KEENzine Partner Showcase

“The greatest learning experiences I’ve had in engagement with the Network have typically come when I’ve raised my hand, or someone has pointed at me, to DO something. Whether it’s to serve on a panel, work on a project, help facilitate a meeting, or do a webinar, those forms of engagement have pushed me into the next level of the ‘in the weeds’ detail. It’s so easy to glide across the surface of things, but then you end up in the world of, ‘These problems are unsolvable.’ You need to go down in the weeds. That’s where things get more operational and you can find solutions. Being a small institution, you have to realize you don’t have to boil the ocean and solve problems for everybody. What you can do is make a lot of little things happen, and those things tend to lead to other things; they add up. But unless you intentionally start engaging in those things, you’re not going to be on this path. Bottom line: When you have an opportunity to do something, do something.” - Jason Woodard Community of Ideas and Community of Relationships Olin’s mission as an innovator in engineering education is enhanced through its KEEN partnership. In some ways, KEEN is an additional platform for Olin to share its entrepreneurial approaches and new ideas. At the same time, Network partnership has shaped and informed Olin’s Summer Institute and other faculty development programs it offers, and also influenceditsconsultingactivitieswithinstitutionsembarkingon transformative culture change initiatives. Though its faculty is small in number, Olin’s KEEN leaders put thoughtandcreativityintofacultyengagementwiththebroader Network community. “Everyone has a disciplinary identity, such as with ASEE. But people don’t have room in their professional lives for an unlimited number of affiliations. If you don’t feel that KEEN is one of your core communities, it will drop off your radar - unless we constantly bump it up. Those Golden Tickets help! The good news is when people do engage, they have great experiences and talk about them.” - Jason Woodard Engagement with the Network has shown Olin the extent to which everyone has a set of shared challenges, despite their differences as institutions. Olin leaders recognize the deep reasons engineering colleges tend to mirror each other - and tend to have the same problems. HOW TO AMPLIFY YOUR MISSION WITH EM Examine your mission around mindset. Use the KEEN Framework as a tool to catalyze a collection of meetings around how your institution is intentional about mindset development. Leverage and learn from the community. Attendmeetings, participate inNetwork activities, and raise your hand to be involved. Create your own value proposition. Talk with faculty, leaders, alumni, industry partners, and students to create a language and culture around EM that resonates with your institutional community. “For me, the value of the Network is the value of the relationships and the activities those relationships drive. This is not independent of the Network’s reason for being and the focus on EM, but I think it transcends the ideas and frameworks that make the Network what it is.” - Jason Woodard https://bit.ly/OLINkeenzine LEISE JONES PHOTOGRAPHY, 2023 56 57 KEEN’zine ― PARTNER SHOWCASE PARTNER SHOWCASE ― KEEN’zine