Gateways to Success in Science, Mathematics and Computing

这个Step Type 1A项目解决的是科学、数学和计算领域的留存和成功问题。根据广泛的规划和对最佳实践的审查，PI团队正在该机构的几个项目领域实施改进，包括使用协作学习材料，改进对高危学生的识别，引入暑期充实桥梁计划，以及开发一个新的计划来招收代表不足的学生。特别强调的是鼓励更多的妇女和代表不足的少数群体攻读科学学位。宏伟的目标是每年增加150个科学和数学专业，并将科学和数学专业的少数民族毕业生人数翻一番，从55人增加到110人。还举办了教师发展讲习班，特别注意加强支线两年制校园与主要机构之间的合作。该项目的智力价值在于其战略和活动的质量，以及对以下方面的形成性和总结性评估：1)对入门课程的更改，2)学术支持和指导，3)使用学生表现的定量数据和来自焦点小组的定性数据，以确定影响专业留存或职业道路持久性的因素。该项目正在通过其雄心勃勃的数字目标产生更广泛的影响，增加科学、数学和计算机专业的毕业生人数，特别是在STEM研究领域代表性仍然不足的群体成员中。此外，该项目的方法为小型教学密集型两年制机构以及具有浓厚文科传统的研究密集型大学提供了模式。

This STEP Type 1A project is addressing issues of retention and success in science, mathematics, and computing. Based on extensive planning and examination of best practices the PI team is implementing improvements in several areas of the institution's programs, including use of collaborative learning materials, improved identification of at-risk students, introduction of a summer enrichment bridge program, and development of a new program to recruit underrepresented students. A particular emphasis taking place is the encouragement of more women and underrepresented minorities to pursue science degrees. Ambitious goals are envisioned to increase the number of science and mathematics majors by 150 per year and to double the annual number of underrepresented minority graduates with science and mathematics majors, from 55 to 110. Faculty development workshops are also being undertaken with particular attention to strengthening collaborations between a feeder two-year campus and the main institution. The intellectual merit of this project rests in the quality of its strategies and activities and in its formative and summative evaluation on i) changes to introductory courses, ii) academic support and mentoring, and iii) use of quantitative data on student performance and qualitative data from focus groups, to determine factors that influence retention in majors or persistence in career paths. The project is exercising broader impacts through its ambitious numerical goals for increasing the number of graduates in the sciences, mathematics, and computing, particularly among members of groups that remain underrepresented in STEM fields of study. Moreover, the project's approaches offer models for small teaching-intensive two-year institutions, as well as research intensive universities with a strong liberal arts tradition.