how intellectual movements among external and internal actors shape the college curriculum

233 Pages·2015·1.5 MB·English

HOW INTELLECTUAL MOVEMENTS AMONG EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL
ACTORS SHAPE THE COLLEGE CURRICULUM: THE CASE OF
ENTREPRENEURSHIP EDUCATION IN ENGINEERING

by

Sergio Celis Guzmán

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
(Higher Education)
in the University of Michigan
2015

Doctoral Committee:

Professor Janet H. Lawrence, Chair
Associate Professor Michael N. Bastedo
Professor James Paul Holloway
Professor Lisa R. Lattuca
© Sergio Celis Guzmán 2015
To Francisca and Santiago
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Interactions with notable and generous individuals made my dissertation work engaging,
rewarding, and enjoyable. Without a doubt, the most enriching interaction was with my dissertation
Chair, Professor Janet H. Lawrence. I am deeply grateful for her guidance, patience, shared wisdom,
and thoughtful input to this work. On many occasions, I was moved and impressed by her attention to
my thoughts and by her close reading of uncountable manuscript versions. Professor Lawrence’s
profound vision and understanding of higher education will continue to influence my academic work.
I would also like to thank my stellar committee, Professor Michael N. Bastedo, Professor James Paul
Holloway, and Professor Lisa R. Lattuca, for their insights and support. Each of them had a strong
influence on this dissertation and taught me valuable lessons about my scholarly work. Professor
Bastedo deeply shaped my approach to organizational theory in higher education. Professor
Holloway became one of my role models of a university administrator. With tact and insight, he
played a dual role of being a committee member and a key participant of this case study. Professor
Lattuca and I share interests in issues of college curriculum and in engineering education. Her work
influences and inspires my own research.
I am grateful to all my interviewees, who gave me their time and showed interest in my work.
This dissertation would not have been possible without their help. In particular, I would like to thank
Professor Thomas Zurbuchen, who trusted in my work and gave me access to key actors and pieces
of information. I would also like to thank Professor Aileen Huang-Saad, for her encouragement,
enthusiasm, and guidance. She hosted me in her office on North Campus during critical dissertation
writing months. When this study was just starting to take shape, I received valuable help from
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Chilean engineer and entrepreneur Jorge Sanz-Guerrero, who introduced me to the startup circuit in
Ann Arbor.
In the School of Education, other faculty members and colleagues deserve credit for this
dissertation and the completion of my doctoral studies. I would like to thank to Professor Vilma
Mesa, for her continuous support, mentorship, and the many research lessons that I learned working
with her. I hope this study reflects the rigor and freshness that she imprints in her own research. I
want to thank Professor Stephen DesJardins, who was my advisor, for his guidance and support in
critical moments of my graduate education. I was also fortunate to have the friendship and lucidity of
my colleague Jeongeun Kim. Her encouragement was essential throughout my dissertation work. I
want to also thank Merle Feldbaum, my mentor at the Rackham’s Institutional Research Office, for
her support and understanding over the last two years of my doctoral studies. I also acknowledge
Merle and Carlos Moreno, my brother-in-law, for their editorial feedback to this manuscript.
The idea for this study, as well as the idea of pursuing a Ph.D. in higher education, comes
from my previous work on a curricular reform at the Universidad de Chile. I am deeply grateful of
the early guidance and encouragement I received from Professors Carlos Albornoz, Franciso Brieva,
Doris Brodeur, Patricio Poblete, Eduardo Rojas, and Rosa Uribe. In particular, I would like to thank
Professor Carlos Vignolo, for his continuous friendship and mentorship.
Finally, I would like to acknowledge my family. I thank my wife Francisca, for her
unconditional love, patience, and support. Her entrepreneurial and sensitive spirit are a constant
inspiration for my work. I thank my son Santiago, for the endless joy he gives me every day. I also
thank Maricarmen, my sister-in-law, for her support during our years living in the United States.
Finally, I am forever grateful for the constant love and support from my parents and brothers.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

