Conference Proposal: Two-Year/Four-Year Campus Research Communities Examining STEM Transfer Pathways

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The Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP) program assists universities and colleges in diversifying the STEM workforce through their efforts at significantly increasing the numbers of students successfully completing high quality degree programs in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. Particular emphasis is placed on transforming STEM education through innovative recruitment and retention strategies and experiences in support of groups historically under-represented in STEM disciplines: African-Americans, Alaskan Natives, American Indians, Hispanic Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Native Pacific Islanders. The University of California-Irvine (UCI) will convene a conference of two- and four-year campus research communities (CRCs) within the California Public Higher Education sector in July 2022 to examine the STEM Transfer Pathway at Hispanic-serving institutions in the state. Latinx students comprise a significant fraction of undergraduates in California and across the nation, yet colleges are less successful at retaining Latinx students within STEM fields, resulting in their under-representation within the STEM workforce. Specifically, the conference aims to (1) empower CRCs to leverage institutional data to determine the degree to which the campus’ STEM students achieve transfer success; (2) expand the definition of transfer pathway success by collectively identifying a set of student socialization outcomes (such as sense of belonging) and corresponding validated instruments that participants can use to measure success; and, (3) evaluate the effectiveness of a transfer support structure at each participating campus by implementing the institutional data analysis plan and testing the survey instrument. Each CRC will consist of a two-year college and a neighboring four-year university, resulting in partnerships that are beneficial for students at both institutions and the establishment of relationships that extend beyond the conference. CRCs will include STEM faculty, campus administrators, institutional research staff, and individuals involved in transfer student programming. This broad representation will ensure that CRCs include the necessary stakeholders to take advantage of project findings. This conference design will familiarize each campus with accessing and analyzing their institutional data, often an under-utilized resource, for future decision-making processes. A website and case study will be developed from conference activities and will be disseminated broadly. The conference outcomes have the potential to inform other higher education systems on successful transfer and retention practices in STEM for populations historically underrepresented in these disciplines.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.