Transforming Academic Culture and Curriculum

Institutions across the higher education landscape vary, and each navigates change in its own way. This volume describes how institutions and departments influence the success of structural and cultural transformations to advance curricular reform.

A product of the Council on Undergraduate Research Transformations project, a six-year, longitudinal research study funded by the United States National Science Foundation, this text features the goals, strategies, and outcomes that evolved from the experiences at 12 diverse colleges and universities in creating innovative undergraduate curricula and campus cultures that maximize student success. With the goal of achieving departmental transformations in both student learning and academic culture – by backward-designing and scaffolding research into and across undergraduate curricula – editors include scholarly findings, step-by-step guides, and a toolkit section, with plentiful online resources, to help readers develop and execute personalized change processes on their own campuses.

Designed to span both theory and practice for departments and institutions to transform undergraduate education to increase student success, this book is vital for all higher education scholars, practitioners, faculty, staff, and leaders interested in creating research-rich curricula and change more broadly.

Visit the Council on Undergraduate Research website here: https://www.cur.org/.

Mitchell R. Malachowski is Professor of Chemistry at the University of San Diego, USA. He is a Past President of CUR and is heavily invested in assisting institutions in building excellent undergraduate research programs. He was the 2014 CASE Carnegie Foundation California Professor of the Year and is a CUR Fellow.

Elizabeth L. Ambos served as CUR’s Executive Officer in Washington, D.C. from 2012 to 2019. She has held academic administrative positions and faculty status in the California State University system, USA and is a co-author of The Cambridge Handbook of Undergraduate Research (2022).

Kerry K. Karukstis is the Ray and Mary Ingwersen Professor of Chemistry Emeritus at Harvey Mudd College, USA. She received the American Chemical Society (ACS) Award for Research at an Undergraduate Institution, is a Past President of CUR, a Past Chair of the ACS Committee on Professional Training, and is an ACS Fellow and CUR Fellow.

Jillian L. Kinzie is Associate Director, National Survey of Student Engagement at the Center for Postsecondary Research, Indiana University Bloomington, USA. She is a co-author of Delivering on the Promise of High-Impact Practices (2022).

Jeffrey M. Osborn is former Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs and is Professor of Biology at The College of New Jersey, USA. He is a Past President of CUR and is an American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellow, a CUR Fellow, and an Associate Editor for the American Journal of Botany.