Strategies for sustaining change in engineering education

In order to develop the engineers of the future, engineering departments need to embrace innovative, student-centered practices. The development and sustained growth of organizational improvement practices like those needed to improve engineering education depend upon an institutions' or departments' collective and individualized attention to human resources, leadership, knowledge development, revenue development and opportunities for continuous engagement. The literature in engineering education related to sustainability and curricular change indicates initial training and dissemination is necessary though not sufficient for change to take root, that all change agents need mentoring, collaboration opportunities, and venues for sharing their work, that innovative practices may vary across settings, and that a systemic effort needs continuous attention to remain robust. The paper provides CAHSI as an example of sustained innovation, and details the ways in which CAHSI was designed for sustained impact in engineering education across partnering Hispanic Serving Institutions. The paper highlights programmatic considerations and evaluation design, and describes how the results can inform leadership regarding progress and needs for sustaining change.