The American Association for Higher Education(AAHE) is organizing and hosting an Institutional Change Institute in Fall 1998 for teams from colleges and universities that will have implemented institutional changes based on reform in science, mathematics, engineering and technology (SMET) disciplines. The project includes an examination and the dissemination of information about assessment and reform practices that have contributed to institutional change within these and other institutions. The Institute has four central purposes: (1) exchanging lessons from past and current initiatives, (2) expanding knowledge of assessment and reform strategies, (3) building a network of schools whose SMET disciplines are contributing to institutional reform, and (4) encouraging further institutional change. The Institute will be characterized by keynote speakers or panels, small group discussions, and poster sessions by participants. This forum provides opportunities to discuss assessment ideas of individual institutions. A central activity of the Institute will be opportunities for the teams to consider how they will determine the success of the institution's reform efforts, and to draft evaluation plans, using practices described in plenary and discussion sessions about assessment and evaluation. After the Fall 1998 institute, participating schools will have program slots set aside at the 1999 AAHE Assessment Conference to disseminate information about their progress to a cross disciplinary audience. Prior to the Institute the AAHE Bulletin will feature material about Institute and after the Institute Change magazine will publish an article about institutional reform in the SMET disciplines. The major publication will be a monograph following the Institute, which will include perspectives represented at the conference.
