Updates from the IGE Hub
CGS hosts the IGE Hub, an NSF-funded network that supports communication and collaboration across NSF’s Innovations in Graduate Education (IGE) grants. The project also seeks to build bridges between grantees and the broader STEM graduate education community.
IGE PI Meeting
In early March, CGS hosted the IGE PI meeting in Alexandria, Virginia with support from NSF. Designed to encourage development and implementation of bold, new, and potentially transformative approaches to STEM graduate education, NSF’s IGE portfolio includes approximately 50 current grants on topics ranging from graduate student professional development, diversity and inclusion, interdisciplinarity, and mental health and wellbeing.
Meeting participants heard insights from keynote speaker, Dr. Keivan Stassun, Stevenson Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Vanderbilt University and a member of the National Science Board and spent a day and a half discussing pressing issues in STEM graduate education. There was also a poster hall exhibit that is now viewable on the website.
Idea Lab: Program Assessment and Evaluation- A 12-Step Process
Program assessment and evaluation are essential processes for understanding, improving, and maximizing the impact of programs designed to improve graduate education. In this Idea Lab, learn about a 12-step process for engaging in continuous reflection and improvement to ensure that our programs effectively meet their objectives and make a positive difference in the lives of our targeted stakeholders.
Led by Professor Janis Bush, PI for an NSF Innovations in Graduate Education (IGE) grant, this Idea Lab will draw from lessons from a recent initiative, Advancing and Strengthening Science Identity through Systematic Training (ASSIST). The Idea Lab will be of interest to graduate education researchers seeking to learn more about program assessment and evaluation, particularly in the contexts of projects on mentoring, diversity equity and inclusion, and the development of researcher identities among graduate students.
By participating in this Idea Lab, participants will be able to:
- Identify the 12-step process in program assessment and evaluation.
- Develop assessment criteria
- Describe challenges in program assessment.
- Make meaningful recommendations for improvement of their programs.
Join us on June 12, 2024, at 2 p.m. ET for a webinar and hear how Bush’s team developed a program assessment and evaluation process and the insights she gained.
Subscribe to the IGE Insider to make sure you get the registration link and keep up with the latest innovations in STEM graduate education.