The proposed WSSU Computer Science and Technology Scholarship Program is going to provide scholarship support to academically talented minority students who demonstrate financial need. To fulfill the goal of increasing the number of students who enter the high tech workforce or higher education programs, this program provides scholarships to junior and senior level undergraduates, associate degree transfer students pursuing a degree in computer science; as well as to graduate students pursuing a MS degree in computer science and information technology. The program is going to attract, enroll, mentor, and enhance the academic performance of CSTSP scholars, thereby increasing the graduation rate of minority and women students in the fields of computer science and information technology. The program is going to provide 27 scholarships of $3,125 per year per student during the first year, and 27 scholarships per year during years two to four.
Three primary objectives of the program are to: 1) increase the number of minority and women who enroll in computer science; 2) increase the number of minority and women who graduate with a BS or MS in computer science and/or computer science and information technology; 3) increase the pool of students who are prepared to enter the computer technology workforce or pursue high education in the field. Additional benefits of the program include: 1) enhancement of the undergraduate computer science curriculum; 2) increased collaboration with business and industry; 3) development of collaborations with the growing body of bio-medical and high tech industries in the city of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, as well as state and national employers; 4) strengthen collaborations with the departments of mathematics, life sciences, physical sciences, and health sciences; 5) enhance the professional development of faculty resulting from mentoring scholars engaged in research.
