The focus of this STEP project is on retention. PRIMES - Partnership for Retention Improvement in Mathematics, Engineering, and Science - is a multi-college collaboration at the university that is intended to unite faculty from the College of Arts & Sciences, the Speed School of Engineering (Speed), and the College of Education and Human Development in tackling identified hurdles that contribute to poor retention (and thus low graduation rates) in undergraduate STEM programs. There are two primary components (or strands). The first strand focuses on the transformation of teaching and learning in STEM courses. STEM tutoring in the freshman year is one of the hallmarks of activities in this strand. It directly impacts novice STEM undergraduates in science-track introductory courses, and indirectly impacts the more senior STEM students as well as STEM faculty through activities that make use of Undergraduate Teaching Assistants (UTAs) and faculty who train the UTAs as well as interact more with students. The second strand targets improved retention by implementing University-wide and discipline-specific community building activities that foster STEM students' sense of identification with STEM departments. Ultimately, the goal is to increase the number of Bachelor's degrees awarded in biology, chemistry, geosciences, mathematics and physics in the College of Arts & Sciences by 25% by 2016 and to increase the number of Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Engineering awarded in the Speed School by 25% by 2016.
