Florida A&M University proposes to serve as the institutional host-site for the Florida - Georgia Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (FGLSAMP) during Phase IV program operations. FGLSAMP is designed to promote and facilitate the programmatic goals of the National Science Foundation's (NSF) LSAMP program under the HRD Directorate. In accordance with the goals, objectives and effort of NSF to address the low participation and degree production within science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) by those ethnic groups identified as underrepresented in STEM disciplines, FGLSAMP will address this problem through its programmatic structure which promotes enhancement of academic performance, undergraduate research experiences, professional development, and preparation for pursuing STEM graduate degrees. The standard of success will be measured by our student participants': progression (to attain the B.S. degree); retention (within STEM disciplines); graduation (timely attainment); and STEM graduate enrollment (increasing STEM Minority enrollment). FGLSAMP will continue to employ a holistic approach to reform undergraduate education in the STEM disciplines along with identified "beast practices" as determined through it Steering Committee, while determining means to enhance and provide new program activities. FGLSAMP is designed to include a firm commitment of institutional administrators, faculty, staff, external partners, as well as parents and students. The goals of FGLSAMP are to significantly increase both the number of underrepresented minorities pursuing undergraduate degrees in STEM disciplines and the number of STEM B.S. degree recipients pursuing STEM graduate degrees. FGLSAMP will provide training opportunities to students in STEM disciplines while also providing an array of academic performance enhancement and support that will yield greater STEM retention and graduations rates among underrepresented STEM minorities. Additionally, to address the numbers of STEM B.S. recipients pursuing STEM graduate degrees, FGLSAMP has developed a formalize program component to prepare its undergraduate participants to pursue graduate degrees. This will be accomplished through an intensive programmatic design that has been accepted and adopted by the FGLSAMP Steering Committee. FGLSAMP will continue provide assistance for undergraduate research experiences that will include the introduction of international research opportunities for student participants. FGLSAMP will also continue to build and strengthen ties and inclusion of community colleges by the inclusion of 2 new associate level partners within the alliance. Community Colleges are a valuable source of human capital to enter the STEM academic pipeline. FGLSAMP program operations will be met through annual financial support from the National Science Foundation, a special appropriation from the State of Florida. Through the addition of two additional community colleges, FGLSAMP will be able to: 1) stimulate and increase student awareness of academic and professional opportunities in STEM areas and 2) create a larger network/pipeline between the community college students and FGLSAMP undergraduate institutions with which these two community colleges are affiliated. FGLSAMP will also capitalize and capture greater numbers of potential STEM majors prior to graduation and transfer to the upper division.
FGLSAMP is an alliance of 13 institutions of higher education with FAMU serving as the lead institution of this alliance. FGLSAMP is a grant funded through an award by the National Science Foundation –Human Resource Division. FGLSAMP has an annual budget of $599,999.00 to support and facilitate the program FGLSAMP is an academic enhancement program that has as its mission: to significantly increase the number of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics degrees awarded to those populations considered as underrepresented minorities in the STEM disciplines. This is accomplished primarily through utilizing a holistic approach to impact student: Progression – within the academic pipeline Persistence –within STEM disciplines Graduation – persistence to baccalaureate degree The FGLSAMP model is designed to address issues that lead to attrition within STEM fields. Through employing a cohort based approach FGLSAMP is able to significantly address one of the leading contributors of attrition within STEM…feeling of isolation by students. Summary of Program Impact After 20 years FGLSAMP continues to be viable and positively impacting and enhancing efforts by institutions higher education (IHE) within the alliance to better promote, recruit and prepare students for STEM graduate study and careers with STEM organizations. The full impact of FGLSAMP is most visible as a program that impacts and influences a larger STEM community via: Impact upon STEM Recruitment, Retention, and Graduation rates within each alliances IHE Impact upon participation institutions of higher education Impact upon STEM graduate enrollment among underrepresented minorities Impact upon internal and external partners/stakeholders Impact upon the student participants of FGLSAMP Utilizing the organizational structure of an alliance allows the FGLSAMP program greater scope and potential to address, impact, and influence identified obstacles and challenges in the pursuit of not only increasing the number of degrees awarded to underrepresented minorities in STEM disciplines in a strategically unified manner. The alliance can also build what can be consider a "learning community" of IHEs with one mission, by which each institution learns from the commonalities and differences of partner institutions. The alliance structure also allows for greater continuity and communication that are of great value when student participants are transitioning from one academic level to a higher level. A sense of community has developed between the alliance’s institutions and thus a productive pipeline of student support and student opportunities has been the culminating result of the alliance network. In addition to the organizational structure of the alliance is due to that fact that FGLSAMP focuses on a broad spectrum of STEM disciplines. This broad focus gives FGLSAMP the opportunity to impact the STEM culture of each participating institution. To gain a greater understanding of program effectiveness of upon retention and graduation rates , 4 alliance institutions (Florida A&M University, Albany State University, Bethune-Cookman University, and Florida International University) have been designated as primarily undergraduate degree producing institutions (due to the large number of students supported by FGLSAMP) in an effort to capture the impact of the FGLSAMP Model upon the following areas: Institution Progression- within academic continuum Persistence to the baccalaureate degree Persistence in STEM disciplines ASU 92% 94% 87% BCU 87% 90% 83% FAMU 91% 93% 88% FIU 88% 90% 86% We attribute the high retention and graduation rates to the holistic approach of the FGLSAMP project. Research Experiences….A Critical Factor of Success A large part of the progression and persistence success rates of our FGLSAMP participants has a direct correlation to our effort to provide students with experiences that encompass and foster both disciplinary socialization and professional development. One of the most impactful resources at the disposal of FGLSAMP is undergraduate research experiences, which develop a sense of inclusion for STEM students and thus impacts STEM retention and graduation rates. An additional output of the undergraduate research experience is that the academic performance of these students tends to improve noticeably. The FGLSAMP model develops students to be well positioned and well prepared to make significant contributions to the science and research that improves quality and sustainability for all life.
