals, and developed a PD plan for delivering and assessing their activities. See the plans here: (PDF document)

During fall 2020 and spring 2021, each college/unit team implemented their PD plans, offering on average, 3-4 PD sessions per semester to faculty and/or staff.  Across all eight colleges/units, over 1,800 faculty and staff participated in PD sessions through the GROWTH Change Team initiative this year. 

Year 1 of the GROWTH Change Team implementation was considered successful despite being launched in the middle of a pandemic.  Involvement and support from Deans and other college/unit administrators were crucial for incentivizing faculty and staff participation in the GROWTH initiative.  Local offerings for PD, especially through video-conferencing, were appealing to a broader community of people, and involvement in this initiative prompted conversations and changes in some department/school Appointment, Salary, Promotion, and Tenure (ASPT) processes regarding equity, diversity, and inclusion. It is essential to continue to bring interest in student voices and student success as part of the PD programming offered through the GROWTH Change initiative.

News stories about the impact of GROWTH Year 1:

• Growth plans: Colleges craft professional development opportunities (Sep 6, 2021)
• GROWTH Dimensions: Colleges tailor professional development to needs (Oct 31, 2020)
• Classroom culture focus of professional development Mennonite College of Nursing, Milner Library, College of Education share insights (Dec 7, 2020)

GROWTH Year 2 (2021-2022)

During June 2021, college/units GROWTH Change Teams met to reflect on lessons learned and celebrate GROWTH Year 1 implementation success.  Teams also identified modifications needed for Year two and developed their PD plans for the 2021-2022 academic year. See plans here.

• GROWTH Change enters second year with focus on assessment (Oct 20, 2021)
• Collaboration key to GROWTH Change (Nov 15, 2021)