Tennessee Valley Tri-State LSAMP Pre-Alliance Planning

The Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP) program assists universities and colleges in diversifying the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) workforce through their efforts at significantly increasing the numbers of students from historically underrepresented minority (URM)populations(African-Americans, Hispanic Americans, American Indians or Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians or Other Pacific Islanders) to successfully complete high quality degree programs in STEM.

The LSAMP Pre-Alliance Planning effort for a potential Tennessee Valley Tri-State STEM Pathways and Implementation-Only (SPIO) alliance in 2022 involving the University of North Alabama, Mississippi University for Women, the University of Mississippi-Martin, East Mississippi Community College and Northwest-Shoals Community College with other non-academic organizations will allow an extensive network a platform from which to evaluate and develop inter-institutional resources, policies and pathways to improve graduation rates for URMs in STEM in this predominantly rural U.S. region. This planning period will a) yield new information about the effectiveness of a diverse array of partners to formalize an Alliance; b) provide a comprehensive assessment of the current suite of services, resources, and opportunities offered to URM STEM undergraduates and determine where the gaps exist; and c) design and promote new pathways with evidence-based activities that will improve the numbers of URM undergraduates in STEM fields.

Regionally, this work will provide knowledge to advance a specially targeted cohort of students by implementing activities that will be sustainable for the proposed network of partners, including employers. With a strong blend of academic and administrative leadership experiences in STEM fields, this team offers an understanding of the barriers and challenges faced by students and families in surrounding rural areas of the targeted tri-state region.

Through this planning effort, new pathways will be enabled that, otherwise, would not converge without such a concerted effort.

The results from this project will be used to develop a full proposal in 2022 to establish a successful model through the NSF LSAMP STEM Pathways Implementation-Only (SPIO) funding opportunity for recruitment, retention, graduation, and post-graduate success of primarily rural students from historically underrepresented backgrounds in STEM disciplines. By assessing current resources and approaches, we will establish and formalize pathways from rural northern Alabama, rural Mississippi and rural Tennessee in preparation for a full Alliance that will be both responsive and competitive for workforce needs across this tri-state region.

This planning grant will enable strategic partnerships that will ultimately strengthen the tri-state's collective economy and infuse the national job market with highly trained STEM professionals who hail from rural settings and will be prepared to make economic and social contributions in STEM fields.

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.