The project is awarding twenty-four scholarships per year for four years to students in computer programming, networking, engineering, information technology and E-business majors enrolled in an associate degree program. The students are engaging in varieties of research opportunities that are exposing them to multiple learning and work perspectives. Enhanced student services and expanded resources for the scholars are providing support to develop a community of scholars, which includes a personalized on-line educational planner that is developed collaboratively between the student and a counselor. Students are paired with a faculty mentor on the first day of registration. A myriad of other more traditional financial, learning and career systems are provided for the scholars. Faculty members are developing better methods to create a community of scholars through training opportunities at the nearby Advanced Technological Center.
The scholarship program is expanding the local pool of well-educated and skilled employees, which is supporting the local high technology industry in a state and region that ranks high in the nation in the number of high-tech jobs. A variety of outreach strategies includes targeting underrepresented groups of students through a predominately minority local IT magnet high school.
The assessment and evaluation are addressing how well they recruit underrepresented groups of students, how well the scholars improve their academic performance, the effectiveness of the support systems, how well the program retains the scholars, and how many students are placed in jobs and/or transfer to universities.
