Integrative approaches to advancing retention, engagement, and graduation in STEM students across a multi-campus open-access institution

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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 the University of North Georgia. The University of North Georgia (UNG) is a multi-campus university, one of six senior military colleges in the nation, and is a state-designated leadership institution. Over its six-year duration, this project will fund scholarships to at least 31 unique full and part-time students who are pursuing both associate’s and bachelor’s degrees in Biology, Chemistry, Engineering, Mathematics, and Physics. First and second year students will receive up to four years of scholarship support. This project aims to increase student retention and persistence in STEM fields by providing scholarships along with research-based support practices including learning communities, cohorts, a first-year STEM seminar, intensive faculty mentoring, robust student support services, undergraduate research involvement, professional development, and internship opportunities. The project will additionally assist students with identifying career opportunities that align with their skills, interests, and the job market while providing them with the necessary professional development to reach those goals. These activities are designed to promote continuance in a STEM major while bringing together faculty and students from various disciplines to share educational and research experiences to broaden the STEM workforce with a diverse set of highly engaged individuals. Knowledge generated from this effort will be instrumental in advancing understanding of how activities such as faculty mentoring, developing individual learning plans, and early exposure to undergraduate research experiences support the retention and graduation rates of STEM majors.The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. This goal will be achieved through the following objectives: 1) successful recruitment of students and retention of at least 80% after the first year of the program; 2) attain a placement rate of at least 90% in the STEM workforce, STEM bachelor’s program (for those obtaining an associate’s degree), or acceptance into a STEM graduate program; 3) graduate at least 75% of all students pursuing bachelor’s degrees within 5 years and 3 years for those pursing associate’s degrees. This project will study the importance and effectiveness of student participation in undergraduate research experiences in retention and post graduate success of which little is known as it related to various populations across a multi-campus institution. By investigating differences among UNG's multi-site S-STEM project, the project will evaluate how to better assist a breadth of students in STEM to degree completion. This project will advance knowledge on the leading indicators in various student populations that lead to STEM persistence. This project will be evaluated using an outside evaluator and the results from this project will be disseminated at regional, national and/or international conferences. 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.