Norfolk State University, an HBCU that serves approximately 6,200 students including 765 enrolled in STEM disciplines, will focus this project on the development STEM majors in their junior and senior years. This project builds on a successful first HBCU-UP five year project, which targeted students at the beginning of their undergraduate careers. Many of the activities of the initial HBCU-UP project were institutionalized, thus allowing for growth of the program.
The major activities of this STARS-Plus (Science and Technology Academicians on the Road to Success-Plus) project include: (i) partnerships with local high schools; a local community college and a local corporation; (ii) a summer bridge program, which will target community college students as well as incoming freshman students; (iii) a residential learning community for STEM students; (iv) a mentoring center; (v) tutoring program; (vi) curriculum development; (vii) graduate school preparation, including a formal credit course; (viii) research opportunities and scholarships for undergraduates and (ix) faculty development activities.
Extensive and multifaceted, this project has the full support of the institution, and expects to learn from the activities through thorough evaluation and data driven decision making. These activities will serve as a model to the rest of the institution for ways to achieve the goals of: increasing the number of students in STEM disciplines; advance the climate of learning and scholarship; and increase the STEM graduation rate.
Norfolk State University (NSU) serves approximately 6,000 students with 765 in Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, and Physics in the College of Science, Engineering, and Technology (CSET). In 2006, CSET developed a robust program encompassing undergraduate recruitment, pre-entrance preparation, advising, mentorship, research, and curricula to address low graduation rates of underrepresented groups. This program was called STARS (Science and Technology Academicians on the Road to Success), a school-wide program built on the successes of NSU’s undergraduate STEM programs, other institution’s programs and proven research based pedagogies to increase graduation rates. The centerpiece of STARS-Plus is the STARS office, whose goal is the consolidation and enhancement of existing programs and the creation of new programs to provide CSET students a seamless environment of recruitment, pre-entrance preparation, advising, mentorship, and research. The hypothesis was that such an environment would significantly increase the success rate of STEM undergraduates. The STARS-Plus Project also focused on development of STEM majors in the junior and senior years, featuring the following components: (1) Partnership with three local high schools, a local community college system, and a corporation; (2) Expanded summer bridge component; (3) Residential learning community for STEM students; (4) New Mentoring Center; (5) New tutoring component for upper-division courses; (6) Curriculum development for upper division courses; (7) Graduate school preparation with course credit; (8) Scholarships and research for upper level STEM students; and (9) Faculty development for STEM faculty and mentors. The Project established education collaborations to broaden the participation of underrepresented groups in STEM activities; advance discovery and understanding while promoting teaching, training, and learning by involving graduate students in tutoring and teaching activities; by encouraging and supporting participation of underrepresented groups; and by establishing a mentoring program for high school and undergraduate students. The program developed, adopted, and adapted effective models and pedagogic approaches to the teaching of upper-division STEM courses. The Project created an environment that continually strengthens STEM education and research to prepare students for highly technological workplaces. Goals and Objectives: Broaden participation and increase the NSU STEM enrollment by partnering with high schools and community colleges in the Tidewater Area; Develop a dedicated STEM living and learning community in a residence hall at NSU; Establish and institutionalize a Mentoring Center that will provide mentoring to 70% of the STEM students at NSU; Increase the success rate of students in STEM courses to 70% in five years; Improve the STEM retention rate from 71% to 75% and six-year graduation rate from 30% to 40%. Outcomes A major accomplishment of the STARS-Plus Project was the increase in retention rate of CSET students from 71% in 2007 to 78% in 2014. Current data indicates that project activities had significant impact on retention of STEM students. Objective 1: To broaden the participation and increase STEM enrollment, several partnerships were established during the period 2007-2014. Partnerships include the Environmental Protection Agency; the Workforce Investment Act; K-12 schools in Hampton Roads; Virginia First Robotics, Local Community Organizations, and the Girl Scout Council of Colonial Coast that serves 16,000 girls in southeastern Virginia and North Carolina. Objective 2: A living learning community was established that offered unique living and learning opportunities to STEM students. Those who participated overwhelmingly thought the community to be helpful and encouraging. As a result, the University modeled the STARS–Plus Program to implement living learning communities University-wide. Objective 3: The STARS-Plus Peer Mentoring Center was established to promote the improvement of academic success and retention and to increase the number of students entering graduate school in the sciences through activities and support programs. More than 1500 freshmen received mentoring from CSET upper classmen, graduate students and faculty mentors. Also, a new user-friendly tracking tool was developed to help students track courses completed, and those not. Objective 4: To increase the STEM student success rate, STARS-Plus students participated in several pre-college activities such as an enhanced Summer Bridge Program and a Math Institute for STEM freshmen during the University’s Freshmen Transition Week. Support and retention were the goals. Other retention activities included student engagement curriculum development, student-faculty interaction and the incorporation of a research component for STEM disciplines and a new graduate school course to prepare for the rigors of graduate school. Objective 5: To increase the success-rate of students in STEM Courses, an enhanced tutoring program was established to address low pass rates in upper division mathematics and science courses. Results showed that 95% of the students who visited the tutoring center one to three times per week passed their math and science courses with a grade of "C’ or better. Undergraduate Research is a proven method to increase retention, strengthen preparation for graduate school, and enhance critical thinking skills. STARS-Plus provided students these opportunities and more.
