Gansemer-Topf, Ann

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anngt@iastate.edu
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Title
Director
Academic or Administrative Unit
Organizational Unit
School of Education

The School of Education seeks to prepare students as educators to lead classrooms, schools, colleges, and professional development.

History
The School of Education was formed in 2012 from the merger of the Department of Curriculum and Instruction and the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies.

Dates of Existence
2012-present

Related Units

  • College of Human Sciences (parent college)
  • Department of Curriculum and Instruction (predecessor)
  • Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies (predecessor)
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https://dr.lib.iastate.edu/handle/20.500.12876/100027
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Publication

Guiding principles and processes of scholarship of teaching and learning and scholarship of practice

2024-03-07 , Gansemer-Topf, Ann , Mendee, Amarjargal , Braxton, John , School of Education

The concepts of scholarship of teaching and learning and the scholarship of practice are relatively new; therefore, their value within student affairs and institutions of higher education may be questioned. Unfamiliarity with these activities may also impede student affairs graduate faculty and scholar-practitioners from engaging in this work. In this article, we outline why these activities should be viewed as scholarship and demonstrate how student affairs faculty and practitioners may already possess the skills needed to engage in this work.

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Evaluating the Implementation of Project Management Skills Training within STEM Graduate Education

2023-06-25 , Gansemer-Topf, Ann , Jiang, Shan , Liang, Yiqi , Chen, Dong , School of Education , Materials Science and Engineering

STEM graduate education traditionally has focused on developing technical skills that lead to success in the academy. In the past decade, however, STEM graduate students increasingly have sought positions in industry [1]; a recent study by Sherman et al. [2] found that non-academic industry jobs were the most preferred career choice for STEM doctoral students. Despite this preference, graduate education has not adapted to these new career pathways; a significant portion of students lack the critical professional skills, such as project management (PM), that are needed to be effective leaders in these non-academic environments [3-9]. We sought to address the lack of PM training in graduate education through our Innovation in Graduate Education NSF funded project, Graduates for Advancing Professional Skills (GAPS). One component of the project included the development of a one-credit course, Introduction of Project Management for Thesis Research. The course has been offered each semester since Fall, 2020 with a total enrollment of 61 students. During the course, students learned PM skills and then applied these skills to their current research projects. Our theoretical approach to the study was guided by Meyers and Land’s “threshold concept.” A threshold concept represents a new way of interpreting a concept; once the concept is understood, it can be transformative, irreversible, and integrative [10-12]. Students would reach a threshold of PM when they consistently applied these techniques in future projects. In this study we address the question: What influence did the course have on students’ knowledge and application of PM skills? To address this question, we conducted focus groups of student participants between 3-6 months after the students participated in the course. Our intent was to see if students continued to utilize PM skills after the course. Focus groups included 14 graduate students in engineering from three different semesters. Focus group interviews were transcribed and coded by two members of the research team using a two-cycle method of coding [13]. Data from the focus groups revealed three themes: use of specific techniques, application to current projects, and altering approaches. Students identified specific tools (i.e., software, Gantt charts) that they were utilizing. Students described how they were applying these skills to their current research project. For example, one student explained how they used PM skills in preparing for their preliminary exam. Most critically, students mentioned how utilizing PM techniques altered their approach to projects. One student described the course as “changing my mindset”; another shared how PM improved their approach to research mentioning that instead of feeling like they are “running on a treadmill” they can map a path to progress, “Now there's like an end in sight and here's this six things I need to do to get there.” These findings illustrate that integration of PM skills may be reaching a threshold and that a course focused on PM can address a skills gap needed for a qualified and productive STEM workforce

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The Power in Groups: Using Cluster Analysis to Critically Quantify Women’s STEM Enrollment

2022-04-07 , Gansemer-Topf, Ann , Genschel, Ulrike , Nguyen, Xuan Hien , Sourwine, Jasmine , Wang, Yuchen , School of Education

Despite efforts to close the gender gap in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), disparities still exist, especially in math intensive STEM (MISTEM) majors. Females and males receive similar academic preparation and overall, perform similarly, yet females continue to enroll in STEM majors less frequently than men. In examining academic preparation, most research considers performance measures individually, ignoring the possible interrelationships between these measures. We address this problem by using hierarchical agglomerative clustering – a statistical technique which allows for identifying groups (i.e., clusters) of students who are similar in multiple factors. We first apply this technique to readily available institutional data to determine if we could identify distinct groups. Results illustrated that it was possible to identify nine unique groups. We then examined differences in STEM enrollment by group and by gender. We found that the proportion of females differed by group, and the gap between males and females also varied by group. Overall, males enrolled in STEM at a higher proportion than females and did so regardless of the strength of their academic preparation. Our results provide a novel yet feasible approach to examining gender differences in STEM enrollment in postsecondary education.

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Do liberal arts colleges maximize profit?

