Making Cross Institutional Coalitions Work: A View Into The Workings Of A Successful Seven Institution Collaboration

The development of the AWE Project coalition, an NSF funded (HRD 01 20642) project designed to develop effective assessment tools and models for WIE and similar programs (11, 12). AWE comprises seven very different institutions, programs in varying states of development, and a range of staffing and funding resources. AWE Partner Institutions are the University of Missouri (Marra), Penn State (Bogue), Georgia Tech (Mimi Philobos), the University of Arizona (Marie Reyes), the University of Louisville (Brenda Hart), the University of Texas – Austin (Tricia Berry) and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Barbara Ruel). The three year project required that each institution and WIE director or research associate participate fully in developing and testing assessment instruments with large numbers of students, documentation and career development tools.