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Articles

Guiding change in higher education: an emergent, iterative application of Kotter’s change model

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ABSTRACT

While university change initiatives have become more common in the face of changing learner needs and higher education funding, many fail to produce desired effects, even when guided by organizational change models. The purpose of this study was to document a successful change process in an engineering department at a Hispanic-serving institution in the southwestern United States. The change effort focused on enhancing faculty capacity to support diverse student success. The change process was planned using Kotter’s eight-step change model (1996) and was therefore a prescribed, linear, sequential change process. Qualitative analysis of audio-recorded faculty interviews and meetings, artifacts, field notes, and participant observation highlights how Kotter’s change model was implemented iteratively and emergently. Early steps were revisited and strategies were treated as improvable. This approach enhanced faculty buy-in and project success. Characterization of each step provides insight into ways to apply Kotter’s change model in higher education settings.

Acknowledgments

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under grant number EEC 1623105. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. We additionally thank the University of New Mexico Organization, Information, & Learning Sciences program for providing funds for an additional graduate assistant. We thank the reviewers whose comments and questions supported us to develop a stronger manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under grant number EEC 1623105. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

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