Bridges to the Future - Baccalaureate Bridge Program

Bauer, Roger

Abstract

California State University, Long Beach and two neighboring community colleges will develop a bridge program leading to the baccalaureate built upon: providing a research experience for both students and faculty to enhance both the level of institutional cooperation and professional backgrounds enhancing a transfer mechanism to ensure a smoother transition of students from the community college by personalized mentoring and counseling, strengthening the curriculum at the institutions by providing specialized workshops and seminars. These two community colleges are important points of entry into science for many of our local students from underrepresented ethnic backgrounds. A large number of underrepresented students are currently enrolled in these two-year colleges with declared science and mathematics majors. This represents a tremendous pool of talent which must be addressed if we expect the pipeline of education to be realized for these students. The program is built upon strengthening the personal ties between the faculties and students of the participating institutions. The Minority Access to Research Careers (MARC) and the Minority Biomedical Research Support (MBRS) students and faculty from CSULB will be significantly involved in enhancing this bridge. Cooperative research in the biomedical sciences will be the common tread that binds the program together to lend improved transfer and articulation between our institutions.