DEDICATION ........................................................................................................................... ii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ......................................................................................................... iii
LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................................... ix
LIST OF FIGURES ....................................................................................................................x
LIST OF APPENDICES ........................................................................................................... xi
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS................................................................................................... xii
ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................... xiii
Chapter 1: Introduction ...............................................................................................................1
Curricular Change in Engineering Education ...........................................................................2
Social Movements and Curricular Change ...............................................................................4
The Rise of Entrepreneurship in Engineering Education ..........................................................7
Contribution of the Study....................................................................................................... 10
Dissertation Overview ........................................................................................................... 11
Chapter 2: Literature Review and Conceptual Framework ......................................................... 13
Definition of Curriculum and the Actors who Influence It ..................................................... 13
Engineering Curriculum: The Role of External and Internal Influences .................................. 16
Limitations to Inquiries into Curricular Change in Engineering Education ............................. 20
Social and Intellectual Movements ........................................................................................ 22
Collective Action Frames ...................................................................................................... 26
Brief Introduction to the Emergence of E3 ............................................................................. 29
E3 at the National Level ..................................................................................................... 34
External Actors and the Networks with the Local Community............................................ 35
Internal Actors in Colleges of Engineering ......................................................................... 36
Different Frames of the Curricular Idea .............................................................................. 37
Research Questions ............................................................................................................... 38
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Chapter 3: Research Design and Data Collection Methods ........................................................ 40
Population ............................................................................................................................. 40
Case Study Sample ................................................................................................................ 41
Methods of Data Collection ................................................................................................... 43
Interviews .......................................................................................................................... 43
Participant Observations .................................................................................................... 46
Documentation ................................................................................................................... 47
Data Analysis ........................................................................................................................ 50
Construction of the Case .................................................................................................... 52
Coding Process .................................................................................................................. 53
Contrasted and Expanded Findings .................................................................................... 53
Limitations ............................................................................................................................ 54
Chapter 4: The Emergence of Entrepreneurship Education in the College of Engineering at the
University of Michigan ............................................................................................................. 55
The Context: The CoE at UM ................................................................................................ 57
Stage I: The Latent Period (Late 1990s-2006) ........................................................................ 59
Making the Commercialization of Research the Fourth University Mission ........................ 60
The Disconnected Teaching of Entrepreneurship ................................................................ 65
Stage II: The Launch of a Movement (2006-2008) ................................................................. 72
Dean Munson, the Spark from the Top ............................................................................... 73
Professor Thomas Zurbuchen and the Entrepreneurial Taskforce........................................ 75
The First Bay Area Trip and the Launch of MPowered Entrepreneurship ........................... 77
The CEEPS Report, Social Networks, and the Innovative Funding ..................................... 81
The Favorable Curricular Context ...................................................................................... 85
The State in Free Fall: The Recession Hits Home ............................................................... 88
Stage III: The Start Me Up Momentum (2008-2011) ............................................................. 89
Start Me Up CFE ............................................................................................................... 90
A Curricular Program that Develops an Entrepreneurial Mindset ....................................... 93
The Curriculum and Its Disciplinary Boundaries: Everybody is Welcomed ........................ 94
The Core Entrepreneurship Courses ................................................................................... 95
MPowered, Its Startup Mode and Signature Events ............................................................ 98
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TechArb & the RPM Summer .......................................................................................... 103
Let’s Share our Ideas ........................................................................................................ 105
An Entrepreneurial Ecosystem under Construction ........................................................... 106
The Social Network, the Movie ........................................................................................ 111
Stage IV: Branching out from Engineering (2011- 2014) ..................................................... 111
LSA Opens the Doors to Entrepreneurship, the 1,000 Voices Campaign .......................... 112
MPowered Reaches a New Level of Organizational Capacities ........................................ 115
Entrepreneurship at the Core of the Student Government ................................................. 117
OptiMize, the Students Who Replaced Entrepreneurship by Innovation ........................... 119
The Ecosystem Continues Growing and the Flowers Blooming ........................................ 122
Entrepreneurship in the Voice of the Leaders and in the Victor for Michigan Campaign .. 127
The Struggle for the Definition......................................................................................... 130
Circulating Back to Engineering....................................................................................... 133
Chapter 5: The Case of E3 as an Intellectual Movement........................................................... 137
Leadership Strategies ....................................................................................................... 139
Access to Key Resources ................................................................................................. 141
Access to Micromobilization Contexts ............................................................................. 144
Framing Curricular Ideas that Resonate with Internal and External Actors ....................... 147
A Grassroots Initiative or a Movement Orchestrated from the Top? ................................. 148
Summary ............................................................................................................................. 150
Chapter 6: Collective Action Framing Tasks and Framing Strategies in the Movement for
Entrepreneurship Education in Engineering ............................................................................. 152
Entrepreneurship, a Master Frame of Our Times .................................................................. 152
Framing Tasks ..................................................................................................................... 154
Diagnostic frames: Defining What is Wrong with Traditional Engineering Education ...... 154
Prognostic Frames: Entrepreneurship Education as a Solution .......................................... 156
Motivational Frames: Start Me Up CoE ........................................................................... 158
Framing Strategic Processes of Alignment ........................................................................... 160
Frame Amplification: Students’ Demand and Global Economy ........................................ 161
Frame Bridging: It is Local and Social ............................................................................. 162
Frame Extension: The Idea of an Entrepreneurial Mindset ............................................... 164
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Key Changes in the E3 Movement Frames ........................................................................ 170
Summary ............................................................................................................................. 171
Chapter 7: Conclusion ............................................................................................................. 173
Research Implications .......................................................................................................... 176
Social Movements and Curricular Change in STEM fields ............................................... 176
External Actors and Students as Change Agents ............................................................... 177
Curricular and Co-curricular Paths ................................................................................... 180
Local and National Contexts ............................................................................................ 181
Entrepreneurship Education ............................................................................................. 182
Practical Implications .......................................................................................................... 184
Faculty and University Authorities as Movement Leaders ................................................ 184
The Role of External Actors and Engineering Students .................................................... 186
Curricular Experts: Bringing Movement Ideas into the Academic Plan............................. 187
Organizational and Disciplinary Boundaries..................................................................... 188
The Marketplace of Ideas ................................................................................................. 189
Collective Action and Curricular Change in Engineering Education ................................. 190
Appendices ............................................................................................................................. 191
References .............................................................................................................................. 199

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LIST OF TABLES
Table 1. Chronology of Entrepreneurship Education in Engineering in the United States .......... 32
Table 2. Analytical Goals by Type of Data ................................................................................ 52
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