2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Stories of Influence: Understanding How Social and Experiential Factors Shape Engineering Faculty’s Innovation-Oriented Teaching Beliefs

Presented at Faculty Development Division (FDD) Technical Session 4: Faculty Beliefs, Identity, and Instructional Change

Engineering educators are increasingly expected to foster innovation-oriented habits of mind such as persistence, initiative, and comfort with uncertainty. While prior research has emphasized student outcomes and faculty attitudes toward innovation and entrepreneurial mindset, far less is known about how faculty develop the self-efficacy required to model these practices in the classroom. Guided by Social Cognitive Theory, this qualitative exploratory study examines how social and experiential influences shape engineering faculty members’ confidence to enact innovation-oriented teaching. Narrative interviews were conducted with four engineering faculty members from diverse disciplinary and cultural contexts. Narrative analysis enabled an in-depth examination of faculty meaning-making despite the small sample size. Using thematic analysis, we examined how faculty made sense of formative experiences across their personal and professional lives. Three themes emerged: (1) early socializers, including family members and mentors, shaped foundational beliefs about agency, persistence, and problem solving; (2) professional validation from advisors, colleagues, and students reinforced or re-calibrated faculty confidence to experiment with innovative teaching practices; and (3) narrative reflection enabled faculty to interpret social feedback, normalize challenges, and consolidate self-efficacy over time. Findings suggest that faculty self-efficacy for innovation is socially constructed and continually negotiated, rather than a static individual attribute. This study extends engineering education research by foregrounding the role of socializer influence and storytelling in faculty belief formation. Implications highlight the potential of story-centered faculty development approaches to strengthen confidence and sustain innovation-oriented teaching in engineering education.

Authors

Dr. Rohini N. Abhyankar University of North Carolina, Charlotte [biography]

Dr. Rohini Abhyankar is a Teaching Assistant Professor in the Office of Student Development and Success (OSDS) at the Williams Lee College of Engineering. She earned her Ph.D. in Engineering Education Systems and Design from Arizona State University in 2022.
Dr. Abhyankar holds master’s degrees in Physics (University of Delhi, India) and Electrical Engineering (Syracuse University, NY), as well as an MBA from the University of Phoenix. She completed her undergraduate studies in Physics at the University of Delhi.
Before entering academia full-time, Dr. Abhyankar worked for over a decade as a design engineer at Philips/NXP Semiconductors. She also brings over ten years of teaching experience in Mathematics, Physics, and Hindi at various schools and universities.
Her research interests focus on engineering education, with particular emphasis on faculty development and promoting diversity and inclusion in engineering workplaces.
Dr. Courtney S Smith-Orr http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4346-8140 University of North Carolina at Charlotte [biography]

Courtney S. Smith, PhD is a Teaching Associate Professor at UNC Charlotte. Her research interests span the mentoring experiences of African American women in engineering, minority recruitment and retention, and best practices for
Lisa Glymph Lattimore MBA, MS University of North Carolina at Charlotte [biography]

I am an Associate Professor of Practice for the Office of Student Success and Development within William States Lee College of Engineering at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. I am currently a doctoral student in Curriculum and Instruction focusing on STEM Education. I hold a Master of Business Administration from The College of William & Mary of Williamsburg VA and a Master of Science in food engineering from Cornell University of Ithaca NY. I graduated with a Bachelor of Science in chemical engineering from Syracuse University of Syracuse NY. Prior to my role at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, I was employed within the food and beverage, cosmetics, medical device and pharmaceutical industries for thirty years focusing on product/process development and quality compliance and management systems.
Mrs. Meg Harkins University of North Carolina at Charlotte [biography]

Meg Harkins is a Professor of Practice, Senior Design Academic Lead, and campus KEEN Leader at the University of North Carolina - Charlotte's William States Lee College of Engineering. She is a licensed Professional Engineer.

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

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