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

大幅增加美国科学家和工程师的数量是一个重要的全国性需求。位于明尼苏达州贝米吉的贝米吉州立大学的这一项目满足了这一需求，为在该机构攻读科学和数学学位的学生提供学术和财政支持。该计划的目标是通过为有经济需求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)劳动力。Bemidji州立大学(BSU)为学业有前途的有经济需要的STEM学生提供奖学金，并为他们提供广泛的服务。预计这一计划将帮助STEM专业的学生成功学习，完成学位，并继续在STEM领域深造，或立即进入STEM劳动力大军并取得成功。该项目的目标是将北卡罗来纳州立大学的STEM学生人数增加10%，并提高STEM学生的六年毕业率。该项目的计划工期为五年。通过与该州四所部落学院的合作，宾夕法尼亚州立大学也处于有利地位，可以增加STEM学科中美洲原住民STEM毕业生的数量。充足的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毕业于STEM学位。该项目追求的是一种提高毕业率和保留率的方法，其基础是研究表明，支持服务和经济援助相结合在提高STEM学生的成功方面非常有效。该项目还利用了该大学现有的几个支助结构。支持结构包括一对一辅导、同行指导和金融知识研讨会。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StrengthsQuest方法来确定学生的兴趣和能力。StrengthsQuest是一项在线评估，旨在帮助确定个人能力和偏好，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华，并进行职业探索。该项目将评估使用StrengthsQuest作为其STEM学生支持服务的影响。该项目团队相信，这些信息将有助于其他高等教育机构寻找新的、更好的方式来支持STEM学生。该项目包括一项评价计划，该计划将每年和在工作结束时评估干预措施的影响。项目组已经确定了具体的、可衡量的目标，这些目标将有助于确定项目在多大程度上成功地实现了其目标。可衡量的目标包括STEM学生保留率；毕业率；就业安置数据；以及学生参与支助活动的有效性。该项目提供了与美洲原住民和STEM职业相关的其他有趣的成果。考虑到宾夕法尼亚州立大学和美洲原住民社区之间的关系，从这个项目中学到的经验教训将为全美各地的美洲原住民人口服务实践提供参考。项目成果将向地方、地区和国家各级的STEM教育工作者传播。

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.