Bridges to Baccalaureate: Cumberland County College Bridge to Rowan

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“Cumberland County College Bridges to Rowan University (CB2R)” A proposal to the National Institutes of Health Bridges to the Baccalaureate Program ABSTRACT Rowan University (RU), a four-year research institution in Glassboro, N.J., and lead institution, and Cumberland County College (CCC), a two-year community college in Vineland, N.J., have joined forces to obtain funding from the National Institutes of Health's “Bridges to the Baccalaureate” grant program. This plan to develop, launch and sustain a distinctive, multilayered research education program in Biomedical Science to increase the pool of CCC students from diverse backgrounds who receive significant research training at CCC, transfer successfully to RU and conduct higher-level research, complete baccalaureate degrees, and go on to research careers in the field. CB2R's plan is based on the assessed needs of both institutions, which seek to improve the retention and 3- and 6-year completion rates of underrepresented students in Biomedical Science; increase educational opportunities for underrepresented students and diversify RU's biomedical research student population. The program is deliberately designed to support the NIH's goals of increasing the diversity and improving the quality, perspective, and creativity of this workforce by pairing a well-regarded, highly diverse county college in an impoverished county with a robust and growing research university in a wealthier area seeking to diversify its own student body. CB2R's short- and medium-term goals are to enhance the pool of talented, low-income URM Biomedical Science students at CCC who successfully transfer to RU and complete their baccalaureate degrees. These goals are supported by the CB2R plan: · To develop and implement an intra-institutional program of high-quality, contextualized academic supports; · To design and conduct paid research activities at the community college and university to assist low-income students financially while developing their research skills; · To provide extensive advisement and mentoring at CCC and RU; · To provide articulated academic programming and customized transfer activities designed to decrease students' time to completion; greatly improve their skills preparation; and ensure their academic success and progress toward graduate programs and/or the biomedical research workforce. A terminal objective is to institutionalize the CB2R program at CCC and RU through development of a comprehensive program “template” and ongoing institutional commitments detailed in the proposal narrative and letters of commitment. Overall, the CB2R partnership between Rowan University and Cumberland County College will strive to reach the success rates achieved by the NIH's Bridges program of 70% of Bridges students transferring and 50% completing the baccalaureate. Grant request: The CB2R partnership seeks $1,414,067 over five years from the National Institutes of Health to provide a wide range of services for three distinct groups of students: 18 CB2R Fellows, 60 CB2R Scholars, and 150 CB2R Associates.