Supporting Student Mental Health, Well-being, and Resilience to Advance Undergraduate Degree Completion in Physical Sciences, Engineering, and Mathematics

该项目将为国家对受过良好教育的科学家、数学家、工程师和技术人员的需求做出贡献，支持伦道夫学院留住并毕业有经济需求的高成就、低收入学生。具体地说，该项目将为32名学生提供为期四年的奖学金和专门的支持服务，目标是招收、留住和毕业拥有四年制物理科学、工程或数学学位的学生。奖学金获得者将被录取，并分两批进入大学，其中16名学生将在第一和第二奖项的秋季进入。该项目将建立在现有学生服务的基础上，增加侧重于包容性、心理健康和复原力的方案，这些被确定为可以解决的问题，以增加STEM的留存率。该项目的重点是将学生的心理健康和幸福感结合起来，具有创新性。它将使用新的健康星期三节目，以支持学者的学业成功，社交健康，和情绪健康在每年。通过关注学生的健康，该项目有可能提高学生的学业成功，促进他们进入研究生课程和专业努力，同时也提供了一个其他机构可以复制的模式。该项目的总体目标是提高低收入、高成就、有经济需求的学生的STEM学位完成率。该项目将实施一套全面的活动和支持，包括：密集的暑期过渡计划，贯穿所有四个大学学年的研讨会系列，在生活学习社区、同行、教师和行业指导中增强的辅导服务，以及更多获得实习和研究机会的机会。该项目的研究工作将侧重于对学生健康和健康采取积极主动的方法的影响，并打算确定什么方法有效，特别是在STEM中代表性不足的群体，包括妇女和LGBTQ个人。这一结果将适用于任何一所大学，特别是小型文理学院，并可能有助于指导增加STEM专业数量的努力，并支持他们适应四年制课程的要求。该项目由NSF的科学、技术、工程和数学奖学金项目资助，该项目旨在增加在STEM领域获得学位的低收入学术天才学生的数量。它还旨在改善未来STEM工作者的教育，并产生关于低收入学生的学业成功、留住、转移、毕业和学术/职业道路的知识。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project will contribute to the national need for well-educated scientists, mathematicians, engineers, and technicians by supporting the retention and graduation of high-achieving, low-income students with demonstrated financial need at Randolph College. Specifically, the project will provide 32 students with four-year scholarships and specialized support services with the goal of recruiting, retaining, and graduating students with four-year degrees in a physical science, engineering, or mathematics. Scholars will be admitted and progress through college in two cohorts, with a cohort of 16 students entering in fall of the first and second award year. This project will build on existing student services, adding programming that focuses on inclusion, mental health, and resilience, which are identified as issues that can be addressed to increase retention in STEM. The emphasis of the project on integrating student mental health and well-being is innovative. It will use novel Wellness Wednesday programming to support Scholars’ academic success, social wellness, and emotional wellness throughout each year. By attending to student wellness, the project has the potential to enhance students’ academic success and advancement to graduate programs and professional endeavors, while also providing a model that other institutions may replicate.The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving students with demonstrated financial need. The project will implement a comprehensive set of activities and supports including: an intensive summer transition program, a seminar series through all four college years, enhanced tutoring services in a Living-Learning Community, peer, faculty, and industry mentoring, and enhanced access to internships and research opportunities. The project’s research efforts will focus on the impact of a proactive approach to student health and wellness and intends to identify what works, especially with underrepresented groups in STEM, including women and LGBTQ individuals. The results will be relevant to any college, particularly small liberal arts colleges, and may be useful to guide efforts to increase the numbers of STEM majors and support them as they adjust to the demands of a four-year program. This project is funded by NSF’s Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics program, which seeks to increase the number of low-income academically talented students with demonstrated financial need who earn degrees in STEM fields. It also aims to improve the education of future STEM workers, and to generate knowledge about academic success, retention, transfer, graduation, and academic/career pathways of low-income students.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.