Collaboration Between Community Colleges and a University to Increase Transfer Student Success in STEM

该项目将为国家对受过良好教育的科学家、数学家、工程师和技术员的需求做出贡献，支持高成就、低收入的社区学院转学学生留校并毕业于圣玛丽山大学，这是一所小型的私立天主教文科大学。该大学将与蒙哥马利学院和弗雷德里克社区学院两所地区性社区学院合作，以加强转学过程并促进转学学生的成功。在为期五年的时间里，该项目将向三个组的27名转校生提供两年的奖学金。奖学金获得者将攻读生物化学、生物、化学、计算机科学、网络安全、环境科学和/或数学方面的学士学位。社区学院和大学教职员工将合作招收所有有兴趣转到四年制院校的学生，并向他们提供建议。在社区学院二年级秋季入学后，学生将获得广泛的转学前支持，一些学生将被选为奖学金获得者。在该大学，所有转学学生都将受益于旨在促进STEM学生留校和毕业的支持。因此，该项目的影响潜力远远超出了27名学者。该项目将对教师进行包容性教学方面的教育，以帮助促进不同学生的学业成就。对项目活动的评估将促进对支持STEM社区学院转学学生招生、留住和成功的有效战略的理解。该项目的总体目标是增加低收入、高成就、有经济需求的本科生的STEM学位毕业率。圣玛丽山大学将与弗雷德里克社区学院和蒙哥马利学院合作实施转移路径计划，这是一项旨在增加转移资本的增强招生计划。被大学录取的学生将获得广泛的转学前支持，旨在进一步增加转学资金，促进他们的过渡。在被大学录取后，他们将获得旨在促进留校和毕业的学术、社会和职业发展支持。被选中的学生还将获得奖学金。该项目预期可衡量的成果是：1)从蒙哥马利学院和弗雷德里克社区学院招收并资助27名符合PELL条件的STEM学生；2)在毕业后保留90%的奖学金获得者；3)在毕业一年内将90%的奖学金获得者安排在其STEM领域的专业职位上；4)确定机构合作伙伴关系在促进有学术天赋的低收入STEM社区学院转学学生的招生、资金转移和参与方面的有效性。由于考察转学成功的大部分研究涉及大型公共机构，因此了解社区学院和小型私立大学之间的机构合作如何促进转学资本、学生参与度和学生成功是很重要的。这些变量的测量将在参与转移路径计划之前和之后进行比较，并在参与转移路径计划的社区大学生和没有参与转移路径计划的社区大学生之间进行比较。通过出版物和会议报告，合作机构将广泛传播研究和评估结果。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, and engineers, and technicians by supporting the retention and graduation of high-achieving, low-income community college transfer students with demonstrated financial need at Mount St. Mary’s University, a small private Catholic liberal arts university. The university will partner with two regional community colleges, Montgomery College and Frederick Community College, to strengthen the transfer process and promote transfer student success. Over its five-year duration, the project will provide two-year scholarships to 27 transfer students, in three cohorts. The Scholars will pursue bachelor’s degrees in biochemistry, biology, chemistry, computer science, cybersecurity, environmental science, and/or mathematics. Community college and university faculty will collaborate to recruit and advise all students interested in transferring to a four-year institution. Upon acceptance in the fall of their second year at the community college, students will receive extensive pre-transfer support and some will be selected to receive scholarships. At the university, all transfer students will benefit from supports designed to promote retention and graduation of STEM students. As a result, the project has the potential for impact well beyond the 27 Scholars. The project will educate faculty about inclusive pedagogy to help promote academic achievement of diverse students. Evaluation of the project’s activities will advance understanding of effective strategies for supporting recruitment, retention, and success of community college transfer students in STEM. The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. Mount St. Mary’s University will partner with Frederick Community College and Montgomery College to implement the Transfer Pathways Program, an enhanced recruiting program designed to increase transfer capital. Students accepted into the university will receive extensive pre-transfer support designed to further increase transfer capital and facilitate their transition. Upon matriculation to the university, they will receive academic, social, and professional development support designed to promote retention and graduation. Selected students will also receive scholarships. The intended measurable outcomes of this project are: 1) To recruit and financially support 27 Pell-eligible STEM students from Montgomery College and Frederick Community College; 2) To retain 90% of the Scholars through graduation; 3) To place 90% of Scholars in graduate school or professional roles in their STEM field within one year of graduation; 4) To determine the effectiveness of the institutional partnership on promoting enrollment, transfer capital, and engagement of academically talented, low-income STEM community college transfer students. Because much of the research examining transfer student success has involved large, public institutions, it is important to understand how institutional partnerships between community colleges and small private universities can promote transfer capital, student engagement, and student success. Measures of these variables will be compared pre- and post-participation in the Transfer Pathways program and between community college students who participated in Transfer Pathways and those who did not. Through publications and conference presentations, the partnering institutions will widely disseminate research and evaluation results. 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.