On December 18, 2013 Sonya, Punya, Anurag & I took this picture (in the snow, on the roof of Erickson Hall) to celebrate the official signing of the Wipro Urban STEM Fellowship Program at MSU.

We knew we were starting something special – but I don’t think we knew just how special. Fast forward 4 1/2 years, and it’s hard to believe that we are at the end of this journey. 124 amazing Chicago Public School teachers completed the MSUrbanSTEM fellowship program. In that time, they published 8 books, created resources on their websites, and continue to share and network via #MSUrbanSTEM.  As a research team, we published and presented an impressive amount of scholarship. Beyond the tangible artifacts, we all have been profoundly changed by this experience.  O’Sullivan et. al (2002) define transformative learning as:

Experiencing a deep, structural shift in the basic premises of thought, feelings and actions. It is a shift of consciousness that dramatically and irreversibly alters our way of being in the world. Such a shift involves our understanding of ourselves and our self-locations; our relationships with other humans and with the natural world; our understanding of relations of power in interlocking structures of class, race and gender; our body awareness, our visions of alternative approaches to living; and our sense of possibilities for social justice, peace and personal joy.

This definition succinctly sums up my experience over the past 4 1/2 years. I am truly grateful to my collaborators, colleagues & the incredible Chicago Public School teachers.

Works Cited
O’Sullivan, E. V., Morrell, A., & O’Connor, M. A. (2002). Expanding the boundaries of transformative learning: Essays on theory and praxis (Lst ed.). New York, N.Y: Palgrave.