The long-term goal of this project is to increase the number of underrepresented minority students entering the behavioral, health and natural sciences at a two year college, and increase the number who earn a bachelor's degree in these fields. In collaboration with Westchester Community College and the Cochran School of Nursing, Mercy College seeks to ease the transition and increase the sense of academic community by: l)increasing knowledge for selected students in the behavioral, health and natural sciences by a)providing coursework and b)hands-on research experience at Mercy College; 2)increasing coordinated support services and 3) developing and increasing faculty connections between the three colleges. These objectives will be met through a series of activities coordinated by Mercy College, WCC and CSN. First, faculty will be introduced to the goals and objectives of the LHVBBP program. By first increasing faculty involvement, & good model for collaboration and cooperation is set for the students. Next, faculty will be recruited for a series of faculty development programs, including seminars, co-teaching of courses, grants, visiting lectureships, and grants for collaborative research and teaching. Faculty will be further recruited to fill the roles of faculty advisory mentors and/or faculty research mentors. The faculty advisory mentors will be trained to help students coordinate academic enhancement activities that will be necessary, in cooperation with the Learning Centers. In addition, these faculty advisory mentors will help students with course selection, informal discussion of research, career and graduate school goals. The third set of activities will be designed to teach students about research. The first course, critical inquiry in science is a course on the nature of scientific inquiry and the critical analysis of scientific research. The second course is a discipline- specific course on research opportunities in the behavioral, health and natural sciences at Mercy College, which allows practical application of what was taught in the first course and will serve as a bridge to the final component. This component of the program is the hands-on research opportunities with faculty research mentors at Mercy College. These activities should increase applications of students to baccalaureate programs, especially those like Project AgeLink and HCOP at Mercy College that increase the opportunities for underrepresented minority students to go to graduate school.
