V&C Synthesis Muriel Poston Pitzer College MariaElena Zavala

1. V&C Synthesis Muriel Poston Pitzer College MariaElena Zavala California State University, Northridge

2. Higher Education Landscape • Demographics of students and faculty • Technology as a disrupter and enabler • Data is an important driver • Assessment and evaluation needs in multiple venues

3. Leadership • Use data to inform decision-making • Leaders can be positional or non-positional • Leaders can react to and anticipate challenges • Leaders leverage resources ($$/space) to incentivize and drive change • Leaders can have a collective impact within and across institutions

4. The Role of Faculty • Professional development needed: • evidenced based teaching; • utilization of assessment tools; • leadership capacity • Pilot programs: • start small and evaluate; • build on what you know • learn from failures • be ready to change and improve • Develop networks for support; external advisors/advocates important

5. Student Experiences: put students first and the rest falls into place • Student success includes: • Engagement: Research experiences • Action research relevant to communities • Authentic research: genetics and genomic datasets allow students to address real world/global problems • Tools to excel: • Writing in the discipline • Team based projects (interdisciplinary groups) • Integration of biology, math, physical sciences • Diverse Pathways: • First year courses • Different entry points to higher education

6. Evaluation and Assessment • Gather data but you don’t have to invent the tools for analysis • Use data for predictive modeling • Peer review is important, particularly in determining large or small investments • Assessment recognized in all 5 theme discussions and majority of posters • Need for access to Assessment tools

7. Building Community • Internal and external allies/advocates are important • Enhance connectivity to like minded individuals • Networks important to recognizing what has been done and to keep things moving • Technology is important for sustaining but not initiating; F2F is important • Scale matters – relevant and place based • If too big, people disengage

8. Gaps: What didn’t we hear? • Impact of Vision and Change on upper division courses? • Scale up across institutions? • Leadership Development at institutional level? • Broadening Participation?

9. On the Horizon • Expand our Tribe and connect across boundaries • Continue to emphasize the importance of evidenced based teaching • Disseminate and implement assessment practices • Step up to leadership • Continue to drive change in undergraduate biology education