1. STEM Higher Education Council National Leaders Summit
Creating and Educating a Growth Mindset
Richard K. Miller, Ph.D.
First President and Professor
Needham, Massachusetts
Keynote Address
STEM Higher Education Council
National Leaders Summit
STEMconnector
Washington, DC
September 28, 2017

2. “Olin College is intended to be different,
not for the mere sake of being different, but
in order to become an important and constant
contributor to the advancement of engineering
education in America and throughout the world,…”
Founding Precepts, Olin College
Olin College is intended to become an
education laboratory.

3. The Role of Olin College
Higher Education
Olin College
No Tenure, No Academic Departments, $100k Merit
Scholarships, Everything has an Expiration Date

4. Visited by more than 2,000 visitors from
800 universities and 55 countries
in past 7 years

5. Today’s Presentation
Why change now?
What we’ve learned
The growth mindset imperative

6. The Future of Higher Education
Yeats: Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire!
TIME
KNOWLEDGE
ECONOMY
MAKER ECONOMY
INNOVATION
ECONOMY
imitate
content
ideas
perfect
Google
Sage on Stage
Guide on Side
Peers and Mentors?
Rows of seats
with Blackboard
Small groups
with Maker Projects
Intrinsic motivation,
Design Thinking?
What you Know
What you can Do
What you Conceive

7. Why education must change
An existential
threat!
An existential
threat!

8. Why education must change
NAE Grand Challenges for 21st Century
Global, Complex, Multidisciplinary Challenges
Security, Sustainability, Health, Enhancing Life
Unintended Consequences, systems thinking
Coupled Scientific-Social-Economic-Political-Religious
Need New Kind of Education for Innovators

9. Our traditional approach to
higher education may be
actually preventing us from
producing innovators!

10. Broader View of Innovation
Feasibility
Viability
Engineering
and Science
Business and
Economics
INNOVATION
Desirability
Psychology, Arts,
Humanities, etc.
No amount of doubling down on hard science courses
will produce the innovators we need!

11. 21st century Innovators require more than technical knowledge!
Attitude:
More often than not,
your attitude determines
your altitude in life *
*not your aptitude

12. Capacity, Capability, Competitiveness
Importance of Mindset!
Attitudes, Behaviors, and Motivations:
Entrepreneurial Mindset
Ethical Behavior
Teamwork, Leadership
Global perspective
Interdisciplinary thinking
Creativity and design
Empathy, social responsibility
Employability skills
Educate to Innovate
Capacity, Capability, Competitiveness
Employability Skills
Innovation Excellence

13. Capacity, Capability, Competitiveness
Importance of Mindset!
Attitudes, Behaviors, and Motivations:
Collaborative Mindset
Entrepreneurial Mindset
Interdisciplinary Mindset
Global Mindset
Ethical Mindset
Educate to Innovate
Capacity, Capability, Competitiveness
Employability Skills
Innovation Excellence

14. Mindset – can be defined, measured, and taught!
Angela Duckworth, U. Penn
2013 MacArthur Prize

15. Mindset: Impact in Adults
James Heckman
U Chicago
(Ctr for Economics
of Human Dev)
Nobel Prize in Economics
(with Daniel McFadden)
2000
Grit is often better
predictor of success than
knowledge or intelligence
“Hopeful faculty members spread hope among
their students, while cynical faculty members
spread cynicism”
Mel Ramey – UC Davis

16. How Education Must Change
In the 21st Century
20th Century: Education = Knowledge + Skills
21st Century: Education = Job Preparation.
21st Century: Education = Knowledge + Skills
+ Beliefs, Attitudes, Behaviors

17. What Beliefs, Attitudes, and Behaviors?
Collaborative Mindset
Interdisciplinary Mindset
Ethical/Empathetic Mindset
Entrepreneurial Mindset
Global Mindset
Growth Mindset (Dweck, Stanford)
Grit (Duckworth, U Penn)

18. How Is Mindset Shaped? Identity - who do you think you are? Agency
- what can you do with your K + S?
Sense of Purpose
- how will your life matter?

19. How do you form Identity?
What do you believe about yourself?
(intelligence, what you care about, who you admire)
What do you believe about others?
(collaboration, cross cultural immersion, leadership skills)
Finding your “voice”
(Oral presentation, cold calls, negotiation, confrontation)
Are you creative?
(envisioning, develop creative confidence, original insights)

20. How do you build Agency?
Apply what you learned in a real world context
(Start with a real problem that matters to someone)
Learn to complete whatever you start
(Finish what you start and then iteratively improve)
Perform in front of a professional audience
(Perfect your work until you are proud to show it to others)
Consistently exceed your own expectations
(Build a “Can Do” attitude through experience )

21. How Do You Develop a Sense of Purpose?
Do something to help those less fortunate
(Engage in service learning, EPICS, EWB, etc.)
How do you feel about justice and fairness?
(Take a course in ethics, spend time in introspection)
How will you make the world a better place?
(What does it mean to live a “good life”?)
What does it mean to live a life of “character”?
(Who do you admire? How will become like them?)