Life STEM-Planning Project: Streamlining the Biology Curriculum and Improving the Quality of Student Academic Preparation and Achievement

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The Historically Black Colleges and Universities - Undergraduate Program provides support for projects to design, implement, and assess strategies that can lead to comprehensive institutional efforts to increase the number of students receiving undergraduate degrees in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and enhance the quality of their preparation by strengthening STEM education and research. This two-year planning project at Morris College seeks to eliminate the "one-size-fits-all" Biology curriculum to develop career directed pathways in effort to improve retention and 4-year graduation rates for under-represented students. In response to the call for action in the preparation of minority and under-represented students in STEM, the project objectives are to streamline the biology curriculum to 1) develop two new career tracks in Bio-Cyber Security and Biology-Forensics and 2) increase enrollment for first-generation students in the biology program, enabling them to succeed academically and professionally. This inter-divisional collaboration and local and state agency partnership is positioned to increase STEM student enrollment and student preparation for graduate school or direct entry into the STEM workforce.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.