This project is supporting ten academically talented students with financial need for four years through the S-STEM program. In accordance with institutional goals to become a more inclusive campus, the college is recruiting students for this program locally in the racially and ethnically diverse cities of Kalamazoo and Battle Creek in an effort to attract students from groups traditionally underrepresented in the sciences. Recruiting efforts build on pre-existing relationships with the Kalamazoo Public Schools, the Battle Creek Public Schools, and local community organizations.
The goals of the project are to: (a) attract students from underrepresented groups (mainly Black and Hispanic) with academic talent and financial need interested in majoring in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) fields; (b) enhance and add to existing support structures to retain these and other students in STEM fields; and (c) establish a proof of concept in this project to encourage donors to endow a scholarship program for students from underrepresented groups with academic talent and financial need who wish to major in a STEM field.
The intellectual merit of the project lies in the high quality science education the S-STEM students are being offered. These students work with accomplished and dedicated faculty; take rigorous, engaging coursework in math and science; and participate in enriching educational programs, such as summer research experiences and career internships. The project is adapting programs that have been successful in helping minority students achieve at a high level in math and science. These programs include the work of Uri Treisman, the work of Robert Moses and the Algebra Project, and in particular the work of Freeman Hrabowski and the Meyerhoff Scholars Program.
The broader impacts of the project include a focus on supporting students from traditionally underrepresented groups in earning a baccalaureate degree in a STEM field and helping these students prepare for post-graduate study. The support programs put in place for S-STEM students are also increasing retention for all STEM majors at the college and encouraging more students of color, not only S-STEM students, to consider, and persist in, STEM disciplines.
