Laura Parson, assistant professor in the NDSU School of Education, is among 18 educators from 15 universities around the world to be selected as candidates for the Faculty Innovation Fellows Program. It is a program of Stanford University’s Hasso Plattner Institute of Design, known as the “d.school.”

During the two-year experience, faculty and staff work to design projects that enhance the innovation ecosystems at their schools and help students be agents of change as they gain vital real-world skills.

“Research suggests that many mandated anti-bias and diversity trainings are not effective in changing work environments for persons traditionally marginalized in those settings,” Parson said. “I am excited to have the opportunity to apply a design thinking process that builds and innovates on best practices to prepare higher education professionals to do anti-bias work. Being supported through that process by Stanford’s d.school staff as well as my fellow candidates has already been an invaluable opportunity, and I’m honored to be a part of the 2024 cohort.”

Participants in the Faculty Innovation Fellows Program also are mentors, called Faculty Champions, of students taking part in the University Innovation Fellows program. The mentors work together across a global community to support the students’ collective efforts.

“Educators in the Faculty Innovation Fellows program are doing this work because they see opportunities to improve their schools and because they believe in the power of change from the bottom up,” said Humera Fasihuddin, co-director of the University Innovation Fellows program. “In the last two years since the start of the program, Faculty Innovation Fellows have made great progress on their projects with mentorship and support from their peers. We can’t wait to see what this new cohort of change makers can accomplish.”

Program candidates collaborate with one another to learn new change strategies, develop projects, gather feedback on ideas and share resources. Candidates met regularly in small groups to share the opportunities for change they identified as well as ideas for projects that can make the most impact for students at their schools.

Parson’s project is titled “Awareness to Action: Identifying and working through barriers to doing anti-bias work.”

The project aims to develop, test and refine programming for higher education faculty, administrators and staff to help them understand and work through their positionality in order to better serve stakeholders who identify as traditionally marginalized persons in higher education. Its goal is to develop a program that would be available to faculty, staff and administrators.

Each member of the program will have the opportunity to publish an article in the University Innovation Fellows journal, Change Forward, detailing their project and its progress. Those who complete the program will be launched as Faculty Innovation Fellows in March 2024.

Parson is among candidates from universities around the world. Other candidates include:

• Ozgun Burcu Rodopman, Boğaziçi University

• Daniël van Vliet, Erasmus University Rotterdam

• Luise Degen, Hamburg University of Technology

• Svenja Damberg, Hamburg University of Technology

• Christoph Winkler, Iona University

• John Bannister, Johnson C. Smith University

• Bahare Afrahi, Kingston University

• Melanie Lewis, Macquarie University

• Hallie Ann Neupert, Oregon Institute of Technology (Oregon Tech)

• Prashant Atmakuri, Prasad V Potluri Siddhartha Institute of Technology

• Seán Ronan McCarthy, James Madison University

• Vonda LaKecia Reed, Shaw University

• Terrance McNeil, Tennessee State University

• Carlos Letts, Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas

• Maria Pia Felipa Ibarra, Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas

• Shirley Vanessa Villanes Borja, Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas

• Jeremiah Harrison, Utah Valley University

Parson joined the NDSU faculty in 2020. She earned her bachelor’s degree at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City; Master of Education at Westminster College, Utah; and doctorate in teaching and learning - higher education at the University of North Dakota, Grand Forks.

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