ENHANCED DIVERSITY AND RETENTION OF UNDERGRADUATE STEM MAJORS AT ALLEGHENY COLLEGE: OUTCOMES OF A NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION S-STEM PROGRAM

We present a summary of outcomes of our recent NSF S-STEM award which provided scholarships to 16 academically talented students with high financial-need with a major in a STEM field; an additional 8 students were funded by the College for a total of 24 students in our scholarship program. All of the scholars are students of color. The students matriculated in two cohorts; one in 2010, the other in 2011. Of the 24 students, 22 remained enrolled at Allegheny (92% retention). Of note is that 67% of these are first-generation college students. Of the 22 retained, 95% kept their STEM major (13 graduated in 2014 and 7 are rising seniors). Of the graduated cohort, all are accepted or applying to post-graduate schools and all of the rising seniors have similar goals. To remain eligible for the scholarship, students needed to keep a STEM major and maintain a 3.0 GPA in that major. Our program included a management team of two STEM faculty (one Geology, one Physics) as co-PIs and the Directors of the Learning Commons (academic support center), Financial Aid, and the Diversity Office. Each faculty member served as academic advisor to one cohort and taught a first-semester seminar with their cohort. In this way, the advisor met and observed the students regularly in their first semester. One seminar ‘Treasures of the Earth’ provided a global exploration of resources highlighting societal applications of geoscience. In addition, each student met two-times per semester with staff at the Learning Commons, providing additional academic guidance. The management team met once at the end of each semester to review the progress and status of each student. In cases where students were not meeting the GPA criteria, the team worked with the student to develop an academic plan and gave the expectation of improvement in academic performance within two semesters. Each cohort of STEM scholars lived on the same residence hall in a living-learning community and had bi-weekly lunches with presentations from other science faculty, students, and professionals about career paths, internship and research opportunities, and learning support. The positive outcomes of this program demonstrate that student success extends beyond curriculum and depends on a multi-faceted approach of financial, academic, and institutional support.