The Kansas State Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (KS-LSAMP) program will create an alliance in Kansas that includes the state?s land-grant institution, Kansas State University (KSU), in partnership with three minority-serving community colleges in the southwest part of the state, plus a minority-serving private college in urban Kansas City, KS. A particular focus of the KS-LSAMP is recruitment and retention of military veterans in STEM fields. Kansas is home to two Army bases and an Air Force installation and has a significant number of URM veterans enrolled in partner institutions. The overall goal of this project is to double the number of URMs graduating with STEM degrees from KSU within the five years of the proposed project. The objectives of the project are: 1. To build a successful STEM pathway to the baccalaureate degree through the partnership of KSU with four Kansas Minority Serving Institutions with 2-year transferable programs; 2. To work together to develop innovative and culturally appropriate recruitment materials and activities for high schools and college STEM programs; 3. To develop and evaluate systematic approaches to assuring successful transfer to KSU or other Kansas 4-year institutions with high quality science and engineering programs; 4. To develop or improve academic, curricular and co-curricular activities that impact persistence and retention of URM students at 2- and 4-year partner institutions and at KSU, including special focus on critical pathway junctures (e.g., advising, financial assistance, campus integration); and 5. To provide formative evaluation to assure continuous project improvement and to conduct summative evaluation to describe the results and impact of the project on students and institutions, including development of a longitudinal tracking system to monitor progress, especially at critical junctures in the pathway.
