The University of South Carolina (USC) is increasing the number of graduates of its science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) programs through a combination of recruitment and retention efforts. A particular focus is on reaching students who are on the edge of dropping out of STEM careers due either to insufficient background or being a "late bloomer," only recently discovering an affinity for the sciences. To support these efforts the project team has established strong ties between faculty at USC and the students, counselors, and faculty from the state technical colleges, the USC branch campuses, and regional secondary schools. The recruitment plan includes i) outreach to high school career and guidance counselors, ii) continuing education credit in STEM counseling granted for successful completion of an associated professional development curriculum, and iii) the use of broad-based interdisciplinary seminar courses, along with history and philosophy of science and technology courses to attract non-STEM students to STEM disciplines. The retention plan features i) new bridge courses to prepare students for the rigors of STEM disciplines (especially calculus), ii) development of a Summer Institute to improve the "math readiness" of students and to coordinate STEM research experiences, and iii) broad-based student support activities for all STEM majors and activities that target majors with the lowest retention rates. The intellectual merit of the project rests in the strong and diverse team of faculty and administrators committed to the project and their wide-ranging interests and experiences, which are focused particularly on the "at risk" students described above. The broader impacts of the project are being felt through the comprehensive involvement of leading institutions at all levels in the state's higher education system. Such involvement affects in turn a large number of in-state students with resulting benefits to increasing the state's STEM workforce.
Program was developed at the University of South Carolina, which partnered with its’ own regional campuses and with Community and Technical Colleges throughout the state and region, to help increase the number of transfer students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. These students are often underrepresented in the STEM fields and this may conversely affect local and national job force statistics and demographics. To help recruit and retain transfer students the program provided research internships, workshops, stipends, and a course designed to help acclimate STEM transfer students to the University and to help them succeed in their chosen degree programs. As illustrated in Figure 1 we find that from 2008 to 2012, the graduation rate in STEM majors from our institution increased by approximately 21%, significantly greater than the 14% increase in the graduation rates of non-STEM majors. This is in part due the increased number and success of transfer students who have come through the STEPS to STEM program. The program facilitated and supported over 300 student internship experiences with 75 research mentors, 70 labs, 9 local and state agencies, and several local companies. (See Figure 2 for representative intern profiles and experiences.) In supporting these experiences the program aimed to facilitate acclimation to research, support long-term engagement in STEM disciplines, increase understanding about content and methods, and to enhance mentors’ research programs. Surveys were given to a random sample of students before and after participating in internship experiences and provided data to refine and enhance the program goals. Direct student comments reflect the success of the program’s student-centered approach and suggest that the internships helped propel then beyond the classroom. Other survey data concerned assessing student exposure to STEM contexts, including the routines and expectations within a STEM research environment, teamwork, and interpersonal relationships. The efficacy and impact of the internship experiences is clear from these data and also correlates well with student performance (GPA) and sense of community data (see below). Course development was also a key aspect of the program and helped to meet program goals first by connecting the entering transfer students to the community of faculty and researchers at the university and community agencies and also to scientists, administrators and entrepreneurs at technological companies. The range of topics provided a great backdrop for the students to apprehend their place in the STEM firmament and included the standard sciences, engineering, career reviews in many STEM areas, bioethics, environment policies, history of science, and the relationship of arts and sciences. Classroom conversations provided the chance to discuss and dissect both differences and similarities in approaches to creativity and team work in different disciplines. A History of Science and Technology course was also developed for this grant and is fully integrated into the History curriculum and consistently one of the most popular history courses at our institution. In our own published research we have confirmed that it is important for universities to take steps to improve transfer students’ sense of community, not only for reasons pertaining to transfer students’ quality of life and their needs for belonging, but also in light of our findings suggesting that sense of community has a positive influence on transfer students’ academic performance. In continuing research efforts, we have examined students’ sense of community ratings in relation to two comparison groups and found that there was a trend (see Figure 3) such that program participants reported higher sense of community compared to transfer students not participating in the program. As there are multiple personal and contextual variables that may influence the degree to which transfer students’ experience sense of community, we also examined the role of race, sex, housing status, and found that none of these variables were significantly related to sense of community. In light of these findings, our degree of confidence in attributing benefits to the program is improved. Over the program lifecycle significant contributions have also been made to the broader STEM and educational communities via published research on program assessment and evaluation and through the development of novel data storage and analysis tools. For example, as part of the ongoing assessment of the SC STEPs to STEM program a retrospective and longitudinal, cohort-based analysis of STEM majors in the program was carried out. This process involved many hours of discussion and coordination between program associates and various University offices. Through these efforts an online STEM information portal has been developed. We believe that this "proof of concept" demonstrates that a comprehensive system could be implemented at multiple institutions helping to establish a STEM data-sharing framework and benchmarks for best practices in the many STEM-related educational research and reform initiatives occurring at local, state and federal levels.
