Community and Leadership

Our community is made up of professionals, informal and formal educators, and administrators in K-12 and higher education institutions. Our network represents a broad range of disciplines, including academic affairs, aerospace engineering, agriculture, American government, American literature, analytical chemistry, art, astronomy, and atmospheric science; and those are just the As!

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SENCER “LEADERSHIP FELLOWS” WILL NOW BE “SENCER AMBASSADORS”

On the heels of establishing a membership structure, we are launching an exciting revision of the SENCER to reflect the evolution of our community, and most importantly, to better respond to the interests and needs of current and potential members, as well as the wider community. The SENCER Leadership Fellows program began in 2008 with the election of more than 70 educators and administrators. The original program was developed to recognize participants who had made distinctive contributions to the SENCER project, and to support them as they worked on projects of their own design for eighteen-month terms. The program has served the community well, and has allowed us to provide national recognition for the excellent work our Fellows do. Many of our Fellows have published and presented at disciplinary societies in the US and abroad on their work; their course and programs have gone on to become SENCER Models, which have been adapted and implemented around the country; and Fellows have provided NCSCE and SENCER leaders with invaluable information on what they and other innovative faculty need to be successful advocates of the integration of science and civic engagement,, as well as to advance their careers. The Leadership Fellows have been a key to the development of the SENCER project into a “community of transformation.” More recently we restructured the Fellows program to offer an intensive, one-year mentoring experience built around a specific goal that the prospective Leadership Fellow (the mentee) determines in his/her application. Mentors, designated Senior Fellows, worked with Leadership Fellows to help her/him meet the goal. Since the Fellows program was initiated, we have been incredibly fortunate to see an impressive increase in the number of participants in our community, as well as an increasing diversity in the disciplines involved, types of institutions represented, and courses/programs impacted. 

Based on years of feedback, and personal interviews with many of you over the past few years and our migration to an online format owing to the pandemic, we are proposing some new categories of leaders, to help us increase engagement and collaboration in our community. We’ve chosen new designations to better meet the challenges we’re facing, and to more effectively support your current work and aspirations. Thank you to all of our community members and advisors who have generously offered their time and feedback during this process.

SENCER Ambassador – Drawn from the existing fellows and senior fellows, these teachers and faculty and formal and informal educators have long championed SENCER at their institutions, in their communities and beyond. They have mastered SENCER pedagogy, understand the SENCER ideals and can mentor and guide others in developing their own SENCER learning experiences whatever the context. They will serve as SENCER representatives and offer workshops at their institutions, help us train and recruit faculty from other institutions and participate in regular SENCER ambassador meetings. They will also actively participate in their SENCER regional meetings. 

SENCER Scholar – Engaged in the scholarship of teaching and learning and/or discipline based education research, the scholars are actively conducting research into SENCER from the impact of SENCER on student learning in the discipline, to the role of SENCER in increasing diversity in STEM and to high-impact practices and SENCER such as project based learning and CURES. Scholars will meet to discuss ethical study design, assessment strategies and data analysis and coding.  

SENCER Diplomat – With connections abroad, Diplomats have taken SENCER to an international audience, engaging with diverse communities and in varied contexts. As SENCER grows from a predominantly US based project to a global one, the Diplomats will play a key role in representing us all here and abroad and show how SENCER knows no boundaries and can be applied in all educational settings.  

We will be reaching out to invite our active members to these roles. In future, we will be seeking out applicants and requesting nominations. Keep an eye out for communication from NCSCE!

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SENCER Centers for Innovation

The SENCER Centers for Innovation (SCIs) offer expertise, local support for members of the SENCER community, and meetings and workshops to complement national SENCER Summer Institutes and Washington Symposia.

History

The SCIs were inaugurated in 2008. They were Central Plains, hosted by Butler University, Great Lakes, hosted by Case Western Reserve University, and Chesapeake Bay, hosted by George Mason University, are the newest Centers.

SCI’s still hevents are open to educators, administrators, and students from around the country and internationally, but are especially designed with the needs and interests of their regional areas in mind.

How to Get Involved

We invite you to explore the individual SCI pages and to connect with the leadership of each center for more information.