2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Learnings from the ASEE Interdivisional Town Hall Series: 2022-2025

The Interdivisional Town Hall (ITH) is a staple of the ASEE annual conference held on Monday afternoons in the final technical session slot. It provides an open and inclusive forum for all conference attendees to discuss planned topics presented by the ITH planning committee. Since 2022, the ITH program consists of two parts; Part One with four topics determined by the planning committee, and Part Two showcasing a specific project. Recognizing ASEE’s commitment to valuing diverse perspectives, the ITH fosters cross-divisional partnerships and collective problem-solving to address challenges of national and international significance.

Each year’s Interdivisional Town Hall (ITH) themes are developed by a planning committee of co-chairs and ASEE division representatives. Beginning in January, the committee meets regularly to gather input, identify timely and cross-cutting topics, and shape discussion prompts that promote broad engagement. The representatives solicit feedback from their divisions to ensure inclusive perspectives, while facilitators, drawn from diverse institutional and disciplinary backgrounds, guide the conference discussions. This collaborative process ensures that the ITH remains responsive to emerging issues and reflects ASEE’s core values of inclusion, representation, and collective sensemaking.

This paper documents the four most recent years of ITH Part One discussions (2022–2025), tracing an evolution from post-pandemic educational challenges to a globally engaged, inclusive vision for engineering education. In 2022, we relived the 2021 theme of the engineer of the future focusing on how to prepare engineers for the 2030s. In 2023, conversations centered on the changing discourse around diversity, equity, and inclusion; the emergence of generative artificial intelligence; and the growing importance of student wellness and trauma-informed teaching. In 2024, the focus was toward enhancing the student experience through equity in STEM preparation, collaboration and teamwork, responsible AI use, and global citizenship. The 2025 session explored Artificial Intelligence, Rigor in Math and Science, and Social Justice and Responsibility with a focus on the Engineering Mindset Report.

This paper aims to highlight the purpose, design, and outcomes of the Interdivisional Town Hall initiative as a model for inclusive dialogue and community-driven improvement. Building on insights from earlier work, it underscores the importance of the Town Hall as a space for shared reflection, transparency, and collective problem-solving. The paper details how discussion topics are identified and prioritized through a planning process led by division representatives to ensure that sessions reflect the most relevant and emerging concerns of the community. Drawing on data collected from participant feedback and discussions, the paper presents key themes and findings that informed the development of subsequent “Part Two” sessions designed for deeper engagement. Finally, lessons learned from implementation are discussed to provide practical recommendations for sustaining and enhancing future Interdivisional Town Halls, offering a framework adaptable to other divisions and institutional contexts seeking to strengthen collaboration and communication.

Authors

Dr. Micah Lande http://orcid.org/https://0000-0003-4964-5654 South Dakota School of Mines & Technology [biography]

Micah Lande, PhD is an Associate Professor and E.R. Stensaas Chair for Engineering Education in the Leslie A. Rose Department of Mechanical Engineering at the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology. Dr. Lande directs the Holistic Engineering Learning Lab and Observatory. He teaches human-centered engineering design, design thinking, and design innovation courses. Dr. Lande researches how technical and non-technical people learn and apply design thinking and making processes to their work. He is interested in the intersection of designerly epistemic identities and vocational pathways. Dr. Lande received his B.S. in Engineering (Product Design), M.A. in Education (Learning, Design and Technology) and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering (Design Education) from Stanford University.
Dr. Jennifer L. Cole http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7104-2986 Northwestern University [biography]

Jennifer L. Cole is the Assistant Chair in Chemical and Biological Engineering in the Robert R. McCormick School of Engineering and the Director of the Northwestern Center for Engineering Education Research at Northwestern University.
Dr. Jamie R Gurganus University of Maryland, Baltimore County [biography]

Dr. Jamie Gurganus is an Assistant Teaching Professor in the Engineering and Computing Education Program within the College of Engineering and Information Technology and Director of the Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning (CIRTL) in the Graduate School at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), as well as a Faculty Fellow with the Alex. Brown Center for Entrepreneurship. Her work focuses on developing engineers, educators, and communities from P12 through post-graduate levels, with scholarship and teaching centered on engineering identity development, global and entrepreneurial competencies, failure culture, and inclusive pathways into engineering. She designs high-impact, student-centered learning experiences across the engineering curriculum including first-year courses, human-centered design, work-integrated learning, and multidisciplinary capstone projects; connecting students with real-world challenges and community partners. Committed to innovative teaching, she integrates experiential learning, gamification, and authentic design challenges to foster engagement and professional skill development, and collaborates globally on STEM education initiatives, including teaching a Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) Global Engineering course with partners in Brazil, Portugal, and Germany.
Dr. Lynn A. Albers http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1436-0256 SUNY Maritime College [biography]

Dr. Lynn Albers is an Assistant Professor of First-Year Engineering and Mechanical Engineering at SUNY Maritime College. Her previous academic contributions were at Hofstra University and as one of the founding five faculty/staff at Campbell University, helping the newly formed School of Engineering grow and establish roots in the community. A proponent of Hands-On Activities in the classroom and during out-of-school time programs, she believes that they complement any teaching style thereby reaching all learning styles. She earned her doctorate in Mechanical Engineering from North Carolina State University specializing in thermal sciences where her dissertation research spanned three colleges and focused on Engineering Education. Her passions include but are not limited to Engineering Education, Energy Engineering and Conservation, and K-20 STEM Outreach. Prior to matriculating at NCSU, she worked at the North Carolina Solar Center developing a passion for wind and solar energy research while learning renewable energy policy. She combined these passions with K-20 STEM Outreach while a National Science Foundation Fellow with the GK-12 Outreach Program at NCSU where she began Energy Clubs, an out-of-school-time program for third, fourth and fifth graders to introduce them to renewable energy.

Note

The full paper will be available to logged in and registered conference attendees once the conference starts on June 21, 2026, and to all visitors after the conference ends on June 24, 2026