AMPLIFY: Amplifying the Leadership of Engineering Instructional Faculty Towards Educational Innovation at HSIs
The AMPLIFY Institute is a professional development program designed to support you as you support your students. Instructional faculty play a vital role in creating educational experiences that align with the unique characteristics of their students and institutions. Our hope is that during and after completing the Institute you will have been supported in your work towards changing engineering education and able to make measurable progress on a change effort that benefits your students.
We recognize that change is hard, and as instructional faculty, you face significant barriers to implementing your change efforts in academia. Therefore, at its core, the AMPLIFY Institute is a leadership and educational change faculty development program specifically designed for faculty whose primary focus is instruction. The institute consists of an in-person, two-day professional development workshop followed by virtual coaching to support your implementation of your change effort.
LEARNING GOALS
Reimagine Engineering Education at HSIs
- Better understand and support our students’ learning
- Culturally responsive teaching
Lead a Change Effort
- Identify, develop an action plan for, and implement a change effort
- Build awareness, identifying, obtaining, and leveraging resources efficiently and effectively
- Develop and engage in individualized professional development
Build Community
- Build and foster community with other EIF and HSI educators with similar passions and struggles
- Learn from and with other EIF pursuing similar change efforts
KICK-OFF Workshop Location & Dates
To support you in your professional growth and change efforts, the institute starts with a 2-day, in-person, workshop. During this kick-off event you will get to know your cohort, complete interactive leadership and educational change training, and scope a change effort that you would like to pursue throughout the remainder of the institute.
- Upcoming: Apply to the third iteration of the AMPLIFY Institute' hosted at the University of Texas, El-Paso, on September 26 – 27, 2024.
- The first iteration of our institute took place at Florida International University in Miami in the Fall of 2022.
- The second iteration of our institute took take place at the University of Texas at El Paso in the Fall of 2023.
ELIGIBILITY
- You are a full-time faculty member
- You have been teaching engineering courses for at least 2 years.
- Your primary responsibility is teaching, as opposed to research or service.
- Your institution is a US HSI or one of the project partners (FIU/UM). A list of HSIs can be found here.
- If you teach at a 2-year institution, your students must be in a program that leads them to an engineering degree at your institution or once transferred to a 4-year institution.
APPLICATION PROCESS
Applications for the 2024 AMPLIFY Institute open May 10, 2024 and close July 12, 2024. Decisions will be announced by July 26, 2024. The application should take you less than 15 minutes to complete. After confirming your eligibility, you will be asked to write a short vision statement of a desired future change effort for your institution/students. You can obtain a copy of the application here: COPY OF PDF APPLICATION.
INCENTIVES AND SUPPORT
- All participants will receive a $3000 stipend upon completion of the program.
- Workshop meals (breakfast and lunch)
- A network of fellow engineering instructional faculty
- Recognition of participation
ONLINE COACHING SESSIONS
The workshop will be followed by 6-8 virtual group coaching sessions throughout the remainder of the fall or spring semester, depending on location. Through group accountability, problem-solving, and discussion you will celebrate your successes and target the challenges you encounter. You will build a network and skills that will support you in your future efforts to create inclusive learning environments within engineering. There will also be drop-in sessions that will offer concentrated training and discussions with guest speakers on topics pertinent to the change initiatives your cohort is working on.
CLOSING CEREMONY
To celebrate your accomplishments, we will end the institute with a closing celebration where you will have the opportunity to share and learn about the innovations from the EIF in your cohort. This session will be held virtually and will allow participants the chance to present their work and receive their completion certificate.
HAVE QUESTIONS OR WANT TO LEARN MORE?
For detailed information, please visit our comprehensive FAQs section below. If you have additional questions or need further assistance, feel free to contact us via email at amplify@utep.edu or alexandra.strong@fiu.edu. We are here to help you prepare your application and provide the support you need!
FAQS
- Absolutely! However, each person will be responsible for applying, meeting the eligibility criteria, and completing all activities individually, unless otherwise specified. If you’re not sure, reach out to the team or sign up for an Exploration Session! .
What am I expected to commit to if I participate? How much time will it take?
- Obviously, life happens, and this is a completely voluntary activity that you are doing on top of your full-time job. Therefore, we want you to be informed as to what you are committing to so that get the most out of the experience:
- Complete the application, a pre-assessment, and a post-assessment. (15-30 minutes maximum each).
- Attend the full kick-off workshop (~6-7 hrs).
- Join the coaching sessions (1.5 hrs each x 6-8 sessions). We ask that you plan to at least attend 6 sessions, though there will be a variety of additional optional drop-in sessions.
- Attend and present your innovation at the closing virtual celebration (~2 hrs).
How many participants will be accepted into the program and/or cohort?
- 40 fellows for the third Fall 2024 Iteration.
What does it mean to be part of a research study?
- As a participant of the AMPLIFY Institute you will also be considered a research subject. We will collect samples of the work you produce during the workshop, record the audio of the coaching sessions, and ask you to complete a few surveys. There will be no link between the data we collect and the identity of individual participants. All the collected information will be de-identified, meaning that all data that could be traced back to you will be removed to protect your personal information.