Implementation Project: Building A Community of STEM Practitioners

The Historically Black Colleges and Universities - Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP) provides support to strengthen STEM undergraduate education and research at HBCUs. The Implementation Project from Albany State University (ASU), “Building a Community of STEM Practitioners,” seeks to establish a STEM Hub in Southwest Georgia to become a focal point and catalyst for change in STEM education.

Programmatic components include a Summer Bridge Program, STEM Ambassadors program, faculty assistance with local school robotics competitions, and faculty professional development. The outcomes of this project at ASU are expected to include an increased number of STEM partnerships, an increase in retention and graduation rates for students in STEM degree programs and increased first-time freshmen enrollments in STEM majors.

Overall goals for the project include: 1) Building a regional community of STEM partnerships for student engagement and success; 2) Increasing enrollment of first-time, first-year students in ASU’s four-year STEM programs; 3) Increasing the number of STEM bachelor’s degrees conferred; and 4) Improving the persistence and progression of STEM students in four-year programs. Albany State University will achieve these goals using four high impact practices: a) A STEM-focused Summer Bridge Program where students will participate in small group, project-based activities, as well as activities such as STEM Olympiad; b) A first year STEM Learning Community where students participate in engaging activities, shared experiences and cohort-based classes; c) Partnering with local schools to develop a collaborative mentoring program for STEM high school students to develop enduring relationships with STEM Ambassadors (school-based teachers) and HBCU faculty members to support student learning and success as they transition to higher education; and d) Focused STEM Professional Development between STEM Ambassadors and HBCU faculty where partners collaborate and apply high impact practices to both high school and college level instruction.

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.