By Kalifa Madden, Communications Manager, Network
August 2024
As an introduction to a comprehensive case study on Chico State’s involvement in the Network’s Middle Leadership Academy (Academy), we spoke with Ellie Clifford Ertle, Ed.D., the Director of the Academy and Associate Vice Provost of Undergraduate Education and Academic Success at Chico State. Ellie shared her journey in higher education, her passion for innovative pedagogy, and her efforts to promote equity and student success. She reflected on the Academy’s transformative projects at Chico State and their collaborative efforts to address long-term institutional goals.
Kalifa Madden: Tell us about your career journey in higher education, including your initial inspiration for participating in the Academy.
Ellie Clifford Ertle: I began my career at Chico State as a faculty member in political science. In 2009, I became involved in a program that we were developing called “The Town Hall Meeting program,” an innovative pedagogical approach to an introductory American government course. We worked closely with the First-Year Experience program to integrate public sphere pedagogy into our courses, which was the start of my journey. Over the years, I served as Civic Engagement Director at Chico State, focusing on innovative pedagogical designs that embedded civic engagement and public sphere pedagogy in courses and we had a lot of great success. The longitudinal data showed an increase in graduation and success rates for students who participated, a decrease in equity gaps, some years we even had inverse equity gaps for underrepresented minority students and an increase in civic and academic agency. My passion for course redesign and pedagogy led me to participate in the Academy. I led a team in the Academy’s 2018-2019 cohort.
KM: How did you hear about the Academy?
ECE: After earning my doctorate in educational leadership in 2018, I returned to Chico State as the First-Year Experience Director. My Dean, the Dean of Undergraduate Education, reached out to me and informed me about the Academy opportunity, which was initially communicated to our Provost by the Network. They reached out to key partners, including myself and others, to see if we were interested in participating. My dissertation had been looking at Graduation Initiative 2025 (GI 2025) and how faculty collaborators were involved in transformative change through pedagogy and classroom practices and so I was really interested in looking at the faculty role in institutional equity work as an Academy project.
KM: What stands out for you in terms of the projects that Chico State developed in the Academy?
ECE: There have been a lot of great projects and for several years there was a kind of a thread running through them. The 2018 to 2019 cohort was the first time that Chico State participated and ultimately the Academy helped us to flesh out an approach that we thought was important, centering structural and policy change. Our team focused on working with leadership to embed equity into our campus’ strategic plan, ensuring that one of the strategic priorities focused specifically on equity and inclusion. We also worked with our Academic Senate to develop and pass a Senate resolution asking for the development and use of an equity gaps dashboard so that faculty had the ability to log into a dashboard and look at their own equity gaps across courses historically. Subsequent teams took what we started there and identified the things that needed to happen beyond the dashboard to ensure that faculty could be successful in thinking about redesign and innovation, and equity and inclusion in their courses. So the multi-year projects focused on structure, policy and the faculty role in thinking about equity and inclusion in the classroom.
KM: What do we know about potential student impacts or outcomes as a result of the changes in policies or practices?
ECE: Data has been a bit slow due to the pandemic and shifting needs and priorities on campus. Graduation rates continue to improve, but equity gaps persist, which is seen across the system. One positive outcome has been the ability for faculty to get clear information about their courses, and have specifically connected support to help them make change. This leads to course improvements, more inclusive classrooms and a deeper engagement with pedagogical practices that improve equity outcomes. We have a team focusing on critical success courses, first-year courses with historically problematic pass rates and equity gaps, which show promising data. However, we’re still assessing the broader impact across campus.
KM: How was Chico able to prioritize this work and use the Academy to address some of its long-term goals across the years?
ECE: Our first team took on more than we could handle initially, so we created a multi-year plan to focus our efforts. We met regularly with collaborators and involved leadership in developing the strategic plan and an Academic Senate resolution. We also consulted on the development of dashboards and faculty support. Subsequent Academy teams continued this work, thanks to our strategic planning and strong connections with the GI 2025 initiative. This allowed us to stay aligned with the broader campus goals and report our progress regularly.Our GI 2025 co-chairs work very closely with faculty and staff on campus who are interested in the Academy and assist them with the application process and beyond to ensure that the work that’s happening in the Academy can connect to the work that we’re doing on campus broadly around equity.
KM: What key challenges or opportunities does Chico State continue to face in building on the work of the Academy teams?
ECE: One challenge is shifting priorities, especially as we try to manage multiple equity-related projects which can splinter our focus. Budget and enrollment concerns also pose challenges, and have the potential to shift the focus from equity. However, these are interrelated challenges and we need to stay focused on equity even when discussing enrollment and budget. Additionally, we’ve had significant leadership changes with a new President and Provost, but they are highly committed to improving equitable student success, making me optimistic about the future of equity work on our campus.
KM: What advice would you give to future Academy teams?
ECE: Think about how the work you’re doing connects broadly to the work already happening across campus. Have regular conversations with leadership to ensure you’re connected to other campus initiatives. In large bureaucracies, work can be siloed, so it’s crucial to communicate and understand how your efforts align with the university’s larger goals. Discuss with your endorser and leadership how your current work might continue or lead to future projects. When creating your logic model, identify pieces of work that could be carried on by future teams. Finally, think strategically about your home team, ensuring continuous connection and support to sustain the work on campus.
Ellie’s journey in higher education and her leadership at Chico State highlight the importance of innovative pedagogy and strategic equity initiatives. Her work through the Academy has driven significant structural changes on campus, fostering a culture of equity and inclusion.
As Chico State continues to prioritize student success, an upcoming Network series will delve deeper into a comprehensive case study on their campus efforts, showcasing their initiatives and strategic projects designed to amplify student success and advance equity. Stay tuned for an in-depth look at these transformative efforts.