LOUIS STOKES B2B ALLIANCE: SHORELINE-WEST STEMConnect

Housatonic Community College, Bridgeport CT

Investigators

Abstract

The overall goal of the Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP) program is to assist universities and colleges in diversifying the nation's science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workforce by increasing the number of STEM baccalaureate and graduate degrees awarded to persons from LSAMP populations LSAMP populations are defined as persons from groups underrepresented in the STEM enterprise: Blacks and African-Americans, Hispanic and Latino Americans, American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders. Three community colleges comprise the Shoreline-West STEMConnect Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation, Bridge-to-the-Baccalaureate (B2B) project-Housatonic Community College in Bridgeport, Norwalk Community College in Norwalk, and Gateway Community College in New Haven. Through academic, social and financial support to community college students and in coordination with four-year partners across Connecticut, New York, New England, and several Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), the program will increase recruitment, retention, persistence and graduation rates for successful transfer to four-year STEM degree programs. Shoreline-West STEMConnect LSAMP program components, such as Guided Pathways advising, tutoring, mentoring, a STEM-focused summer bridge program for incoming first-year students. STEM Centers of Excellence will be established to support students' STEM socialization and belongingness in addition to student tours of four-year campuses. Research experiences at government labs or universities and boot camps for exposure to four-year colleges and universities will be available. These evidence-based activities are designed to accomplish the goal of increasing the number of underrepresented groups who select STEM disciplines and transfer into and graduate from baccalaureate-producing institutions. Through articulation agreements with multiple four-year colleges and universities, students will seamlessly transfer to baccalaureate STEM programs throughout the nation. The Shoreline-West STEMConnect B2B website and social media sites will offer an effective means to disseminate information and create networks of support for STEM students alliance-wide and nationally. Project results, including evaluation recommendations, will be disseminated widely at local, regional and national meetings where the persistence, performance, advancement and careers 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.