skip to main content
US FlagAn official website of the United States government
dot gov icon
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
https lock icon
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( lock ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.


Title: BUILDing Equity in STEM: A Collaborative Undergraduate Research Program to Increase Achievement of Underserved Community College Students
The program Building Infrastructure Leading to Diversity: Promoting Opportunities for Diversity in Education and Research partners baccalaureate-granting California State University, Northridge with community college faculty and students to facilitate undergraduate research and development at community colleges. The authors document student, faculty, and institutional outcomes and share best practices in forming community college–university partnerships. Future directions also are offered.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
2000281
PAR ID:
10322098
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Scholarship and Practice of Undergraduate Research
Volume:
4
Issue:
3
ISSN:
2476-101X
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. This study provides empirical evidence that PhD graduates working at community colleges feel less prepared than their counterparts employed in research universities. In addition, we find that perceptions of research-related skills are not predictive of feelings of job preparation for community college faculty. We offer recommendations for doctoral programs to better prepare future faculty for roles outside of the research university that combine research and interpersonal skills. We argue that there is a misalignment between PhD training and community college faculty preparation. This training should not be considered a zero-sum game between research and all of the skills required to be an effective teacher, advisor, mentor, and college/university citizen. We also discuss the problematic discourse surrounding PhD professional development that fails to account for the diverse needs of the professoriate. 
    more » « less
  2. In January 2020 East Carolina University (ECU) in partnership with Lenoir Community College (LCC), Pitt Community College (PCC), and Wayne Community College (WCC) was awarded an S-STEM Track 3 Grant (Grant number: 1930497). The purpose of this grant was to support low-income students at each partner institution, to research best practices in recruiting and retaining low-income students at both universities and community colleges, and to research how such programs influence the transfer outcomes from two-year to four-year schools. This grant provides scholarship support for two cohorts of students, one starting their engineering studies in Fall 2020 and the other starting their engineering studies in Fall 2021. Each cohort was to be comprised of 40 students including 20 students at ECU and 20 students divided among the three partnering community colleges. In addition to supporting student scholarships, this grant supported the establishment of new student support mechanisms and enhancement of existing support systems on each campus. This project involved the creation of a faculty mentoring program, designing a summer bridge program, establishing a textbook lending library, and enhancing activities for students in a living-learning community, expansion of university tutoring initiatives to allow access for community college students, and promoting a new peer mentoring initiative. The program emphasizes career opportunities including promoting on-campus career fairs, promoting internship and co-op opportunities, and bringing in guest speakers from various industry partners. A goal of the program was to allow community college students to build relationships with university students and faculty so they can more easily assimilate into the student body at the university upon transfer. This paper presents the challenges presented to the project in the first year and the pivoting that occurred due the pandemic. Data is presented regarding recruitment of scholars in both cohorts and retention of scholars from year 1 to year 2. 
    more » « less
  3. This study provides a deeper understanding of the challenges facing community college transfer students in engineering and their faculty advisors at a 4-year research university. Using a phenomenological approach, data was analyzed from interviews with nine engineering transfers and seven faculty advisors. The findings unveiled nuanced barriers faced by engineering transfers and their faculty advisors, including transfers’ academic unpreparedness and struggles with nonacademic responsibilities; advisors’ heavy workload, disconnection with other student services, and lack of communication with community college advisors; and restrictions on course selection and program requirements in 4-year engineering programs. The findings provide meaningful insights into developing new policies and practices to improve the academic advising experience for engineering transfers. 
    more » « less
  4. The Student Pathways in Engineering and Computing for Transfers (SPECTRA) program is anticipated to provide a streamlined academic pathway for transfer students from 2-year programs within South Carolina into Clemson University, and deliver programming to aid their academic success and social integration. To achieve this, the faculty intended to solidify cohorts of students at two community/technical colleges (Spartanburg Community College and Trident Technical College) and then support that cohort as they transitioned together into Clemson University. This paper provides an overview of the larger SPECTRA program and a deeper dive into the role of the graduate teaching assistants (‘fellows’). Specifically, we will provide an overview of: (1) changes between initial program vision and adjustments from this vision during initial implementation, (2) recruitment processes and application requirements for the graduate teaching fellowship, (3) the framework for development of undergraduate research courses taught by fellows, (4) mentorship web for fellows on the research university campus and technical/community college locations, (5) the lessons learned from semi structured programmatic exit interviews of matriculated fellows, and (6) design for additional professional programming for scholars at the community/technical college locations by the fellows. 
    more » « less
  5. This work in progress paper presents an overview of the Hispanic Alliance for the Graduate Education and the Professoriate (H-AGEP) program. H-AGEP is working on developing and implementing a new model to improve the preparation and transition of Hispanic STEM doctoral students into community college faculty positions. The partnership is a collaborative effort between the City College of New York (CCNY) (lead institution) and The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) along with a group of partner community colleges: LaGuardia Community College, Queensborough Community College, and El Paso Community College. The H-AGEP model consists of three main elements: (1) a training and mentoring program for effective STEM teaching at community colleges; (2) a training program for effective mentoring of community college students in STEM research; and (3) a professional development program to address career preparation, transitioning, and advancement at academic careers in community colleges. H-AGEP research goals are: (1) to consider the collected evaluation and research data to determine what intervention activities are most impactful, and (2) to better understand the career-decision making process of Hispanic STEM doctoral students regarding whether they will seek employment at community colleges and other two-year institutions. An interesting aspect of the partnership is that the institutions in El Paso, Texas, serve primarily a Mexican-American student population while the New York institutions serve primarily a Hispanic population of Caribbean origin. This provides the unique opportunity to compare Hispanic students from both groups. The program evaluation: (1) documents and provides feedback on H-AGEP activities and model implementation; and (2) assesses the extent to which H-AGEP is achieving its intended outcomes. Assessment results on the first cohort of students in the program show the value of including community college faculty as career and teaching mentors in the program. Furthermore, the effect of model interventions in students from the first cohort show positive advances in improving teaching skills, increasing student professional networks, and increasing interest and awareness in careers at community college. 
    more » « less