2021-01-01 , Orazem, Peter , Wohlgemuth, Darin , Gansemer-Topf, Ann , Economics , Education, School of

Revenue, cost, tuition, and scholarship data at private liberal arts colleges from 2003–2013 are used to estimate how each college's net revenue per student varies with student enrollment. Our empirical specification assumes that colleges simultaneously pick their optimal net tuition and cost of instruction. The estimates allow us to identify the enrollment level that maximizes the return on the college's provision of educational services. Thirty-seven percent of the colleges have enrollments within one standard deviation of their profit maximizing enrollment. Another 11% are more than one standard deviation above the profit maximizing level; they increase access to students but not revenue. Compared to the profit maximizing colleges, the institutions with enrollments beyond their profit maximum have stronger endowments and enroll more low-income students. Although no schools were below their shut-down enrollment, 13% were within one standard deviation of their minimum enrollment and may be vulnerable to tuition revenue shock.

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SoTL in student affairs graduate preparation programs

2024-03-07 , Gansemer-Topf, Ann , Haber-Curran, Paige , Dean-Scott, Shannon , McKenzie, Brenda , Dunston, Emelia , Schrum, Kelly , Cardenas Elliott, Diane , Lange, Alex , Bylsma, Paul , Braxton, John , School of Education

In the previous article, we defined the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) and the scholarship of practice (SoP) and identified characteristics and qualities related to these topics. In this article, we provide examples of scholars who have conducted a SoTL project related to student affairs. Each of these entries describes the project and gives us insights into why scholars choose to engage in this work and the impact of their work on teaching and learning.

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Values, Contexts, and Realities: Senior Student Affairs Officers’ Decision-Making During the COVID-19 Pandemic

2022-09-01 , Gansemer-Topf, Ann , School of Education

Senior Student Affairs Officers (SSAOs), whose primary responsibility is the health, safety, and well-being of students, were at the forefront of leading their campuses through the COVID-19 crisis. In Fall 2020 a diverse group of 23 SSAOs was interviewed to understand the contexts and issues that influenced decision-making during the pandemic. A focus on students, alignment with institutional contexts, and financial realities were consistently identified as key influencers of decision-making. Effective decision-making often entails a balancing act of several factors. The implications of this study can be used to inform student affairs practice and the professional development of graduate students and future and current SSAOs.

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College Belonging: How First-Year and First-Generation Students Navigate Campus Life [Review]

2022 , Johnson, Clayton , Gansemer-Topf, Ann , School of Education

Fostering a sense of belonging for students has long been considered a crucial component of retention and success for colleges and universities. However, there is no universal definition of what "belonging" actually is. In College Belonging: How First-Year and First-Generation Students Navitage Campus Life, Lisa M. Nunn (2021) delves into what it means for college students "to belong." Through student interviews during their first two years of college, Nunn explores how students define and experience belonging; in doing so, creating a new perspective on what belonging is and how students achieve (or are gifted) belonging.

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Defining the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL)

2024-03-05 , Gansemer-Topf, Ann , McCloud, Laila , Braxton, John , School of Education

Since its conception as a distinctive form of scholarship, the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) has evolved into a legitimized field. Despite its rapid evolution, there still exists confusion surrounding its definition and distinctions from scholarly teaching. Additionally, although it is widely recognized across many disciplines, there have been few conversations about the role of SoTL within the field of student affairs and student affairs graduate preparation programs. This article sets the foundation for this discussion. It provides an overview of the definitions and characteristics of SoTL and offers suggestions for the potential role of SoTL in student affairs.

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A Decade in the Making: Examining the Evidence of SoTLThrough Promotion and Tenure Artifacts

2022-07 , Hengesteg, Paul , Gansemer-Topf, Ann , Freeman, Steven A , Marcketti, Sara , Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching , School of Education

The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) aligns with many institutionally espoused values regarding the value of teaching and learning excellence. SoTL has increased in prestige and value in the past decade, but less information about the proliferation of SoTL within one institution is known. Through an examination of 10 years of curriculum vitae submitted for successful promotion and tenure, our study investigated faculty members’ engagement in SoTL over time and differences in engagement by rank, race, gender, discipline, and type of SoTL artifact. Over the 10-year period, the percentage of faculty engaged in SoTL did not differ significantly. We did uncover differences by disciplinary type and race. Faculty were most likely to engage in grants and presentations related to SoTL and least likely to have a peer-reviewed journal artifact. Our findings suggest that although SoTL efforts continue to gain acceptance within the higher education milieu, institutional and disciplinary realities may be powerful determiners of SoTL participation.

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Assessing the First Year of GAPS (Graduates for Advancing Professional Skills) Program

2021-11-17 , Jiang, Shan , Reuel, Nigel , Okudan Kremer, Gül , Li, Qing , Mort, Rebecca , Chen, Dong , Gansemer-Topf, Ann , School of Education , Materials Science and Engineering , Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering , Materials Science and Engineering , Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering , Ames Laboratory

With support from the National Science Foundation, we developed the Graduates for Advancing Professional Skills (GAPS) program at Iowa State University. The GAPS program seeks to incorporate project management skill training from industry into STEM graduate students’ thesis research. In Fall 2020, as part of the program, a semester-long course titled Introduction of Project Management for Thesis Research was developed. A total of 19 students were enrolled in this class in Fall 2020 and Spring 2021. We utilized a pragmatic evaluation paradigm to develop assessment tools and collect data regarding the program’s effectiveness. We have collected a variety of data from the first two GAPS cohorts that include program participation data, document analysis, and student surveys. In this paper, we highlight the results of our assessment, which demonstrate the potential of this approach to improve graduate training and will be leveraged to improve training for future cohorts.

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