The “how-to” institutionalize systemic change: a look at Gateway at Florida International University

By establishing a team whose members reach an affinity alignment that can be expressed as a written vision or mission statement it is possible, with the proper nurturing and strategy formulation, to bring about systemic change within the culture of engineering educators and their institutions. The heart of an institutional effort is the committed participants´ team, which meets weekly to set goals and milestones, brainstorm ideas, and encourage one another. The heart of the team is diversity in its membership-of academic specialization and personal background. The process of institutionalization, while not a “12-Step Program,” is a 7-step one. The 7 steps are: awareness; understanding; acceptance; adoption; implementation; institutionalization; and exportation. The work of the team is to formulate strategies for the present and to constantly anticipate and propose new ones for the future. The paper discusses specific activities and procedures in place at Florida International University´s (FIU) Gateway Program and those which we anticipate will be operational over the next two years of our research in changing the way we educate engineers