CRRES Affiliate Dr. Mary Murphy has been awarded the 2022 Distinguished Faculty Research Award! The award, which recognizes the achievements of an IU Bloomington faculty member whose research makes important contributions to society, is accompanied by a public lecture delivered by the recipient during the spring semester.
Dr. Murphy’s lecture is titled “Faculty as Culture Creators: The Role of Faculty Mindset in Student Success” and will place virtually on Monday, May 2nd, 2022 at 3:00 pm, Eastern time.
Talk description:
Many have heard of the fixed and growth mindset, which describes people’s beliefs about fixedness or malleability of intelligence, talent, and ability. Thirty-five years of mindset research has focused on mindset as a personal belief—an individual difference that varies between people. This lecture will describe my lab’s research over the last decade reconceptualizing mindset not just as a belief inside people’s heads, but as a cultural variable that exists within institutions and learning environments. I will show how college faculty’s mindset beliefs and practices shape the mindset culture students perceive in their classes—and how that mindset culture in turn shapes students’ motivation, engagement, persistence and performance. I will show how fixed mindset cultures (Cultures of Genius) in college classrooms negatively affect all students, and especially students from structurally disadvantaged backgrounds—and how growth mindset cultures (Cultures of Growth) close these equity gaps. I will end with some practical, evidence-based things that teachers, advisors, and administrators can do to create more equitable Cultures of Growth that support student success.