Background Grant funding often drives innovative programming in efforts to enhance diversity in biomedical fields, yet strategies for sustainability of grant-funded biomedical intervention are not well understood. Additionally, as funding agencies shift toward supporting institutional change to biomedical training, less is known about the extent to which sustainability strategies can support long-term institutionalization of the original goals of the grant-funded initiative. The purpose of this study is twofold: to identify strategies used by grant-funded programs for promoting sustainability, and to examine the interrelations between the concepts of sustainability and institutionalization during early stages of grant-funded biomedical career training efforts. Methods We employed a multiple case study design and cross-case analysis using interviews of program administrators and participants from 10 undergraduate institutions that received Building Infrastructure Leading to Diversity (BUILD) awards funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Results BUILD sites engaged in the following strategies to develop program sustainability: 1) scaling and adapting to expand programmatic impact, 2) identifying additional funding and cost-cutting measures, 3) developing and maintaining infrastructure and structural operations, 4) leveraging relationships and with intra-and inter-institutional partners, and 5) and addressing hiring, policies, and reward systems at the institution. Senior administrative support supported program sustainability and early institutionalization, although we also identified situations where participants felt that they were on track for sustainable changes without administrative support or institutional change. Of the strategies identified, those that involve organizational and infrastructural changes contribute to early stages of institutionalization. Conclusions This study contributes to literature on organizational change by providing evidence of distinctions and interrelations between program sustainability efforts and institutionalization of change efforts in that some sustainability strategies can overlap with strategies to move toward institutionalization. The findings indicate the importance of program administrators developing early sustainability plans that also lead to institutionalization, as well as an opportunity for funding agencies to develop technical assistance on sustainability, organizational change, and institutionalization as a resource to support program administrators’ efforts toward making lasting, structural change on their campuses.
STEM transformation has been a longstanding goal for higher education institutions who not only wish to maintain global economic competitiveness but most recently have also aimed efforts at achieving STEM equity. While researchers have typically looked to students’ and faculty’s experiences for answers, STEM program directors possess great insight from working closely with students in both faculty and administrative roles. This study explores the views of 45 STEM program directors at 10 institutions across the U.S. that had high STEM bachelor’s degree-completion rates relative to similarly resourced institutions. We document the lessons and strategies that STEM program directors have used to broaden institutional impact, including demonstrating their program’s efficacy through assessments and evaluations, coordinating, and streamlining efforts to ensure program efficiency and longevity, incentivizing support for labor, and consolidating support from institutional leaders. We also disentangle the roles STEM program directors play as grassroots leaders or institutional agents, distinguishing them by their authority and decision-making power and by whether they work to transform the institution to better serve students or to transform students’ behaviors to adapt to the institution. Our findings provide avenues to leverage STEM program directors’ efforts in order to move toward STEM education transformation in higher education.
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