Abstract 1468 PULSE: Empowering Department and Transforming Education

PULSE is a national network of university faculty and administrators launched in 2012 as a collaboration between the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health/National Institute of General Medical Sciences, and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute to stimulate department-level implementation of the changes recommended in the 2011 publication Vision & Change in Undergraduate Biology Education: A Call to Action. PULSE helps life sciences departments at all higher education institutions align with national education initiatives to develop inclusive, student-centered, evidence-based teaching and learning to cultivate the development of scientists who reflect the diversity of American society. PULSE focuses on the department as the unit of change because this is the level at which many decisions are made that affect curriculum as well as teaching and learning practices. Importantly, to effect change, departments need to engage in a cycle of continuous, data-driven self-assessment and improvement. As such, PULSE programs provide tools and strategies for self-assessment and teach collaborative strategies that foster cycles of improvement. PULSE's key initiatives (Recognition Program, Ambassadors Program, and Regional Institutes/Workshops) are tailored to work with life science departments at all points in their journeys towards developing and implementing Vision & Change-inspired reforms. Here, we share details about our initiatives as well as assessment data indicating the success that PULSE initiatives have had in helping life science departments make the ambitions of Vision & Change a reality. The PULSE Ambassadors and Recognition programs are supported by National Science Foundation Award #s 1624182 and 2912213, respectively.