Collaborative Research: The Access Network: Supporting Retention and Representation in Physics through an Alliance of Campus-Based Diversity Programs

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This award supports an effort to expand and enrich the COMPASS program at UC Berkeley, which is aimed at improving the education and retention of under-represented students (primarily in Physics). There are five universities with similar programs based on the COMPASS model: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Maryland College Park, Rochester Institute of Technology, Chicago State University, and Arizona State University. This project joins these institutions and UC Berkeley to form the Access Network, designed to develop best practices through shared expertise. The Access network will support the development of programs intended to improve diversity and access in physics by innovating strategies to build Compass-like programs in new contexts. The network will enhance the efforts of each individual site, build knowledge of best practices for launching new programs, and share this knowledge with the physics community. A robust evaluation of the project will identify the impact of the network on supporting diversity programs and how it contributes to the dissemination of successful strategies and program elements.The Access network will: (a) empower students and faculty - especially those from marginalized and/or underrepresented groups - as agents in the design, implementation, and iterative improvement of retention efforts, (b) facilitate communication and community among those involved in such efforts, and (c) create and maintain a repository of materials and strategies, all in order to (d) support local communities in adapting these materials and program elements to their unique contexts and populations. To achieve these goals, the project will engage in the following activities: (1) an annual assembly of the member programs, (2) inter-program communication through regular conference calls and inter-institutional travel, (3) documentation of local and inter-institutional innovations, and (4) synthesis and dissemination of member programs' educational materials.