Scholarship, Learning Community, Mentoring, and Strengths-Based Campus

大量增加美国科学家和工程师的数量是一项重大的全国性需求。位于明尼苏达州贝米吉的贝米吉州立大学的这个项目通过为在该机构攻读科学和数学学位的学生提供学术和经济支持来解决这一需求。该计划的目标是通过为有经济需要的有才华的学生提供奖学金来影响科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）领域的劳动力。贝米吉州立大学（BSU）为有经济需要的学术前景的STEM学生提供奖学金，并为他们提供广泛的服务。预计该计划将帮助STEM专业学生在学业上取得成功，完成学位，并继续在STEM领域进行高级学习，或立即进入STEM劳动力市场并茁壮成长。该项目的目标是将BSU的STEM学生数量增加10%，并提高STEM学生的六年毕业率。项目计划持续时间为五年。通过与州内四所部落学院的合作，BSU也处于有利地位，可以增加美国原住民STEM学科毕业生的数量。足够的STEM劳动力对美国未来的经济至关重要。确保国家经济实力的关键一步是让更多有能力的美国学生获得STEM学位。该项目采用了一种提高毕业率和保留率的方法，研究表明，支持服务和经济援助的结合在提高STEM学生的成功方面非常有效。该项目还利用了大学现有的几个支持结构。支持结构包括一对一辅导、同伴指导和金融知识讲习班。新的支持结构包括STEM学者学习社区和STEM学者的教师指导。该项目还采用了优势测试方法来确定学生的兴趣和能力。StrengthsQuest是一个在线评估，帮助识别个人能力和偏好，并根据这些偏好调整职业选择。这一资源帮助学生发现自己的才能并进行职业探索。该项目将评估使用StrengthsQuest作为STEM学生支持服务的一部分的影响。项目团队认为，这些信息将对其他高等教育机构有所帮助，因为他们正在寻找新的更好的方式来支持STEM学生。该项目包括一项评估计划，该计划将在年度基础上和在工作结束时评估干预措施的影响。项目团队已经确定了具体的、可测量的目标，这些目标将有助于确定项目成功实现其目标的程度。可测量的目标包括STEM学生保留率；毕业率;就业数据；学生参与支持活动的有效性。该项目提供了有关美洲原住民和STEM职业的额外成果。鉴于BSU与美洲原住民社区之间的关系，从该项目中吸取的经验教训将为在美国各地为美洲原住民提供服务的实践提供参考。项目成果将分发给地方、区域和国家各级的STEM教育工作者。

A significant national need exists to increase substantially the number of American scientists and engineers. This project at Bemidji State University in Bemidji, Minnesota, addresses this need by providing academic and financial support to students pursing degrees in science and mathematics at that institution. The goal of the program is to impact the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) workforce by providing scholarships for talented students who demonstrate financial need. Bemidji State University (BSU) provides scholarships to academically promising STEM students with financial need, and supports them with a broad range of services. It is expected that this program will help STEM majors to succeed in their studies, complete their degrees, and go on to either advanced study in STEM fields or to immediately enter and thrive in the STEM workforce. The goals of the project are to increase the number of STEM students at BSU by ten percent and to increase the six-year graduation rate of STEM students. The planned duration of the project is five years. Through its partnerships with four tribal colleges within the state, BSU is also well-positioned to increase the number of Native American STEM graduates in the STEM disciplines. An adequate STEM workforce is critical to the future economy of the United States. A critical step in securing the economic strength of the nation is to graduate a larger number of capable U.S. students with STEM degrees. The project pursues an approach to enhancing graduation and retention rates based on research that shows that a combination of support services and financial aid is highly effective in improving STEM student success. The project also utilizes several existing support structures that are in place at the university. Support structures include one-on-one tutoring, peer mentoring, and financial literacy workshops. New support structures include a STEM Scholars Learning Community and faculty mentoring of STEM scholars. The project also employs the StrengthsQuest approach to identify student interests and abilities. StrengthsQuest is an online assessment to help identify individual abilities and preferences and to align career options with these preferences. This resource assists students in identifying their talents and carrying out career explorations. The project will assess the impact of using StrengthsQuest as part of its STEM student support services. The project team believes this information will be helpful to other post-secondary institutions, as they look for new and better ways of supporting STEM students. The project includes a plan for evaluation which will assess impact of the interventions on an annual basis and at the end of the effort. The project team has identified specific, measurable objectives that will help determine the extent to which the project has been successful in meeting its goals. Measurable objectives include STEM student retention; graduation rates; job placement data; and effectiveness of student participation in the support activities. The project provides additional outcomes of interest concerning Native Americans and STEM careers. Given the relationships between BSU and the Native American community, the lessons learned from this project will inform practices in serving Native American populations throughout the United States. Project results will be disseminated to STEM educators at the local, regional, and national levels.