Institutionalization

The goal of this focus area is to institutionalize the policies and practices that support broadening participation and enhanced student success to ensure sustainable, long-lasting systemic change. Engagement of institutional leaders is particularly important for success in this focus area. This foundational component includes access to sufficient resources to implement and sustain systemic change. Ideally, change leaders and teams begin thinking about and laying the groundwork for institutionalization from the very beginning of the change process.

Continue on to learn more about specific, actionable strategies, by expanding each strategy for additional information.

Individuals in leadership roles are uniquely positioned to create an environment where innovative efforts for improving students’ experiences are valued and effective. “Leaders” may include those at the institution’s top levels such as the president, provost, and deans; school, department or program heads; leaders of relevant committees (e.g., curriculum, finance); and individual faculty who are highly respected by their colleagues. Learn more about the importance of leadership support.

Codifying student-supportive practices into policy is a necessary step towards ensuring that they are applied consistently and sustained over time. Policies that address personal or academic concerns early may prevent a student’s academic career from being derailed. Policies relating to access to and progress through the major should be designed to promote student success and accommodate the needs of a range of students. Finally, policies regarding personal conduct can set expectations for civil behavior and consequences for violations.

These policies may exist at the departmental, college, and/or institutional level, and typically address topics such as: Academic requirements; Academic progress; Physical and mental health; Disability access and accommodations; Financial hardship; Family responsibilities; Harassment and discrimination; Personal conduct.

Even when supportive policies exist, students may be unaware of them. Thus, in addition to making policies easily accessible (e.g., on your website, in a student handbook, in syllabi), faculty and staff should be familiar with and communicate policies directly to students. All policies should be regularly revisited to ensure that they are supportive and serving the intended purpose.

Creating and sustaining practices that support students requires everyone’s participation. Relying on one or a few individuals to spearhead efforts as a personal passion project or on top of their regular job is unfair and risky, as efforts may cease if that person becomes too busy or leaves the program. Learn more about formalizing improvement efforts.

To gain broad support for change initiatives and motivate adoption of student-centered practices, faculty and staff must be well-informed on relevant topics from sociology, history, and pedagogy. Learn more about educating faculty and staff.

Many offices at your institution perform functions that are relevant to your program’s efforts to recruit, retain, and holistically support students. The benefits of maintaining connections outside your program include gaining access to resources and expertise, avoiding duplication of effort, and ensuring your program is represented (e.g., to prospective students) in an accurate way. Learn more about campus collaborations.

Strategic planning for program improvement ensures that initiatives are coordinated and aligned with the program’s goals, and enables tracking of progress towards those goals. A subset of people from the program may draft the plan, but it’s important to include colleagues and leadership in the process to receive feedback, invite participation in the activities, and ensure that the plan represents a shared vision. Learn more about developing a strategic plan.

Transformative initiatives and program improvement efforts cannot always be accomplished as part of someone’s job or service commitment alone, so it’s important to recognize and plan for initiatives that require funding. Furthermore, if efforts directly involve students (e.g., conference attendance, summer research, working as mentors, conducting outreach, contacting prospective students), failing to financially support or pay the students will limit participation to those who can afford it. Learn more about pursuing funding to support initiatives.

Learn more about evidence-based strategies for other focus areas of the NCWIT Undergraduate System Model or find relevant resources by selecting the appropriate focus area in the curated resources collection section.