Path Ambassadors To High Success

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The Path Ambassadors To High Success (PATHS) project is designed to create new and compelling pathways for academically talented and financially needy students from partner high schools to study computer science at the Colorado School of Mines. The PATHS program will also strengthen current pathways for students to transition from local community colleges to the university. The project will develop and test a program that will result in an increased number of students in Colorado studying computer science, higher retention rate of these students, establishment of a strong/active community for students, broadened participation in computing of underrepresented groups, and development of a new flexible degree program that combines engineering and computer science. The new integrated computer science + engineering degree program is particularly well suited for meeting a national need to increase the technical workforce in computing. Evaluation of the program activities will provide new insights on best practices for attracting and retaining student scholars at small engineering universities. The project will also include a comparative evaluation, to compare students involved in the program with similar (but not participating) students. By leveraging an existing synergistic state program, the PATHS program expects to sustain the activities and outcomes after the grant period ends. The program will offer between 10 and 21 NSF-funded scholarships per year to PATHS Scholars and will build the infrastructure to recruit, retrain, and enable the scholarship students to succeed. Key program activities have been chosen based on the current literature of data-driven best practices for recruitment and retention of low-income students and for future career success of program participants. The project will (1) create a new pathway for students from partnering Colorado high schools to attend and succeed at the university; (2) strengthen an existing pathway for students from a local community college to transfer and succeed at the university; and (3) establish an on-campus support community (cohort) required for all students on PATHS scholarships with activities and best practices designed to maintain high retention rates for these students. To help students overcome known barriers to college access and success, the program will form cohorts that utilize an array of existing target resources at the university to engage the students in career services, outreach for program recruitment, and best practices for academic success. In recruiting efforts, the PATHS program will engage the PATHS Scholars as Ambassadors in outreach and recruitment (at their home institutions, if possible).