Fostering Equity, Support, and Community for Underrepresented STEM Students

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With funding from the National Science Foundation's Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (S-STEM) program, the project entitled, "Fostering Equity, Support, and Community for Underrepresented STEM students" will provide support to low-income students with demonstrated financial need and academic promise to succeed in STEM disciplines at Willamette University. The project will fund 12 four-year scholarships over five years for STEM Scholars who are pursuing bachelor's degrees in biology, chemistry, computer science, pre-engineering, mathematics, or physics. As part of the program, an additional 18 additional STEM Fellows will have access to a series of academic and co-curricular supports designed to help them achieve academic persistence and success in STEM. These include cohort-building activities, co-enrollment in introductory STEM courses, intensive faculty mentoring, near-peer mentoring, a STEM-themed residential community, on-campus leadership positions, research and internship opportunities, and targeted exposure, preparation, and planning for STEM graduate education and career opportunities. Objectives of the STEM Scholars program include 1) increasing the recruitment, retention, success, sense of belonging, and graduation rates for low-income STEM students; 2) improving low-income and underrepresented students' persistence and performance in institutionally-defined STEM barrier courses; 3) reducing the financial burden faced by full-time, low-income STEM students, and providing meaningful opportunities for them to gain relevant paid academic and professional experience; 4) ensuring that STEM students leave with a personalized plan to guide their post-baccalaureate pursuits; and 5) improving institutional understanding of low-income, first-generation, and historically under-represented STEM students' needs in order to determine which evidence-based practices are best suited to be permanently implemented at Willamette University. In conjunction with academic scholarships for STEM scholars, targeted academic and student support interventions will be provided to both STEM Scholars and Fellows throughout their baccalaureate experience. Findings from this project will be made available publicly, allowing for the sharing of best practices that will contribute to the education of future STEM workers and leaders.