The RED teams as institutional mentors: Advice from the first year of the "revolution"

Abstract

Engineering and computer science departments funded by the National Science Foundation's Revolutionizing Engineering Departments (RED) program are charged with taking a revolutionary approach to addressing a local need and with becoming national models for enacting systemic change. While the differences between geographically-dispersed RED teams and the schools in which they are embedded are palpable, there are parallels in the experiences that illuminate valuable lessons that can be shared across teams and with other departments. By sharing information and experiences across organizational boundaries, RED teams collaboratively problem-solve common issues and become mentors for others interested in embarking on a revolution. In this paper, we examine the first cohort of six RED teams as an example of "institutional mentoring." We define institutional mentoring as a type of peer mentoring among groups in which knowledge exchange is highly reciprocal, and institutional contexts and local challenges are explicitly considered when problem-solving. Observation notes taken during annual RED Principal Investigators meetings and focus group discussions among RED teams were qualitatively analyzed for themes. This analysis highlighted four broad categories of advice that are transferable across organizational boundaries: forming strategic partnerships, establishing a successful team, managing the project while maintaining flexibility, and working within organizational and academic constraints. Such insights are valuable for perspective RED teams and other interested in revolutionizing their engineering and computer science department.