PULSE: the transformative power of sustained engagement and collaboration to catalyze institutional change

Introduction The Partnership for Undergraduate Life Sciences Education (PULSE) works with undergraduate life science departments to enact and sustain reforms in how students engage with STEM in the classroom and laboratory. PULSE works with three signature programs: the Ambassador Program, in which PULSE members work with Departments to develop action plans for short and long-term reform, the Recognition Program, in which Departments self-evaluate their efficacy and are visited by a PULSE team, and the Regional Networks, which foster more local connections between reform-minded institutions. Here, we feature institutions that have engaged with all of PULSE's programs. We seek to better understand how PULSE has served as a catalyst for undergraduate life science education reform across institutions of diverse locations, and missions. Understanding the development of a “culture” for reform, and how the sustainability of reform relies on the infusion of this culture beyond individual change agents to a critical mass of department members, can help develop more impactful professional development interventions. Materials and methods Semi-structured interviews were conducted with representatives from three different departments that had engaged with all three of PULSE's programs (25% of all institutions that fit this criteria). Inductive thematic analysis was then used to create a coding scheme and identify similarities and differences between the interviews. Results Six key themes emerged between the three departments: 1) motivations for engaging with PULSE; 2) gains from engaging with PULSE; 3) reflecting on change as a process; 4) barriers to change; 5) assistors of change; and 6) perceived impact of multiple interactions with PULSE. Discussion Our study preliminarily identifies key commonalities between departments seeking sustainable change to the way they design and implement their curricula despite key differences in institutional size and mission. The work presented here suggests future directions to engage in a more expansive studies to better establish how organizations like PULSE can best catalyze and support systemic reform to undergraduate education.