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

该项目将通过支持在圣玛丽山大学（Mount St. Mary’s University）这所小型私立天主教文理大学中表现出经济需求的成绩优异的低收入社区大学转校生的保留和毕业，为全国对受过良好教育的科学家、数学家、工程师和技术人员的需求做出贡献。该大学将与两所地区社区学院蒙哥马利学院和弗雷德里克社区学院合作，加强转学过程，促进转校生的成功。该项目为期五年，将向三批27名转校生提供为期两年的奖学金。奖学金获得者将攻读生物化学、生物学、化学、计算机科学、网络安全、环境科学和/或数学等专业的学士学位。社区学院和大学教员将合作招收并建议所有有意转入四年制大学的学生。在社区学院第二年的秋季被录取后，学生将获得广泛的转学前支持，其中一些学生将被选中获得奖学金。在该大学，所有转学生都将受益于旨在促进STEM学生保留和毕业的支持。因此，该项目的潜在影响远远超出了27位学者。该项目将对教师进行包容性教学，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社区大学转学生在STEM领域的招聘、保留和成功的有效策略的理解。该项目的总体目标是提高有经济需求的低收入、高成就本科生的STEM学位完成率。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学途径计划，这是一个旨在增加转学资金的强化招生计划。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并促进他们的过渡。在进入大学后，他们将获得学术、社会和专业发展方面的支持，以促进留校和毕业。入选的学生还将获得奖学金。该项目预期的可衡量结果是：1)从蒙哥马利学院和弗雷德里克社区学院招募并资助27名符合佩尔资格的STEM学生；2)毕业时保留90%的学者；3) 90%的学者在毕业一年内进入STEM领域的研究生院或专业岗位；4)确定机构合作伙伴关系在促进入学，转移资本和学术天赋，低收入STEM社区大学转校生参与方面的有效性。由于许多关于转学生成功的研究都涉及大型公共机构，因此了解社区学院和小型私立大学之间的机构合作关系如何促进转移资本、学生参与和学生成功是很重要的。这些变量的测量将会在参与转学途径项目前后，以及参加转学途径和没有参加转学途径的社区大学生之间进行比较。通过出版物和会议报告，伙伴机构将广泛传播研究和评价结果。该项目由美国国家科学基金会的科学、技术、工程和数学奖学金项目资助，旨在增加有经济需求的低收入学术天才学生在STEM领域获得学位的人数。它还旨在改善未来STEM工作者的教育，并为低收入学生提供有关学业成功、留校、转学、毕业和学术/职业道路的知识。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值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.